Published: June 29, 2026
Updated: June 29, 2026
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John Deere See & Spray is proving it can quietly add 1–2 bushels per acre in soybeans while cutting herbicide use, based on both university research and the on-farm trials we’ve run with customers here in Ohio and Indiana. This isn’t theory or marketing talk; it’s product validation from real-world fields that look like yours.
What we’re seeing in local fields
When we put See & Spray in side-by-side soybean trials across multiple farms, the story was consistent: targeted spraying delivered about a 1–2 bu/acre yield bump compared to a full broadcast post-emerge pass. That average lines up very closely with independent research that shows roughly a 2 bu/acre soybean yield advantage when See & Spray is used versus traditional broadcast application.
Those trials weren’t done in perfect test plots alone. They were run in real production fields with 120-foot alternating strips of See & Spray and full-rate broadcast, harvested with commercial combines and realistic management. End rows and headlands were taken out of the data so the numbers reflect what’s happening in the heart of the field, not in the turn rows.
Why See & Spray can add yield
Most growers first look at See & Spray for input savings, but the yield story is just as important. The core idea is simple: when you stop spraying herbicide across the entire canopy and just hit the weeds, you reduce stress on the crop.
Contact herbicides do their job on weeds, but they can also ding soybean plants just enough to shave off top-end yield. With See & Spray, cameras and processors identify green weeds in real time and only treat those plants, so far less product lands on soybean leaves. Across research and our own trials, that targeted approach has been tied to:
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Less visible crop injury in soybeans compared to broadcast
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Healthier plants through the season, even when you can’t see a big difference from the road
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A small but consistent yield advantage in that 1–2 bu/acre range
On a per-acre basis, 1–2 bushels may not sound dramatic. Across 1,500 or 2,000 acres of soybeans, that extra grain coming across the scale becomes a meaningful line on your year-end balance sheet.
Herbicide savings without sacrificing clean fields
See & Spray was built first to reduce herbicide volume, and it does that well. In broader farm data and third-party case studies, growers using See & Spray have commonly seen herbicide savings in the neighborhood of 50–60% in row crops while maintaining or even improving weed control.
For a typical soybean program in our area, that can translate into double-digit dollars per acre in product savings after you factor in the technology license. When you stack those input savings with a 1–2 bu/acre yield bump at today’s soybean prices, the return on investment becomes very real:
Less herbicide applied across your acres
Fewer jugs and totes to handle and store
Cleaner fields without stepping backwards on resistant weeds
That combination is why more of our customers are choosing to “turn it on and go” once the system is on the machine.
How this fits Ohio and Indiana operations
In Ohio and Indiana, many of our customers are already fighting tight margins, resistant weeds like waterhemp, and narrow spraying windows. See & Spray fits that reality in a few important ways:
It works with John Deere and Hagie sprayers that are already popular in our area
It adapts well to larger, open fields that are common in western Ohio and east-central Indiana, and still brings value on mixed acreages
It supports typical local soybean programs that use a solid pre, then one or two post passes
Because See & Spray also ties into John Deere Operations Center, you can see where the boom actually sprayed, how much product you saved, and how the crop responded. That record-keeping gives you the confidence to adjust rates, timings, and programs over time instead of guessing.
What this means for your farm
For many of the growers we work with, See & Spray is becoming less of a “nice-to-have” and more of a logical next step in their spray program. If you’re growing soybeans across Ohio or Indiana and you:
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Want to trim herbicide costs without losing control of tough weeds
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Are interested in recapturing 1–2 bu/acre that might be lost to crop injury
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Prefer technology that you can turn on and run, not babysit all day... ?
... then it’s worth sitting down to look at the numbers on your acres, with your herbicide program.
Ready to talk through whether See & Spray pencils out on your operation? Contact Koenig Equipment, or stop by your nearest location in Ohio or Indiana, and our team will walk you through the yield data, cost savings, and options to add this technology to your sprayer.
