March 2022 - 19

Expo's top 10 was an all-electric
Class 8 refrigerated truck from
Hummingbird EV. The Class 8 trucks
" handle the movement of ag goods
from farm to warehouse, warehouse
to packing centers, packing centers
to cold storage, cold storage to
retail warehouses, and from retail
warehouses to consumers - with zero
emissions, " according to the World Ag
Expo website.
Other advanced, innovative tractors
made the rounds at trade shows during
the winter season. Ag giant John
Deere - which in December
announced acquiring majority
ownership in Austrian battery
technology provider Kreisel Electric
Inc. - displayed at shows a fully
autonomous, albeit traditionally
powered, tractor that's commercially
available in 2022. New Holland
Agriculture North America in
February launched a tractor that runs
on methane, which can be created
from agricultural waste.
EV acceptance
Specialty crop growers value
advances in automation in light of
their challenges to find labor for
tending and harvesting crops. Mondavi
said most growers also see a value to
electric vehicles out of a desire for
cleaner farming, " Not one farmer
wants to spray (pesticides). "
With solar panels and a microgrid,
" you're powering your tractor with the
same energy that grows crops, " he said.
But even Mondavi thinks that
government policy is an important part
of EVs being accepted in agriculture.
" I would say that governments
need to really embrace (EV vehicles
in agriculture), " he said. " A farming
tractor is a legacy investment, so a
family might buy a tractor and say,
'This is something my kids are going
to have.' And so, getting people to say,
'OK, I'm going to get away from my
legacy investment into the future of
clean farming and whatnot,' is probably
the biggest challenge.
" And I think that having
governments to help them get the
support that they need - because,
on a unit-by-unit basis, if you look
at subsidies for electric vehicles, if
you look at being able to take a diesel
tractor off the road and put in a
Monarch electric tractor, it's like
14 cars when hooked up to the grid. It's
a significant amount of impact. Having
governments - local or federal - be
able to support the movement with some
sort of subsidies so farmers are able to
adopt these transitions, I think, is really
important. And I say that as a farmer. "
A Monarch tractor at an organic
blueberry farm in Oregon, Hopville
Farms, was funded through the
USDA's Conservation Innovation
Grant program. The tractor will be
used to automate specific blueberry
field maintenance tasks in an effort
to reduce the use of diesel fuels while
improving farming productivity,
according to Monarch. In cooperation
with Oregon State University, Hopville
Farms and Monarch Tractor will work
FGN | MARCH 2022 | 19
together to create a platform for field
data collection that is expected to
improve agronomy practices.
Farmers need a bit of help, making
those transitions Mondavi said.
" We're a conservative group, right? "
he said. " I know that. We don't
just pivot, and make a quick move,
reactionarily. And so, that's one thing I
think will be challenging. "
He also makes his sales pitch based
on simple savings. A calculator on
Monarch's website allows growers to
figure out their potential savings by
going electric, based on fuel costs and
how much they use their tractors.
" There's significant savings to be
earned by jumping into Monarch, "
Mondavi said. FGN
A Monarch tractor. Photo: Monarch
March 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2022
