{"id":"6d7a5945-2795-4bcd-ac1a-31d667f0283a","modelId":"08bcaf47-3702-4e9c-9d48-0b638d56e8c2","versionId":null,"locationId":"0d03ba47-14bf-47ba-a103-b4ebed318796","operatorId":null,"ownerId":null,"slug":"bear-flag-church-brothers-salinas","status":"ended","firstSeen":"2020-01-01T00:00:00.000Z","statusChangeReason":null,"sourceQualityTier":null,"manufacturerSerial":null,"reviewStatus":"reviewed","sources":[{"url":"https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/equipment/article/2021/02/16/custom-autonomous-tillage-kits-drive","label":"Custom Autonomous Tillage and Kits to Retrofit Tractors Drive Company","title":"Custom Autonomous Tillage and Kits to Retrofit Tractors Drive Company","mediaType":"article","publishedAt":"2021-02-16"},{"url":"https://agfundernews.com/agfunder-exit-review-why-john-deere-acquired-bear-flag-robotics-for-250m","label":"AgFunder exit review: John Deere's $250M acquisition of Bear Flag Robotics","title":"AgFunder exit review: John Deere's $250M acquisition of Bear Flag Robotics","mediaType":"article","publishedAt":"2021-08-05"},{"url":"https://www.futurefarming.com/tech-in-focus/autonomous-tractors-at-work-for-church-brothers-farms/","label":"Autonomous tractors at work for Church Brothers Farms","title":"Autonomous tractors at work for Church Brothers Farms","mediaType":"article","publishedAt":"2021-01-01"},{"url":"https://www.producebluebook.com/2021/03/05/driverless-tractor-tech-takes-on-salinas/","label":"Driverless tractor tech takes on Salinas","title":"Driverless tractor tech takes on Salinas","mediaType":"article","publishedAt":"2021-03-05"}],"notes":"Church Brothers LLC (Church Brothers Farms), one of the largest produce growers in the US and based in the Salinas Valley, deployed Bear Flag Robotics autonomous tractor retrofit systems for tillage and ground preparation on their California fields starting in 2020. Church Brothers VP of Agriculture Josh Ruiz noted that the autonomous system outperformed human operators for precision: 'the work the computer is doing is actually better than what my people can do.' Bear Flag operated five 370-horsepower tractors during the 2020 season across approximately a dozen customers, charging roughly $20/acre for custom autonomous tillage. Church Brothers was the anchor enterprise customer, tilling parts of their fields almost every day of the year and providing a high-density data collection environment. California regulations required an on-site handler monitoring each robot during field operations at the time. Bear Flag Robotics was acquired by John Deere for $250M in August 2021; its autonomous tractor technology was folded into John Deere's commercial autonomous 8R program.","keyFacts":[{"label":"Operator","value":"Church Brothers LLC (Church Brothers Farms), Salinas Valley CA"},{"label":"Deployment start","value":"2020 (testing from 2019)"},{"label":"End","value":"August 2021 (Bear Flag acquired by John Deere)"},{"label":"Task","value":"Autonomous tillage and ground preparation"},{"label":"Crops","value":"Lettuce and other high-value vegetables"},{"label":"Service model","value":"Autonomous Tillage-as-a-Service, ~$20/acre"},{"label":"Fleet size","value":"5 tractors (2020 season across ~12 customers)"},{"label":"Base tractor","value":"John Deere 8RT 370 hp with Bear Flag retrofit kit"}],"reviewNote":null,"exposureHours":null,"exposureBasis":null,"customerSegment":null,"scaleTier":null,"contractValueUsd":null,"contractValueBasis":null,"customerCompanyId":null,"customerExternalName":null,"createdAt":"2026-06-11T16:21:40.235Z","updatedAt":"2026-06-12T00:11:41.279Z","model":{"id":"08bcaf47-3702-4e9c-9d48-0b638d56e8c2","companyId":"c6deed28-76f1-4b41-9ddb-a20b9b5b1629","modelName":"Bear Flag autonomous tractor retrofit","slug":"bear-flag-autonomous-tractor","description":"Autonomous retrofit kit for existing farm tractors. Bear Flag added lidar, cameras, and GPS hardware drawn from the autonomous vehicle industry to standard tractors, enabling driverless tillage and ground-prep operations. Deployed commercially in California's Salinas Valley and Central Valley from 2020. The technology was acquired by John Deere in August 2021 and contributed to the John Deere autonomous 