SAN ANTONIO (DTN) -- The Davidson Prize for agricultural innovation was awarded Thursday, Feb. 26, at the 2026 Commodity Classic to Grain Weevil and PTx Trimble's OutRun autonomous tillage system.

Given by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) and Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), the Davidson Prize is awarded for extraordinary innovation and its impact on agriculture, food and biological systems.

The Davidson Prize is named for J.B. Davidson, the father of modern agricultural engineering. Dr. Davidson saw the need to find ways to fuse the disciplines of agriculture and engineering.

A bit about the winners:

-- Grain Weevil. Co-founded by father and son, Chad and Ben Johnson, Grain Weevil is built to go where most farmers would rather not go -- inside a grain bin.

Grain Weevil, La Vista, Nebraska, began its life as a grain bin safety and management robot doing the work inside the bin -- grain leveling, breaking crusts and bridges and assisting with grain unloading. The Grain Weevil works to make grain handling safer but also helps reduce spoilage and loss of quality.

The mobile robot uses auger-based propulsion to engage directly with grain and other granular materials in bulk storage.

"The robot can control risk, reduce cost, and actively optimize stored granular materials," said Ben Johnson.

-- OutRun Tillage. OutRun Tillage is a retrofit technology from PTx Trimble, a PTx brand, that can be added to existing tractors turning them, when paired with a tillage tool, into an autonomous tillage package freeing labor to perform other work. PTx is an AGCO brand.

The OutRun autonomy kit is currently compatible with John Deere 8000R and 8R tractors with IVT transmissions and will be compatible with Fendt 900 and 1000 tractors later in 2026.

OutRun currently supports autonomous grain cart operations, along with autonomous tillage. PTx Trimble's OutRun autonomous grain cart technology was recognized with a Davidson Prize in 2025.

"Timeliness of every field task matters, not just to get that task completed, but to hit the optimum agronomic window for each task," Darcy Cook, senior director of autonomous solutions at PTx, said in a release. "OutRun Tillage extends the OutRun system beyond the grain cart operation, which won the 2025 Davidson Prize, and adds autonomous tillage capability for farmers as they work toward full crop cycle autonomy."

Davidson Prize winners are selected annually from a larger field of ASABE's AE50 award winners. Since its establishment in 1986, the AE50 Award program has recognized innovations that help producers save time, reduce costs and labor, and enhance safety and usability.

Dan Miller can be reached at dan.miller@dtn.com

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