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Aug. 27, 2026
by Margy Eckelkamp. The Scoop magazine In a fertilizer warehouse in Nebraska, a John Deere 644 loader is learning to do one of ag retail's hardest-to-staff jobs without a person in the cab. And simultaneously, it could be redesigning ag retail's dry fertilizer status quo. Working with partners Polymath Robotics and KSI, Stueve Construction is preparing to commercialize Project FAST -- Fully Autonomous Smart Terminal -- with the goal of automating the loader first and eventually the entire dry fertilizer warehouse. Stueve has completed a working prototype and is preparing to expand the system to six locations. One of its loaders is on display at this week's MAGIE show in Bloomington, Ill. "The industry keeps telling us it's all about people," Bishop says. "They say it's their biggest constraint. It determines where facilities are built, how large they are and where expansions happen. The constraint is around resources. This technology allows customers to change their operational mindset." Could Automation Change The Footprint of Ag Retail? "Ultimately, the market will tell us what the future looks like," Bishop says. "In recent years, there's been a lot of focus on consolidating facilities and driving efficiency -- but a lot of those decisions come down to who can run the facility and where you can find people. If labor is no longer the same constraint, does that allow you to build closer to growers and provide more convenience? Does it mean more smaller buildings? Does it allow co-ops to stay in local communities? Time will tell if that's where the market wants to go, but we're having significant conversations about the strategic impact this could have." For ag retailers, Project FAST could create several new options: *Extend hours without adding labor *Preload fertilizer before the morning rush *Reassign experienced employees to higher-value work *Build or operate facilities in places where labor is scarce *Potentially reconsider the trend toward larger consolidated facilities *Serve growers with more convenience Automation is coming to ag retail, and Stueve wants to be the company that helps bring it there. The company is standing up a new business entity, Stueve Innovation, to support Project FAST and future technology projects for ag retailers. To read the entire article click here. Tweet |
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