GrainsWest Fall 2019

Tech 2019 grainswest.com 33 fan speed as well as chaffer and sieve clearances. Using the John Deere operations app, the combine operator can view and adjust settings remotely using a smartphone or tablet. The package will be of particular interest to farmers who operate multi-combine fleets. Once one combine is set up, the operator can cascade the settings to the balance of the machines. Last year, Didsbury-area seed grain farmer Devin Hartzler used Combine Advisor on his S770 combine to harvest canola, wheat and barley. He saw immediate improvement in grain quality as well as diminished yield loss. “It’s an interesting system,” he said. “It’s really quite incredible how well it did at keeping grain and cleaning grain.” SMARTER SEEDING EQUIPMENT Clean Seed Capital Group’s CX-6 SMART Seeder is different from anything on the market, according to CEO Colin Rush. While air seeders offer efficiency advantages, their longer drills create variability, meaning farmers never know how well their target rate is being met. In contrast, planters, which are used mostly for corn and soybeans, are hyper accurate in terms of seed placement but can’t lay down crop inputs. “We knew that farmers were not happy with air seeders, and we knew that planters only addressed half the equation,” said Rush. Rather than featuring a centrally metered system with extensive hoses, the CX-6 is outfitted with electric meters over each of the unit’s 360 openers. Whether you’re running a flat rate across the field or using very specific prescriptions, it can deliver seed and up to five additional products at varying rates and depths. Alternatively, a farmer may choose to plant two types of seed in a single pass and utilize the four remaining spaces for nutrients. It also boasts a slew of high-tech features including turn compensation, overlap protection, individual point shut-off and variable application rates for each opener. Unlike other seeding equipment that must pull over to refill, the seeder can be resupplied on the go. Using the Clean Seed SMART Cart, product is transferred to the CX-6’s on-board tank as it travels. The cart carries six individual products—seed and inputs—that can be transferred simultaneously using pneumatic transfer technology to matching onboard bin compartments. “Instead of a 30-minute to one-hour stop, it’s a two- to three-minute connection,” said Rush. “As a result, our 60-foot machine will generally do in acres per day what a 76-foot machine will do, and that’s a pretty conservative estimate.” Any of the benefits that the CX-6 offers in technology—all of them work out to returns for the producer.” THE LAST WORD Olds College’s James Benkie noted that with increasing human-machine interaction, precision agriculture applications will continue to proliferate. “We’ve been in the GPS game for probably 20 to 30 years, where we’ve seen variable rate application, but I think we’re going to make that quantum jump into true site-specific applications,” he said. As ag data processes are further streamlined and standardized, education and training will be critical for the next generation of farmers. Delivering seed and up to five additional products at once, the CX-6 SMART Seeder can be refilled on the gowith the Clean Seed SMART Cart.