Top Innovations From CES 2025

Since John Deere’s arrival in Las Vegas in 2019, ag tech has been carving out a space for itself at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). 

While many of these innovations are still years away from arriving at your farm, the technology shown off at CES presents a roadmap for the future of agriculture. 

John Deere

John Deere revealed the next stage in its autonomous machinery development at CES, including functions for tillage, orchard spraying, landscaping, and construction. 

Jahmy Hindman, senior vice president and chief technology officer at John Deere, said the next-generation autonomous perception is a “significant leap” forward. The system unites Deere’s autonomous technology development — in agriculture, construction, and landscaping — to address labor availability challenges. 

“It’s difficult for customers in these industries to find, attract, and retain the talent they need to do the work required of them in their individual businesses,” Hindman said. “We’re taking our guidance solutions, our G5 displays, or JDLink modems — these bits and pieces of hardware and software that have been intelligently crafted over the last two decades — to form a system we can cascade across across all these industries.”

In addition to row crop applications, the autonomous system is also being developed for use by dump trucks in quarries, orchard spraying, and landscaping; with release dates to be determined. Developments in the individual segments will inform future development across Deere’s entire lineup. The company is steadfast in its goal of having a fully autonomous corn and soybean farm production system by 2030.

Kioti

Kioti Tractor and its parent company, Daedong Corporation, shared its blueprint for AI-driven agriculture in the near future, including precision farming, multifunctional agricultural robots, and AI plant cultivation systems. 

Kioti showed off its new RX7340 tractor with Daedong’s precision technology to demonstrate how it will be used throughout the farming cycle. The demo featured AI autonomously managing farm tasks, soil analysis and prescriptions, growth and past diagnosis, and the changes in harvest from conventional methods. 

The companies also unveiled a multifunctional agricultural robot at CES. The robot’s AI will respond to voice commands and its environment, autonomously performing various tasks. In the example, the company showed it performing in a strawberry field, transplanting seedlings to remove unnecessary runners, and managing the overall growth cycle. 

Daedong presented its AI-based plant cultivation system. This places seed capsules in the cultivation system, which the AI software and embedded cameras recognize the variety and assess growth status. From there, it automatically adjusts temperature, humidity, airflow, and nutrients for optimal growth. 

Kubota

Kubota’s vision of its future is centered around providing more choices to farmers. This includes offering diverse powertrain options, seamless access to data and analytics, improved connectivity, and advanced automation functions. 

“At Kubota, we believe that truly listening to our customers drives innovation in every aspect of what we call the ‘Work Loop’,” said Brett McMickell, chief technology officer of Kubota North America. “The Work Loop — an essential cycle of assessing, analyzing, and acting — has always been fundamental to effective task management. With the integration of advanced sensors, AI-driven analysis, networking protocols, automation, and robotics, we are enhancing this cycle to be more seamless and efficient than ever before.”

The company showed off a range of equipment, focused on autonomous concepts that may be on farms in the future. 

The Agri Concept 2.0 is an electric tractor concept with an electric powertrain for when you want to drive; and a data- and AI-driven autonomous mode when you don’t.

The Smart Autonomous Sprayer is a fully autonomous orchard chemical sprayer concept. This machine would be able to scout for pests, and spray based on vision systems to reduce chemical use. 

Kubota revealed the KATR, a four-wheeled all terrain, multifunctional robot. The KATR is built to provide a level cargo deck while working on uneven terrain, and can work autonomously or remotely for agriculture or construction tasks. The Smart Planter Imager, compatible with the KATR, uses advanced robotics and hyperspectral imaging cameras to capture real-time data and provide insights to growers and site managers. 

The company also revealed a variety of tech that it plans to bring to its autonomous machinery. Flash will capture highly-detailed images to detect plant-level health, and provide AI-generated recommendations to growers. The Smart Robotic Pruner helps make advanced image capture possible, using AI to classify buds and canes based on position and fruiting potential. 

Kubota has been developing the Hydrogen Engine Genset, which matches the portable power diesel models, with the benefit of a quiet and clean hydrogen.

For residential applications, Kubota revealed its Smart Autonomous Zero-Turn Mower. This uses a cooperative technology to work in tandem with multiple machines to complete large tasks.