8R tractor program announced at CES 2022.","formFactor":"agriculture","maturityStage":"commercial","lifecycleState":"active","supersededByModelId":null,"specs":{"crops":"Lettuce, wheat, cotton, tomatoes and other vegetables","tasks":"Tillage, cultivating, ground prep","region":"California (Salinas Valley, Central Valley)","base_tractor":"John Deere 8RT (primary); other brands in development","sensor_suite":"Lidar, cameras, GPS","service_model":"Autonomous Tillage-as-a-Service (~$20/acre)"},"manufacturerSerial":null,"reviewStatus":"reviewed","sources":[{"url":"https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/equipment/article/2021/02/16/custom-autonomous-tillage-kits-drive","label":"Custom Autonomous Tillage and Kits to Retrofit Tractors Drive Company","title":"Custom Autonomous Tillage and Kits to Retrofit Tractors Drive Company","mediaType":"article","publishedAt":"2021-02-16"},{"url":"https://agfundernews.com/agfunder-exit-review-why-john-deere-acquired-bear-flag-robotics-for-250m","label":"AgFunder exit review: John Deere's $250M acquisition of Bear Flag Robotics","title":"AgFunder exit review: John Deere's $250M acquisition of Bear Flag Robotics","mediaType":"article","publishedAt":"2021-08-05"}],"aliases":[],"collisionRisk":"low","reviewNote":null,"manufacturerTermForTeleop":null,"createdAt":"2026-06-11T16:21:39.874Z","updatedAt":"2026-06-12T00:10:13.759Z","company":{"id":"c6deed28-76f1-4b41-9ddb-a20b9b5b1629","name":"Bear Flag Robotics","slug":"bear-flag-robotics","description":null,"status":"John Deere subsidiary (acquired Aug 5 2021, $250M)","founded":2017,"hq":"Sunnyvale, California, USA","fundingTotal":null,"type":null,"reviewStatus":"unreviewed","sources":[{"url":"https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/john-deere-acquires-bear-flag-robotics-to-accelerate-autonomous-technology-on-the-farm-301349496.html","label":"John Deere Acquires Bear Flag Robotics to Accelerate Autonomous Technology on the Farm","title":"John Deere Acquires Bear Flag Robotics to Accelerate Autonomous Technology on the Farm","mediaType":"article","publishedAt":"2021-08-05"},{"url":"https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/05/john-deere-buys-autonomous-tractor-startup-bear-flag-robotics/","label":"John Deere buys autonomous tractor startup Bear Flag Robotics","title":"John Deere buys autonomous tractor startup Bear Flag Robotics","mediaType":"article","publishedAt":"2021-08-05"}],"keyFacts":[],"aliases":[],"collisionRisk":"low","reviewNote":null,"createdAt":"2026-06-11T16:21:38.638Z","updatedAt":"2026-06-11T16:21:38.638Z"}},"version":null,"location":{"id":"0d03ba47-14bf-47ba-a103-b4ebed318796","name":"Salinas","slug":"salinas-ca","kind":"city","parentLocationId":null,"region":null,"lat":null,"lng":null,"reviewStatus":"unreviewed","aliases":[],"collisionRisk":"high","reviewNote":null,"createdAt":"2026-06-07T22:51:58.912Z","updatedAt":"2026-06-07T22:51:58.912Z"},"operator":null,"owner":null,"derived":{"trustTier":"unverified","currentPosture":null},"jsonLd":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Event","@id":"https://registry.deploy.report/deployments/bear-flag-church-brothers-salinas","url":"https://registry.deploy.report/deployments/bear-flag-church-brothers-salinas","name":"Bear Flag autonomous tractor retrofit at Salinas","identifier":"6d7a5945-2795-4bcd-ac1a-31d667f0283a","startDate":"2020-01-01T00:00:00.000Z","location":{"@type":"Place","@id":"https://registry.deploy.report/locations/salinas-ca","name":"Salinas"},"organizer":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://registry.deploy.report/companies/bear-flag-robotics","name":"Bear Flag Robotics"},"about":{"@type":"Product","@id":"https://registry.deploy.report/models/bear-flag-autonomous-tractor","name":"Bear Flag autonomous tractor retrofit"},"publisher":{"@id":"https://deploy.report/#organization"}},"framework_metadata":{"framework_schema_version":"0.1.0","verification_status":"verified","maturity_stage":"commercial","lifecycle_state":"active","architectural_position":{"cohort":"agriculture","sub_cohorts":[]},"within_cohort_verified_vs_claimed_pair":null,"cap_flags":[],"verification_depth":{"sources_count":4,"primary_source_types":[]}}}