John Deere adds features to improve efficiencies for customers

BOONE, Iowa — New features on John Deere equipment including hands-free baling are helping farmers improve the efficiency of their operations.

“Hands-free baling can be done in corn stalks and straw with our John Deere 1 Series Round Baler,” said Kaylene Ballesteros, marketing manager for hay and forage equipment at John Deere.

“Last year we launched Weave Automation, which was the stepping stone for us to be able to unlock hands-free baling,” she said from the John Deere equipment display area at the Farm Progress Show.

“Because the windrows are not always as uniform as you hope they are, you need to do the weaving from side to side to make sure you have an even feed into the pickup to make a square-shouldered bale,” Ballesteros said.

“We already had the speed and gate automation which is the ability for the operator to set the speed of the tractor and it stops when it hits the bale size that was indicated,” she said. “It kicks the bale out and then you can resume baling.”

Now with AutoTrac guidance, Ballesteros said, “your tractor can continue to go straight while the baler does the weaving with our Weave Automation.”

The hands-free baling results in up to 76% reduction in operator activity, she said.

“That is things like looking over your shoulder or looking at the display — all the things you need to do to manually bale,” Ballesteros said. “Now operators are able to think about other things.”

“Or, maybe you want to put somebody less skilled in the seat because you want to do something else on the farm,” the marketing manager said.

“We also have baling documentation because we want to make sure you are making the right decisions for your fields,” she said.

This provides farmers with information such as the fertilizer that was applied to the field and the yield from those acres.

“We had a customer that did his own trial for fertilizer application on two different fields,” Ballesteros said. “He saw that he was overapplying and not getting the yield he expected, so he was able to save $126 per acre just by documenting his spraying and harvest passes.”

6R Series Tractors

“We are introducing six new models of the 6R Series tractors,” said Anne Anderson, marketing manager for John Deere 6 Series tractors. “They range from 180 to 260 horsepower, and they have 10 more horsepower than we have offered in this size before.”

John Deere utilizes customer focus groups to help determine the needs of farmers.

“Our customers are looking for more power from the same-size tractor because a lot of times these machines are dual purpose,” Anderson said. “They are using them for mowing, baling or feeding, and they also might use them for row crop operations.”

Farmers are looking for more power in a compact tractor size, the marketing manager said, so they can get into small areas where they might be feeding animals.

“Along with the horsepower changes, we also added the e19 powershift transmission,” she said. “You can run it in either manual mode or auto mode, and it will shift up or down depending on the inputs you are giving it for speed.”

The 6R tractors have a new CommandArm with CommandX controls.

“You can configure any tractor or implement function on the drive lever so that you don’t have to take your hand off of that lever,” Anderson said.

“The tractors have an entirely new, roomier cab that has even better visibility than we had in the past,” the marketing manager said.

“There is a refrigerator, foot pegs and the seat has 18 degrees more swivel than it previously had,” she said. “Most of applications you are doing are an implement behind you, so this makes it easier for you to monitor the implement.”

Artificial Intelligence

Those who visited the booth at the show learned about JD — the new artificial intelligence assistant that is embedded into John Deere Operations Center.

“JD will help farmers get answers and take action based on data they have been collecting in Operations Center,” said Jackson Baca, group product marketing manager for digital tech at John Deere.

“JD accelerates the question to answer process, so farmers don’t have to dig out a season’s worth of data,” he said. “JD pulls out insights with the context of their operation.”

That is what separates JD from other generic AI tools.

“We don’t export any data to get advice or recommendations,” Baca said. “It is not based on a theoretical farm — it is based on your farm.”

John Deere customers are now involved in an Early Access Program for JD.

“We have received really positive feedback from our customers, and one of the biggest things we have heard consistently is how easy it is to use,” Baca said.

JD is designed to have a conversation feel.

“We want farmers to ask questions like they would ask their neighbor,” Baca said.

“We also designed JD, so it feels like a business partner,” he said. “Because farmers are making real decisions with real dollars.”