Kubota Corporation (Head Office: Naniwa-ku, Osaka, Japan; President and Representative Director: Yuichi Kitao) and its U.S. holding company, Kubota North America Corporation (Head Office: Texas, United States of America; hereinafter “KNA”; together “Kubota”), have been collaborating with the U.S. startup Agtonomy since 2024 to conduct joint projects aimed at providing smart solutions for specialty crops through the development of data platforms and automation systems. The companies have begun discussions regarding commercialization, including sales and customer support, and will accelerate their collaboration.

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  Kubota tractor equipped with Agtonomy's automation sensors

1. Background and purpose

• As the shortage of agricultural labor becomes more serious around the world, Kubota is working on establishing smart solutions using automation systems and a data platform that enables efficient agriculture.
• California, Oregon and Washington, U.S.A., are major agricultural regions with the highest agricultural product sales in the U.S., actively producing crops collectively referred to as specialty crops, including fruits, vegetables, and nuts. However, in recent times, rising prices of agricultural materials, labor shortages, and increasing workforce expenses have become urgent challenges. This has led to a growing demand for sustainable and efficient agricultural practices, particularly in the areas of automation of farming operations, data-driven optimization, and improved labor efficiency.
• Agtonomy is a startup operating primarily in California, Oregon, and Washington, specializing in automation technology for specialty crop cultivation. Based on feedback from growers, Agtonomy is focused on improving the precision and productivity of farming tasks, driving technological innovation towards sustainable agriculture.
• Kubota and Agtonomy have been working on joint projects since 2024. By integrating Agtonomy's automation technology and operational platform with our tractor, sprayer, and AI-based Camera system, we have been advancing the development of smart solutions that not only reduce pesticide usage but also decrease labor requirements.
• Kubota and Agtonomy will strengthen their efforts to provide more innovative solutions based on a shared vision, working towards the realization of sustainable agriculture. Moving forward, we will collaborate with our agricultural machinery dealers in North America to identify challenges in sales and customer support, aiming to commercialize smart solutions.

2. About Agtonomy

Company	Mooco Robotics, Inc. (d/b/a Agtonomy)
CEO	Tim Bucher
Headquarters	South San Francisco, California, USA
Founded	2021
Business	Development of platforms for precision automated operations and provision of data-driven smart agriculture

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