In early March, John Deere had a lot to talk about at its display at the Commodity Classic farm show in Denver, Colorado. Among other announcements, the company introduced several new features for its 2026 model year combines.
“For 2026, we’re advancing our automation features on our combines,” says Bergen Nelson, go-to-market manager for harvesting equipment at John Deere.
“Model year ’25 was a big year for both X9 and S Series, introducing ground speed automation and harvest setting automation.”
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Model year 2025 combines were the first to be available with Predictive Ground Speed Automation, which is a part of the brand’s Ultimate Technology package. It measures crop variability ahead of the combine and uses the information to control ground speed.
Two factory-mounted stereo cameras look ahead and measure crop height and stand in front of the cutter bar. They’re assisted by satellite views from the John Deere Operations Centre that generate predictive yield maps based on midseason biomass results.
2026 combines will be available with a new weed detection automation feature through the Ultimate Technology package that can also be used to control ground speed.
“Cameras on the front of the combine can now see the weed pressure in the field, and the combine will speed up or slow down based on that,” says Nelson.
“We know if we approach a weedy patch in the field, we need to slow down. In addition, the system will give a weed pressure map in the John Deere Operations Centre.”
Although these features are being launched for 2026, they can be added to a 2025 machine that includes the Ultimate package with cameras.
“They’ll need the Ultimate combine license, which will include predictive ground speed automation, harvest settings automation and all the G5 advanced features we have available today,” adds Nelson.
Another new feature is the out-of-crop adjustment. When the combine reaches a headland or area of the field where there is no crop coming into it, the chaffer, sieve and fan speed will adjust to avoid blowing grain out the back of the machine.
Machine Sync, the system that allows a combine operator to control a grain cart during unloading, also gets an update.
“Now, with Combine Auto Unload, we’re putting a camera on the unloading auger,” says Nelson.
“The camera will be calibrated to the grain cart and automatically move it forward or backward, eliminating that step from the combine operator.”
Up front, there are new header options.
“We have a huge update to the front-end equipment, which is really geared toward the western producer,” adds Nelson.
“Our three-piece reel is new for 2026, building on the foundation of our HDF and HDR heads. They’ll be compatible with the three-piece reel. The three-piece reel really gives us the ability to maintain a consistent cutter bar to reel relationship as the wings flex. In the past, as the wings would flex, you’d have a gap in the centre section. Now that’s eliminated.”
The three-piece reel also has additional tines, so there’s only four inches between each one, and that equates to 32 per cent more tines across the head, allowing the header to better pull in crop. The new reel is retrofittable to any of Deere’s HDF, HDR or RDF headers.
