HANOVER, Germany — A driverless tractor and a round baler that doesn’t stop won gold at Agritechnica, the world’s largest agricultural show.
Agco was awarded a top prize in agricultural innovation for a tractor that follows the lead of another machine in the field.
A master machine with an operator runs through the field with an implement while a second machine, unmanned, follows behind, widening the coverage or making a second pass field operation with a different implement.
Carl Albrecht Bartmer of the German farmer association DLG, runs Agritechnica in Hanover and provides the innovations award. He said the ability to use smaller tractors for greater fuel efficiency and reduced soil compaction were factors in Agco winning a 50 percent share of first place for its Fendt machine.
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Agco president Martin Richenhagen said the system shows what can be done with farm machinery.
“There are labour savings of hard to find, skilled labour, there are fuel and other savings, but it will be for farmers to tell us what they can do to make the best use of this technology,” he said.
“There are many uses for this level of telematics. You in Canada have some very large fields in the West. For you there are many opportunities to make better use of labour and other resources though automation.”
The new technology, which uses satellite global information systems and radio communication to run additional machines, will make its debut in European farm fields in the next few years.
Richenhagen said the tractor will be late arriving in the United States because of liability issues.
In most countries, the liability for damage caused by an errant, driverless tractor rests with the farmer who owns it, he said.
However, Agco’s lawyers are still considering the issue in the U.S., he added.
He said it is ironic that a country that can deliver guided missiles to a remote target in a war zone would be the last to obtain an autonomous piece of farm equipment.
Sharing the gold medal for innovation was forage company Krone for its continuous running round baler with automated bale poly wrapping.
Bartmer said the ability to bale without stopping to tie and unload the bales increases capacity by 50 percent.
“For northern climates, putting up silage and hay quickly is critical,” he said.
“Any innovation that can improve (production) this much can (revolutionize) a farming activity.”
Martin Seggering of Krone said the company had been working on the concept for years, but it was a young engineer who solved the problem.
“We had the technology to make great bales, but doing it without pausing, that was the puzzle,” he said.
“We added intelligent computer control over a preliminary (hay intake) chamber (ahead of the bale chamber) and regulation of the tractor’s speed based on the baler’s workload.”
The resulting baler, dubbed Ultima, produces more bales per hour, lowers fuel consumption and brake wear and reduces operator fatigue.
“The farmer just ensures the (windrows) are feeding into the baler without concern for stopping to finish the bale,” Seggering said.
