In the vast, open fields of Montana, a wheat farmer named Justin Yirsa is rethinking the economics of his farm operation, and his journey offers a glimpse into the practical realities of autonomy in agriculture. Yirsa’s story is not about labor shortages, but about the increasingly high capital expenses in agriculture, and how autonomy might offer a solution.
Yirsa’s dilemma is a familiar one. His Steiger tractor and Bourgault seeder, both reliable workhorses, are showing their age. A new setup, a Steiger 720 and Bourgault 3725, came with a price tag north of $2 million. “I can’t do this anymore,” Yirsa told Craig Rupp, CEO of Sabanto, a pioneer in autonomous farming. “Something’s gotta change.” The line that stuck with Rupp? “I want to spend my money on land, not equipment.”
Yirsa’s solution? Instead of running one expensive, large seeder for 12 hours a day, he’s considering multiple smaller, cheaper systems running 24 hours a day. His goal: seed his entire farm in 20 days. He’s not just thinking about solving a labor issue; he’s rethinking the entire economics of his farm operation.
Rupp, who has been driving autonomy into the ag industry for about six years, sees this as a trend. While media pundits often pitch autonomy as the solution to labor shortages, Rupp sees something different on the front lines. Farmers are turning to autonomy to tackle the increasingly high capital expenses in agriculture.
Yirsa’s analysis is meticulous. He looked at tractors ranging from 33 to 250 HP, calculated the maximum drill width each tractor could realistically pull, and then projected 24/7 runtimes to estimate how many acres each tractor/seeder combo could cover in his 20-day window. He built a cost table for each tractor horsepower, listing tractor MSRP, seeder cost, autonomy cost, and acres covered per tendering.
The trade-off is clear. Running around the clock only works if both the autonomous tractors and their seeders run flawlessly. But Yirsa isn’t scared. If one smaller machine goes down, he’d still have something greater than 0% throughput. It’s not as if he’s never had to park his single big iron because of a breakdown.
Rupp’s takeaway? Yirsa didn’t come to autonomy because he had a labor problem. He came to it because the capital expense of big iron doesn’t pencil out anymore. The cost of big iron keeps climbing, while commodity prices and net margins aren’t keeping pace. For years, farmers were focused on ‘making money’. Today they’re more concerned about ‘saving money’.
In this series of opinion pieces, Rupp explores the reality of autonomous farming and what it could mean for farmers today. He offers unique insights into why a standard autonomous tractor may often be more effective than a dedicated field robot. As one of the first to operate a fleet of autonomous tractors, Rupp’s perspective is invaluable.
In the next part of this series, Rupp will cover how Yirsa made it work and the 1.8 million reasons why thinking small might just be the smartest move a farmer can make today. For now, Yirsa’s story serves as a real-world example of the practical realities of autonomy in agriculture. It’s not about the shiny new technology; it’s about the bottom line. And for Yirsa, that means spending his money on land, not equipment.