Is autonomous harvest transportation a thing (yet)?
Preservation of the soil and lack of labour are the 2 main motivations for using autonomous transport combinations during harvest. The ideas and solutions for it go back some 50 years already but where are we currently at?
Combine, forage, potato, sugar beet and fruit and vegetable harvesters have all continued to grow to accommodate for increasing acreages, short(er) harvest windows and lack of skilled labour. Capacity was and is everything and while in some countries farmers are scaling back to preserve their soils – with trailed lightweight potato and sugar beet harvesters for instance – most harvesters continue to grow. Such growth is effortless if you cannot find the people to transport your yields from the harvester to the waiting trucks or to the overload facility. Can transport automation then be of help?
1978 research: ‘CTF offers financial gain’
The renown Dutch research institute Wageningen University & Research (WUR) trialled controlled traffic farming (CTF) with a radio-controlled tractor and extended track width at its former Oostwaardhoeve trial location in 1978 already. While their fields are dwarf-sized compared to the vast fields in Eastern-Europe, Australia and North and South America, WUR concluded that incorporating CTF into Dutch farming practices resulted in a financial gain. High value and scarce farm land in the Netherlands surely contributes to that gain.
German Nexat recently announced the sales start of their widespan implement carrier in Brazil. With their carrier, the company is reviving the idea of soil preservation with CTF. An idea dating back to the seventies and eighties that probably was initiated by the British Dowler Gantry carrier that spanned 12 metres. Gantry soon became a synonym for implement carriers. While Dowler focused on crop care activities, Danish manufacturer Asa-Lift, part of Grimme, developed their Wide Span 9000 (WS9000) carrier vehicle spanning 9.6 metres on request of Danish farmer Jens Kristian Kjeldahl to also pickup onions. Nexat currently focuses on a 14 metres track width.
Dutch on the doubt
Soil preservation intentions have resulted in various project initiatives on autonomous harvest transportation in the Netherlands. An innovative group of farmers from the Southwest teamed up in 2005 as HWodKa foundation. Their activities have more or less come to a standstill in 2022 and included an idea of lightweight autonomous carriers. It was stopped mainly due to complexity, too efficient existing logistics, short transportation distances and lack of funding as well. Other relevant Dutch projects such as SMARAGD and Lasting Fields, have both come to an end in 2021.
A somewhat successor of the SMARAGD project can be found in the NXTGEN Hightech project running from 2022 to early 2027. One of its use cases is ‘Handsfree Autonomous Harvesting of Open-Field Vegetables’. Particularly interesting from a funding perspective, is a project in the Northwest of the Netherlands where Microsoft facilitates the farming community with € 1 million annually for 12 years in a row. The funding that started in 2024, supports innovation and is part of a consideration for the company’s data centres in the region. Lowering the impact on the soil by altering harvest transportation is in scope here as well.
Leader – follower principle in practice
American grain cart specialist Kinze Manufacturing presumably was the first manufacturer to let an unmanned tractor towing a chaser bin chase a combine harvester and pull up alongside autonomously. That was in 2011 but no online news about the development can be found after 2015. The manufacturer did not respond to Future Farming’s enquiry for information. The concept, now mostly referred to as ‘leader – follower’ technology, has meanwhile been adopted commercially by Ag Leader (CartACE), John Deere (Machine Sync), PTx Trimble (OutRun) and Raven (Cart Automation).
Ag Leader CartACE has globally been available since 2020 on combine harvesters with Ag Leader yield monitoring and tractors with Ag Leader autosteer technology. “CartACE helps the grain cart operator to literally see when and where the combine needs to unload and which part of the field to drive on. The display in the tractor with grain cart automatically generates a guidance line alongside the combine and the operator then presses a button to engage autosteer alongside the combine. While the operator is still responsible for operating the vehicle safely, he can now focus his attention on catching the grain.” CartACE requires DisplayCast (one time unlock, $820) and AgFiniti Essentials for the farm ($350/year).
John Deere is offering their system since 2012 and says “to encourage its customers In the upcoming years to focus on combine’s harvest automation capabilities including Machine Sync technology”.
Starting this year, PTx Trimble offers their OutRun system in Australia and the United States on Fendt 900 Vario (MY 2019 and onwards) and John Deere 8R (MY 2014 and onwards with an IVT transmission) tractors for harvest operations in maize and soybeans. Other regions, crops and makes and models are to follow. “OutRun is an autonomy platform that enables existing tractors to operate without a driver. The combine operator can send the grain cart to a predefined truck unload zone where the unload is performed, reusing previously travelled paths to reduce compaction. Starting first with driverless grain cart operation for infield harvest tasks, OutRun will provide further autonomous task capabilities for farm operations such as tillage and spreading.” Pricing is available through PTx Trimble dealers.
Raven, now part of CNH Industrial, introduced their Cart Automation to the North-American market in 2020. The technology is based on the AutoCart technology obtained through the acquisition of Smart Ag late 2019. Raven Europe has announced to introduce the technology in Western-Europe starting this year. The company says to experience a particular demand from (German) farmers who grow maize for biogas production and who can’t find skilled drivers anymore for the tractor-trailer combinations.
Industry works on standards
While current day solutions are mostly proprietary and non-universal, the AEF (Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation), known for the initiation and development of the Isobus standards for brand independent communication, is developing guidelines for brand-independent M2M (machine to machine) communication. Also referred to as wireless in-field communication. It will however take a few more years before growers and contractors will be able to benefit from this development.
