Blue River Technology

AgTech computer vision and robotics behind John Deere's "See & Spray": AI that tells crops from weeds in real time so herbicide hits only weeds. Acquired by John Deere for $305M in 2017.

Services AgTech / Computer Vision / Robotics
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Sunnyvale, CA, USA (mostly on-site; John Deere subsidiary) HQ
201-1000 company size
2011 founded

What is Blue River Technology?

Blue River Technology is an agricultural technology company that applies computer vision and machine learning to farm equipment, and is best known for pioneering "See & Spray." Conventional weed control blanket-sprays an entire field with herbicide. See & Spray mounts cameras and on-board AI to a sprayer moving through a field, identifies in real time which plants are crops and which are weeds, and triggers individual nozzles to hit only the weeds. Doing that at tractor speed, in changing light, across varied crops and weed species, is a genuinely hard perception and edge-inference problem, and it translates into large reductions in herbicide use (reported figures range from roughly 50% in commercial deployments up to 90% in the company's own claims) along with cost savings and reduced chemical runoff. Blue River was founded in 2011 in Sunnyvale, California by Stanford graduate students Jorge Heraud and Lee Redden, with the stated mission of making farming more sustainable through robotics and computer vision. It raised venture backing from investors including Khosla Ventures, Data Collective (DCVC), Innovation Endeavors, Monsanto Growth Ventures, and Syngenta Ventures before John Deere acquired it in 2017 for $305M. Deere described Blue River as the clear leader in its search for a robotics and AI acquisition, and the team has since operated inside Deere as a central piece of its machine-learning and autonomy strategy, with See & Spray shipping as a commercial John Deere product.

Mission & values

Make farming more sustainable through robotics and computer vision, so growers can target inputs precisely instead of treating entire fields the same way.

Qualifications

Blue River hires the kind of roles a serious robotics and perception organization needs: computer-vision and machine-learning engineers (real-time detection and segmentation, model training and evaluation, data pipelines), embedded and edge-inference engineers (models must run on equipment in the field, not in a data center), robotics and controls engineers, hardware, mechanical, and electrical engineers for the sprayer and camera systems, test and field-operations engineers, plus product, program management, and agronomy specialists who bring real crop and weed domain knowledge. Application flow runs through John Deere's careers site as well as Blue River's own site, since it is a Deere subsidiary. Important for remote job seekers: much of this work is inherently on-site. Hardware, robotics, lab, and field-testing roles require physical presence in Silicon Valley and at farm and test sites, and even many software roles lean hybrid because they depend on hardware-in-the-loop testing. Some pure software, ML, and data roles may allow more flexibility, but remote eligibility is limited and varies by posting, so check each one rather than assuming.

Leadership

J

Jorge Heraud

Co-Founder (CEO at founding)

Co-founded Blue River Technology in 2011 as a Stanford graduate student and led it as CEO through the 2017 John Deere acquisition, after which he continued in Deere's automation and autonomy leadership.

L

Lee Redden

Co-Founder (CTO at founding)

Co-founded Blue River Technology in 2011 as a Stanford graduate student and served as CTO, driving the computer-vision and machine-learning work behind See & Spray.

Hiring process

  1. 1

    Apply via John Deere careers or Blue River site

    Roles are posted through John Deere's careers portal as well as the Blue River site, since Blue River operates as a Deere subsidiary.

  2. 2

    Recruiter screen

    Confirms role fit, level, and on-site or hybrid expectations, which matter here given the hardware and field-testing component.

    About 10 days

  3. 3

    Hiring manager interview

    Role-specific conversation on your domain: perception, embedded inference, robotics, hardware, or agronomy.

    About 10 days

  4. 4

    Technical loop

    Computer vision and ML: coding plus detection/segmentation and model-evaluation discussion, often with real-world edge-case scenarios. Hardware and robotics: design review and systems problem-solving.

    About 14 days

  5. 5

    Onsite interviews and offer

    Onsite loop in Silicon Valley, then an offer with base, bonus, and Deere equity where applicable.

    About 14 days

Funding

StageAcquired
Investors
John Deere (acquirer, 2017, $305M) Khosla Ventures Data Collective (DCVC) Innovation Endeavors Syngenta Ventures

Awards & recognition

  • Acquired by John Deere for $305M · 2017

    John Deere

  • See & Spray commercialized as a John Deere product · 2022

    John Deere

Company information

Frequently asked questions

What does Blue River Technology do?
It builds computer vision and robotics for agriculture, most notably See & Spray: cameras and on-board AI mounted to a sprayer that identify crops versus weeds in real time and spray only the weeds, cutting herbicide use substantially.
Is Blue River independent?
No. John Deere acquired Blue River in 2017 for $305M, and it has operated as a Deere subsidiary since, forming a core part of Deere's AI and autonomy work. See & Spray ships as a commercial John Deere product.
Who founded Blue River?
Jorge Heraud and Lee Redden, both Stanford graduate students at the time, founded it in 2011 in Sunnyvale, California, with Heraud as CEO and Redden as CTO. Leadership now sits within John Deere.
Are Blue River jobs remote?
Mostly not. Hardware, robotics, lab, and field-testing work requires physical presence in Silicon Valley and at farm and test sites, and many software roles lean hybrid because of hardware-in-the-loop testing. Some pure software, ML, and data roles may be more flexible; check each posting.
How much does See & Spray reduce herbicide use?
Reported reductions range from roughly 50% in commercial deployments up to 90% in the company's own claims, depending on crop, weed pressure, and configuration.
What engineering skills does it look for?
Real-time computer vision and machine learning, edge and embedded inference (models must run on machinery in the field), robotics and controls, plus hardware, mechanical, and electrical engineering. Agronomy and crop domain knowledge is valued alongside the technical work.

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