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Mini GUSS · photo pending manufacturer approval
Spraying · Fully autonomous

Mini GUSS

California-built (Kingsburg) autonomous orchard/vineyard sprayer — GUSS Automation's smaller sibling to the base Orchard GUSS, built roughly 25% smaller to fit high-density orchard and vineyard rows. Same driverless GPS+LiDAR row navigation and laptop-based fleet supervision as the base machine (one operator can watch up to 8 units), on a 400-gallon tank with interchangeable vineyard and apple/high-density-orchard spray towers rather than the base machine's larger 600-gallon tank. Sold and serviced only through the John Deere/GUSS dealer network in the US and Australia; GUSS Automation is now a John Deere subsidiary following an acquisition confirmed on GUSS's own site.

Available in: United States · Australia

At a glance

Best for

Commercial vineyard, high-density-orchard and berry operations in the US or Australia that need a narrower, lower-profile autonomous sprayer than the base Orchard GUSS — its standard height (5 ft 4 in) and 400-gallon tank are sized for tighter row spacing rather than large tree-nut orchards.

Avoid if

You farm outside the US or Australia — the manufacturer's own dealer locator lists no EU presence and no CE-marking evidence was found. Also avoid if you need the base Orchard GUSS's larger 600-gallon tank capacity for extensive tree-nut acreage, or want fully unattended operation with nobody watching — this is supervised autonomy, one operator actively monitoring up to 8 machines by laptop.

Not suitable for

Row crops, cereals and vegetables — Mini GUSS sprays permanent tree/vine crops only. Growers without the acreage or row density to justify a dedicated autonomous sprayer over a conventional airblast rig; no manufacturer-published unit price was found (a third-party equipment marketplace lists one — see price notes).

Specifications

Power sourceDiesel — Cummins F3.8 173 hp Stage V engine; 77-gallon fuel cell gives roughly 12 hours of runtime (agtecher.com; not listed on gussag.com's own Mini GUSS page)
Required tractor powerNot applicable — self-propelled 4WD/4-wheel-steer platform, not a tractor implement
Dimensions19 ft long x 6 ft wide x 5 ft 4 in tall (standard/transport configuration); 9 ft 2 in tall with the Apple Tower fitted; 9 ft tall with the Vineyard Tower fitted (gussag.com)
WeightApprox. 8,800-8,840 lb (3,990-4,010 kg) empty — two secondary listings give close but non-identical figures (agtecher.com: 8,840 lb / 4,010 kg; agricultural-robotics.com: 8,800 lb / 3,992 kg); not published on gussag.com itself
Min farm sizeNot disclosed as a number; GUSS markets the Mini GUSS at commercial vineyard/orchard/berry scale, not hobby-farm scale
Productivity77-gallon fuel cell gives approximately 12-hour runtime (agtecher.com); one operator can monitor/supervise up to 8 GUSS units at once from a laptop (GUSS fleet-supervision model, per agtecher.com and GUSS company materials)
Max speedNot disclosed
SensorsGPS, LiDAR and onboard vehicle sensors for autonomous row navigation and obstacle avoidance (agtecher.com; consistent with the GUSS family's published navigation stack)
ConnectivityLaptop-based fleet supervision — one operator monitors up to 8 GUSS units at once; data connects to the John Deere Operations Center (gussag.com)
Compatible tools400-gallon (1,514 L) stainless-steel tank; 36-inch direct-drive fan; hydraulic-drive centrifugal water pump; 28 standard ceramic nozzles, or interchangeable 9 ft Vineyard Tower (22 ceramic nozzles) / 9 ft 2 in Apple/high-density-orchard Tower (44 ceramic nozzles); 4WD/4-wheel steering (agtecher.com)
Configurations
Mini GUSS (standard nozzle configuration)28-nozzle base configuration, 5 ft 4 in transport height
Mini GUSS + Vineyard Tower9 ft, 22-ceramic-nozzle tower for vineyard row spraying
Mini GUSS + Apple Tower9 ft 2 in, 44-ceramic-nozzle tower for apple and other high-density-orchard spraying

