Behold: The Monarch - Ag s First Electric, Self Driving Tractor That Makes Organic Farming Even More Eco-Friendly
A new tractor just hit the market and it promises to revolutionize it with the same savvy as anything on Elon Musk s plate.
For years I and many others have haunted viticulture equipment shows (including EcoFarm and Unified Symposium) looking for the electric tractor of our dreams. There have been minor forays into the category, but none had the power, versatility or intelligence to be the Holy Grail.
That s all changed with the introduction of the new Monarch tractor, which debuted on local TV news this week. See the video news story here.
Left to right: Mark Schwager, president, Carlo Mondavi, chief farming officer, Praveen Penmesta, CEO, Zachary Omohundro, CTO
A compact, smart, electric tractor has been on the wish list of sustainably-minded winegrowers the world over. With no significant advances in tractor technology for more than a decade, the arrival of the Monarch tractor represents the missing link needed to fast track the integration of precision agriculture and address the growing labor challenges confronting the wine industry.
After spending five long years in development at Motivo Engineering and almost two years in trials in Northern California, the Monarch electric tractor (e-tractor) which takes its name from Carlo Mondavi’s sustainability initiative the Monarch Challenge, made a quiet debut at the Unified Symposium in early 2020.