The idea that tractors used in broadacre farming may have peaked in size and will someday be replaced by groups of smaller, autonomous machines has been kicking around for at least a decade.
In theory, there’s certainly still a case to be made for smaller machines that cost less and reduce soil compaction, while having the redundancy of multiple machines if one goes down. Dozens of companies have experimented with prototypes and concept vehicles, but are we getting any closer to widespread adoption of lower horsepower, autonomous fleets in the field?
It’s a question we posed to Scott Shearer, professor and chair of the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Ohio State University, who has discussed this concept in his presentations for many years.
Liability concerns and the downturn in the ag economy are limiting progress, but the level of automation on new machines is still increasing and many companies are now marketing retrofit autonomy kits, Shearer points out.
“I suspect when we see that cyclic nature of the ag economy come back again, we’ll start seeing a lot more of this equipment in the field,” he says. “Let’s not forget, the typical ag tractor has a life somewhere around 15,000-20,000 hours. In the state of Ohio, we know those farmers are using that tractor about 300 hours a year, so if you do the math, that tractor is going to be on a farm a long time.”
He sees manufacturers continuing to reduce the number of tasks the equipment operator is directly responsible for, while shifting toward supervised autonomy where one operator looks after more than one machine.
John Deere, for example, had a number of supervised units in field testing this past fall for tillage applications, notes Shearer.
Check out this clip for Shearer’s latest thoughts on the move toward smaller, autonomous tractors, recorded at the 2025 CropConnect Conference in Winnipeg, Man.:
Related: Your Future Tractor Will Be…
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