After three years of drought, rising expenses and difficult conversations with his banker, eighth-generation Kentucky farmer Quint Pottinger was running out of ways to save his family’s 245-year-old farm.
asserted
Pottinger → rise → farm
With costs already cut across seeds, fertilisers, labour and equipment, he needed a different solution.
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he → cut → solution
His answer came from an unexpected place: autonomous tractors.
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answer → come → place
According to Farm Journal, Pottinger discovered Sabanto, a company developing technology to convert conventional tractors into autonomous machines, after his lender suggested further equipment savings could improve the farm’s cash flow.
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savings → accord → flow
What began as an experiment has since changed how the family approaches planting and fieldwork.
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family → begin → planting
Three years of drought left the family farm struggling
Pottinger’s family has farmed the same land in Kentucky for 245 years.
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family → leave → years
However, three consecutive years of dry weather in July resulted in disappointing corn yields and mounting financial pressure.
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years → result → yields
“For the last three years, we've had bad dry weather in July and we've been making 100 to 130.
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we → have → 130
So, it's been hard to pay the bills,” Pottinger told Farm Journal.
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Pottinger → pay → Journal
The farm typically expected yields of around 150 to 170 bushels per acre, making the decline particularly difficult.
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decline → expect → acre
Pottinger recalled the anxiety of hearing from his lender during those years.
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Pottinger → recall → years
“Well, you knew you were going to get a call from the banker.
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you → know → banker
And you didn't know what his mood was going to be.
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mood → know → what
And depending on how his mood was going to be would set your mood for the week,” he said.
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he → depend → week
The family cut spending wherever possible, including on seeds, fertilisers, employees and equipment.
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family → cut → seeds
“We cut everything.
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We → cut → everything
We even cut our equipment,” Pottinger said.
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Pottinger → cut → equipment
But there was only so much they could reduce without affecting operations.
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they → be → operations
As he explained, “If the rain doesn't show up, it doesn't matter what you put in the ground, it's not going to grow.”
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it → explain → ground
A conversation with his banker led him to autonomous farming
Three years of drought have reduced crop yields on the Pottinger family farm.
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years → lead → farm
The turning point came when Pottinger’s lender suggested finding further equipment savings.
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lender → come → savings
Unsure where else to cut costs, he began searching online.
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he → cut → costs
“So I just Googled autonomy, and a company called Sabanto popped up on Google,” he recalled.
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he → google → Google
Sabanto was developing a system to convert conventional tractors into autonomous machines.
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Sabanto → develop → machines
Although its technology had not been fully developed for row-crop farming, Pottinger decided to test it.
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Pottinger → develop → it
“They hadn't really developed anything for row cropping, but they wanted to, but nothing ready yet.
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they → develop → cropping
And I thought, well, send the demo out.
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I → think → demo
Let's just see,” he said.
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he → let → ?
The demonstration convinced his father, Remy Pottinger, that the technology had potential.
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technology → convince → potential
“Well, they came and demonstrated it last year.
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they → come → it
And when it got through, I told Quint, ‘How soon can you get it in here?’” his father recalled.
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father → get → it
Meet Geneva, the autonomous tractor controlled by a phone
The autonomous tractor helps plant crops while reducing the need for constant manual operation.
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tractor → meet → operation
The family named its autonomous tractor Geneva, after Pottinger’s grandmother.
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family → name → grandmother
Rather than being a purpose-built driverless robot, it is a conventional tractor fitted with technology that allows it to operate autonomously.
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it → build → technology
“It's just a regular tractor that we can control with a cell phone,” Pottinger said.
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Pottinger → control → phone
He can assign tasks and monitor the tractor remotely.
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He → assign → tractor
According to him, setting up a mission takes around five minutes, allowing the family to plan many operations in advance.
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family → accord → advance
The tractor has already helped plant hundreds of acres.
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tractor → help → acres
Using an upgraded John Deere 750 drill, the family planted 500 acres of rye, wheat and barley, along with another 300 acres of cover crops.
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family → use → crops
“We're the first ones to do it and deploy it at this scale in the world,” Pottinger said, describing the family's experience with autonomous row-crop planting.
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Pottinger → do → planting
…and 26 more, not listed.
The Aporia
