Farming has always been a part of Craig Rupp’s life.
He grew up on a farm in central Iowa.
When he worked the Climate Corporation, he saw first-hand the struggles farmers were going through.
“One major problem that kept them up at night was the lack of labor. It’s not the cost of labor, it’s just a lack of labor. These farmers are having a very difficult time finding labor that can help them throughout the year,” said Rupp.
Rupp combined his background in farming and his degrees in electrical engineering to find a solution. The result? Self-driving tractors.
His company, Sabanto, outfits tractors with GPS receivers, cellular communications, and a controller.
Then they monitor the tractors from hundreds of miles away while they do everything from planting to cultivating.
“It gets pretty eerie lying in bed at 11:00 at night looking at your cell phone watching this little tractor 600-plus miles away toiling in the fields in Nebraska,” said Rupp.
Rupp says autonomy is not going to be replacing famers.
Used correctly, he believes it can offer a much more economical and sustainable approach to the industry.
“By bringing autonomy into the picture, we have the ability to run longer hours with smaller equipment. It’s a very cost-effective option to perform various field operations more effectively,” he said.
Rupp is Wednesday’s Science on Tap-Minocqua speaker. He’ll be taking people through the history of his company and what it took to get where he is now.
“There were a lot of defining moments in the history of the company which took us down a fairly unique path that others are not taking,” said Rupp.
The presentation starts at 6:30 p.m. via zoom and YouTube.
