When thinking about upgrades around the farm, a lot of attention is focused on machinery…and rightly so. Machinery upgrades can add power, performance and productivity to your operation, especially when it comes to harvest.
But today’s equipment also includes technology that’s uniquely designed to boost every aspect of your operation, making operations more efficient and productive. Best of all, these upgrades can be applied to much of your existing fleet. Upgrades can include simply swapping out to a new in-cab display or can be as involved as adding new sensors. The bottom line is that tech upgrades can have a direct benefit to your operation.
There’s a lot of technology designed to make equipment operate more efficiently and effectively. Improved displays offer faster performance. Machine control such as cart automation makes unloading more efficient. Sensors provide a continuous stream of harvest data to the combine that is capable of making adjustments on the fly, empowering you to capture every kernel from the field.
Bringing all this together can be a bit overwhelming. So just how do you determine which technology to implement on your operation?
It starts with the basics: what do you want the technology to do?
“The basics of evaluating precision technology all starts with the gathering of data to make better informed decisions,” says Jacob Maurer, Precision Marketing Manager at Case IH. “With precision technology, we often gravitate immediately toward hardware such as displays, receivers, guidance, or positioning. While those are important aspects, the core foundation of determining the return in our investment lies in the leveraging of timely and actionable data; whether that be empowering us to orchestrate a successful logistics strategy by the combine controlling the speed of the grain cart using Cart Automation, maximizing throughput via an in-cab Harvest Command™ setting, or delivering cleaner grain samples because we can make real-time adjustments using combine-specific data found in FieldOps™ thanks to a display software update.”
Having access to data throughout the growing season, and especially at harvest, can bring new levels of resources to make more informed decisions. To determine what technology you need on the farm, you first need to determine what data you want, and how that information can benefit you.
Experienced combine operators are valuable assets at harvest. But not every operator has the experience to handle tough conditions. And even the most experienced operator can miss something during those long harvest days. That’s why technology like Harvest Command can be invaluable.
“With Harvest Command, the settings are automatically adjusted, so it makes inexperienced operators more efficient and helps to relieve stress from the experienced operators which can allow them to focus on other aspects of harvest,” Maurer says.
Maurer says a hot upgrade item for many this season has been to replace the Pro 700 display with the Pro 700 Plus display. “It is a direct replacement for original factory equipment and comes with a brighter and larger screen,” Maurer says. “But the biggest benefit is that it runs faster and makes your 250 Series combine operate even more efficiently. Also, by adding a PCM with the installation of a Pro 700 Plus your data will be sent automatically to the cloud.”
Maurer adds, “If you are operating a newer 260 or AF Series combine, taking the latest Pro 1200 display software update will offer you unparalleled real-time information about your combine, delivered through FieldOps.”
Working with your local Case IH dealer, you can review the data gathered by your machines to take an unbiased look at harvest operations. “Using that data, we can see how machinery performed, enabling us to see what went well and to identify in what areas we were could improve,” Maurer says.
Now is the perfect time to sit down with your dealer and review what technology options and upgrades are available from your Case IH dealer.
“You can review what you have, see what is available for upgrade, and your dealer can guide you toward upgrades that best fit the needs of your operation,” Maurer says. “You go through your combine in the shop after harvest to check for wear and tear and to change filters and fluids on the machine. A top-to-bottom evaluation of your technology isn’t that much different and can have the same level of benefit to your harvest efficiency, uptime, and ultimately your bottom line.”