REPORT: Combine developments for 2025 focus on increasing capacity using technology as well as physical size to boost throughput.
In a tough year for machinery sales, manufacturers have mainly focused on bringing models announced around the last Agritechnica to market for 025.
There’s probably more ‘glitch solving’ work for the combine makers to do than in previous generations as most of the developments have involved the increasing use of technology to automate harvesting and connect the combine both with the farm office and with other machines in the field. This should help boost efficiency for logistics for example – if you know where the trailers are (or in the case of John Deere’s MachineSync, now available on its newest walker combines, can summon them) there’s less wasted time in the field. Getting detailed yield and quality data straight from the combine is not only useful for planning future cultivations and cropping decisions but also for marketing the crops being harvested.
Some operators remain sceptical about automated settings, but with the level of detail and fine tuning now available, the ability to switch harvesting strategies to prioritise throughput over quality and then switch back as conditions improve, for example, could be handy with the increasingly catchy seasons we are experiencing.
The other notable development is the march towards higher capacities – New Holland’s CR11 topping out at 20,000 litres in the grain tank, with unloading speeds to match, and its ‘smaller’ brother the CR10 at 16,000 litres, competing with the largest AGCO and Deere tanks. Managing the extra weight on softer ground and more undulating land is something for purchasers to ponder, although 910mm SmartTrax or VF900 front tyres on the CR11 should help. Another element is ensuring that the logistics and grain handling capability stack up.
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