Grainswest - Tech 2025

Tech 2025 Grains West 28 FEATURE Know it all now The CropScanAg tool analyzes the protein and moisture levels of freshly combined grain. Developed in Australia, but used globally, CropScanAg has created a new on-combine grain analyzer to give farmers up-to-the-second results. Its newest model, the 4000VT and corresponding N-Gauge app, challenges the notion farmers can’t know everything about their grain the instant it’s harvested. The device links directly to a combine’s ISOBUS system via the wiring harness and has been specifically designed for CNH machines. The company is in talks with multiple combine manufacturers to see the 4000VT integrated with their ISOBUS systems as a standard feature. Additional combine brands can be outfitted with the company’s 3600H model, which performs the same analysis, but with an extra monitor. “The tech is virtually identical to what the elevators use in their Foss machines,” said Dean Scrivens, the company’s Canadian technical specialist in Camrose. Powered by NIR, the tool uses light between 720 and 1,100 nanometres to analyze the protein and moisture levels of freshly combined grain. Every three seconds the 4000VT CropScanAg captures data that includes a GPS location of each sample’s field origin. At the same time, the system maps field quality and conditions that can be reviewed as soon as the field is harvested. With this real-time data, a farmer can make timely decisions. If they’re combining canola and see moisture levels climb, they can choose to stop, continue or put it in a bag or bin. “That’s the immediate use of the data,” said Scrivens. He noted that for CWRS, its accuracy is within 0.2 to 0.3 per cent on moisture and protein, respectively. For barley, it is 0.4 for both measurements, and 0.5 on canola for the same criteria. The tool shifts the focus solely away from yield, which, although important, only represents part of the picture, said Scrivens. “The problem is, a yield map will simply show low or high yield,” he said. “A farmer would be tempted to put more nitrogen on those [low yield] areas to increase yield.” The system lets a farmer know where more nitrogen is required. From its field map, the system creates a VR fertilizer prescription for the following year’s crop. Scrivens said a 5,000-acre farm “notices a significant return on investment in the first year.” The machine is shipped with calibration protocols to automatically analyze almost every crop grown in North America, including barley, canola, chickpea, corn, lentils, oats, sorghum, soybeans, wheat and rice. The benchtop unit, the 3000X, does all these same crops. “ The tech is virtually identical to what the elevators use in their Foss machines.” – Dean Scrivens