Every year in August, equipment manufacturers debut some of their new products at the U.S. Farm Progress show. This year the CNH brands, Case IH and New Holland, will showcase new implement features.
Case IH announced it is expanding its Soil Command system, which allows operators to make adjustments to the brand’s tillage equipment right from the tractor cab instead of making them manually. Until now the feature has been available on only some of the red brand’s implements.
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“We’ve had Soil Command for a few years, but we’re now going to offer it on our Speed-Tiller 475, our high speed disc and also offer it on our VT-Flex 435,” says C.J. Parker, the company’s North American tillage marketing manager.
“That’s a machine with an adjustable gang angle.
“We’re expanding the availability across the tillage lineup. It’s going to be standard equipment on the 21-, 31- and 41-foot high-speed disc Speed-Tiller 475. It will also become standard on the 25-, 30- and 34-foot VT-Flex 435 vertical tillage tool.”
Soil Command is an ISOBUS system, so it can be controlled through any compatible terminal. However, to get the full feature set, it needs to be mated to a Case IH or New Holland tractor.
“The full feature set with Soil Command is the ability to work with prescriptions, as-applied mapping data,” says Parker.
“But that needs to be with a CNH tractor with our new upcoming FieldOps system. You lose that capability when you go to a competitive machine.”
Case IH’s VT Flex 435 vertical tillage implement will get some additional enhancements for 2025, aside from the Soil Command Feature. A 22-inch reverse crimped, notched blade is now an option, which allows the implement to run a little deeper. That makes it more aggressive at managing residue when working at shallow depths.
“With the gang angle change from zero to 12 degrees, that new blade will help penetrate the soil a little bit easier at those reduced angles,” says Parker.
“We’ll also have an option for a double tiger paw crumbler — so two crumblers on the back of the machine to optimize clod sizing and improve field level finish.”
The VT-Flex 435 will also get a wing down pressure feature to keep the machine level and working at a consistent depth across the entire frame.
“Soil Command on the 435 will also give it independent wing depth adjustment,” says Parker.
Both the red and blue CNH brands are announcing the introduction of Active Implement Guidance, which is designed to prevent implement drift off of an A-B line and keep it following properly behind a tractor.
“We are releasing Active Implement Guidance with our Pro 1200 display with compatibility across our lineup,” says Kendal Quandahl, Case IH’s precision segment lead for North America.
“With the Case IH active implement guidance system, we are not only able to use the Pro 1200 display to control that implement guidance system, but we are going to be able to ensure implement location accuracy behind us. We use the same guidance line the tractor is using to make sure the implement is tracking behind us.”
Active Implement Guidance uses a second GPS receiver on the implement, allowing it to receive a guidance signal independently of the tractor.
Case IH is targeting the “plug-and -play functionality” of the system toward its Early Riser line of planters, but it will work with other brands and types of implements.
“For our launch, we’re looking at rear-wheel steer implements, like Spudnik for potato growers, and in particular the ProTrakker drawbar hitch that we can control with the system,” says Quandahl.
“There are some generic options, but that would require more additional setup.”
The Active Implement Guidance system will see limited release this fall.
