49. Monarch Tractor – Automotive News

Founders: Praveen Penmetsa (CEO), Mark Schwager, Zachary Omohundro, Carlo Mondavi
Launched: 2018
Headquarters: Livermore, California
Funding: $116.4 million
Valuation: $271 million
Key technologies: Autonomous vehicles, robotics
Industry: Agriculture
Previous appearances on Disruptor 50 List: 1 (No. 20 in 2022)

Agriculture has been difficult to disrupt, and decarbonize. As the producer of the world’s first-ever fully electric, driver-optional smart tractor, Monarch Tractor’s goal is to bring sustainability to farming’s workhorse.  

The ag sector produces over 11% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, and in the case of methane specifically, nearly 25% of global emissions. That’s why Monarch believes its zero-emission MK-V tractor, which came off production lines this past December, can make a difference in climate change.

In addition to ending the era of manual diesel tractors, the use of autonomous field EVs can address labor shortages, safety concerns and risk of government regulation, and high-tech farm equipment outfitted with the latest cameras and sensors can learn as it moves through crop rows.

Alcoholic beverage giant Constellation Brands became Monarch’s first customer, purchasing the first six MK-V tractors to roll off the production line in December on behalf of vineyards.

The age of autonomous machinery is still in its infancy, and Monarch has a key Silicon Valley partner in chip giant NVIDIA, which supplies the tractors with its Jetson computer systems for driverless vehicles and support for the AI-based data analysis from on-board sensors and cameras. That can help make farm input use more efficient, such as cutting down on the need for pesticides, and improving crop yields. Monarch’s technology has attracted interest around the world from agriculture equipment companies, including a deal with CNH Industrial for its latest tractor generations, and India’s VST Tillers Tractors.

It’s also linked up with one of the world’s leading manufacturers for its initial series. In April, Chinese contract manufacturing giant Foxconn began MK-V tractor production at its Lordstown, Ohio, plant, which Foxconn bought from troubled EV maker Lordstown Motors last year.

While the MK-V tractors can sell for as much as $90,000, in California up to 80% of the cost can be covered by state government subsidies, according to a recent CNBC report. With growing government and societal incentives to make the shift toward greener farming, Monarch Tractor is confident in its abilities to transform the agriculture industry as we know it.  

But it has big competition. Farm machinery giant Deere, which has a 60% market share in the U.S., has made several acquisitions in the autonomous tractor and machine learning space. Its autonomous 8R, which debuted last year, doesn’t have much prominence in the fields yet, but it is Deere’s big bet on leading farming into a fully autonomous future within the next decade.