Price & ROI

Price (EUR)≈€261,000 (converted from the agtecher.com USD listing; not independently confirmed by the manufacturer)
Native price$283,660 USD (agtecher.com equipment-marketplace listing — GUSS Automation does not publish Mini GUSS pricing on its own site, same as the sibling base GUSS profile in this catalog; a separate secondary listing (agricultural-robotics.com) gives a bundled $300K-400K range across the whole GUSS/Mini GUSS/Herbicide GUSS family, not Mini-GUSS-specific, which is a loose but not contradictory cross-check)
Price verified2026-07-19
Business modelBuy, sold and serviced through the John Deere/GUSS Automation dealer network in the US and Australia (gussag.com dealer locator); no Mini-GUSS-specific lease or pay-for-service option was found (contrast Herbicide GUSS, which GUSS does offer as a service option per the sibling base-GUSS profile).
Ongoing costDiesel fuel, tires and spray consumables (nozzles, pump wear parts); no published service-cost figures were found. GUSS's own Mini GUSS page notes eligibility for California's CARB FARMER equipment-replacement incentive funding, a US-specific program, not a running cost.
MaintenanceServiced via the John Deere/GUSS Automation dealer network (US and Australia — same channel as the base Orchard GUSS); GUSS Automation is now a John Deere subsidiary, confirmed via a "John Deere Acquires GUSS Automation" news release referenced on gussag.com's own site navigation (the release document itself returned a 404 this session, so the exact acquisition date is not independently re-confirmed here).
Payback modelMini GUSS · GUSS Automation (John Deere subsidiary)
No manufacturer payback figure is published for this machine. The model below uses only your inputs.
Your farm

Farm figures carry across machines; the per-machine rates reset when you open a different listing.

Your result · per year
Labour saved
Inputs saved
Total saved

Payback = machine price ÷ (labour + input savings per year). Every figure above is yours to change. FX is indicative.

Verified outcomes

Each result is a before-to-after figure with a time horizon and a cited source. Independently-verified results are marked separately from vendor-claimed ones.

Chemical and water use with the Smart Apply optionHerbicide & crop-protectionper season · John Deere / GUSS Automation — Smart Apply upgrade announcement, World Ag Expo 2024, via Global AgTech Initiative
up to 50% chemical and water savings on averageVendor-claimedStandard blanket blast-spray application at a fixed rate → Smart Apply Intelligent Spray Control System, an add-on explicitly offered for "the diesel-powered Orchard GUSS and mini GUSS autonomous blast sprayers," senses individual tree/vine size and foliage density and adjusts spray volume automatically

EU context

CE markingNot disclosed — no CE-marking evidence found on gussag.com; the manufacturer's own dealer locator lists only US and Australia coverage
EU Machinery RegulationNot applicable — no evidence Mini GUSS has been placed on the EU market
AI Act relevanceNot assessed for EU deployment — no EU sales/service presence found; the onboard GPS/LiDAR autonomous-navigation stack would likely require an AI Act risk review if placed on the EU market
CAP subsidyNot applicable — no EU/CAP-linked deployment found; in the US, GUSS's own Mini GUSS page notes eligibility for California's CARB FARMER equipment-replacement incentive program, which is unrelated to EU CAP

Get it

Verified EU dealers
GUSS Automation (direct; John Deere subsidiary)Kingsburg, California, US
Papé Machinery Agriculture & Turf (John Deere dealer)California, Oregon and Washington, US (multi-state dealer network)
RDO Equipment Co. (John Deere dealer)New South Wales, Northern Territory and Queensland, Australia
Request a quote →
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Evidence

Sources

Specifications cross-checked against manufacturer documentation; listing last verified 2026-07-19.

Demo
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