The Harvest Settings Automation feature the brand introduced on previous model year machines, which optimizes thresher settings, gets an enhancement for 2027. It will now be able to work with lentils, peas, rye, triticale, oats and sunflowers.

“We’re really expanding our automation capabilities,” says Brady Alley, combine marketing manager.

“We have six additional crops that are comparable with our Harvest Settings Automation. “

The Predictive Ground Speed Automation feature that debuted on 2025 models also gets enhancements.

A new update uses enhanced processing power and a trained algorithm to accurately detect green crops within an otherwise-mature stand. Green Crop Detection allows Predictive Ground Speed Automation to adjust the combine’s ground speed in response to a wider range of crop conditions.

“Predictive Ground Speed Automation, those are the cameras that look ahead and also satellite maps, is expanding the performance in different conditions,” says Alley.

“Adding green crop detection is one of the biggest things, detecting wet patches or green stems on wheat and making sure we’re slowing down to be able to process that increased biomass and moisture.”

New half-length concaves now allow for modular installation and better durability and are compatible with model year 2027 X9s. The new cradle also enables factory installation of the remote, from-the-cab, controlled concave and separator grate covers.

“With the Tru-Thresh family of concaves, we have what we call a half-length design,” Alley says.

“There’s a new carrier. Instead of a full U-shape, now we have two half sections. That will allow us to be more modular with our setup.

“If you think about getting unthreshed wheat or white caps into my sample, that’s an indication I want to keep that material in the rotor for another revolution. So with remote concave covers, I can close covers on the first, second or both sections of the rotor so I can hold that material in. On the separator grates, we also have covers as well.”

Choices for Tru-Thresh concaves include a high moisture configuration with an angle bar at the intersection of both rotors and round bars for the rest of the section. There is also a multi-crop with angle bars, large wires and small wires, as well as the standard setup Deere has offered previously.

“The benefit is you can really tailor it to the conditions you’re seeing,” says Alley.

To help with initial setup for attaching headers across the full combine fleet, there is a new initial settings feature, which acts as a starting point to fine tune the configuration for the crop and field conditions.

X9s also get a bigger 550 bushel grain tank and 35-foot unloading auger.

And for those who want to install a HarvestLab 3000, there is no longer any need to cut a hole in the side of combine. New X9s will get small, removable access panels for quick installation.

Related: Check out the specifications of the X9 1000 and 1100 on AgDealer.com

“Just take a couple of bolts out and pop those off to put the sensor on and leverage the benefits of HarvestLab 3000,” says Alley.

“We’re calling it HarvestLab-ready. It will be available on all X9s.”

As with so much of Deere’s equipment offerings, the main takeaway for 2027 is that high-end technology keeps getting more sophisticated, making it easier for inexperienced operators to do a first-class job bringing in the harvest.

“The message we want to emphasize, especially with our technology features, is our commitment to getting better over time … expanding the automation capabilities to more crop types and conditions,” says Alley.

The Harvest Settings Automation feature, which the brand introduced on previous model year machines, and which optimizes thresher settings, gets an enhancement for 2027. It will now be able to work with lentils, peas, rye, triticale, oats and sunflowers.

“We’re really expanding our automation capabilities,” says Brady Alley, combine marketing manager.

“We have six additional crops that are comparable with our Harvest Settings Automation. “

The Predictive Ground Speed Automation feature that debuted on 2025 models also gets enhancements.

A new update uses enhanced processing power and a trained algorithm to accurately detect green crops within an otherwise-mature stand. Green Crop Detection allows Predictive Ground Speed Automation to adjust the combine’s ground speed in response to a wider range of crop conditions.

“Predictive Ground Speed Automation, those are the cameras that look ahead and also satellite maps, is expanding the performance in different conditions,” says Alley.

“Adding green crop detection is one of the biggest things, detecting wet patches or green stems on wheat and making sure we’re slowing down to be able to process that increased biomass and moisture.”

New half-length concaves now allow for modular installation and better durability and are compatible with model year 2027 X9s. The new cradle also enables factory installation of the remote, from-the-cab, controlled concave and separator grate covers.

RELATED:  Check out John Deere X9 Combines for Sale on AgDealer.com

“With the Tru-Thresh family of concaves, we have what we call a half-length design,” Alley says.

“There’s a new carrier. Instead of a full U-shape, now we have two half sections. That will allow us to be more modular with our setup.

“If you think about getting unthreshed wheat or white caps into my sample, that’s an indication I want to keep that material in the rotor for another revolution. So with remote concave covers, I can close covers on the first, second or both sections of the rotor so I can hold that material in. On the separator grates, we also have covers as well.”

Choices for Tru-Thresh concaves include a high moisture configuration with an angle bar at the intersection of both rotors and round bars for the rest of the section. There is also a multi-crop with angle bars, large wires and small wires, as well as the standard setup Deere has offered previously.

“The benefit is you can really tailor it to the conditions you’re seeing,” says Alley.

To help with initial setup for attaching headers across the full combine fleet, there is a new initial settings feature, which acts as a starting point to fine-tune the configuration for the crop and field conditions.

X9s also get a bigger 550-bushel grain tank and 35-foot unloading auger.

And for those that want to install a HarvestLab 3000, there is no longer any need to cut a hole in the side of combine. New X9s will get small, removable access panels for quick installation.

“Just take a couple of bolts out and pop those off to put the sensor on and leverage the benefits of HarvestLab 3000,” says Alley.

“We’re calling it HarvestLab-ready. It will be available on all X9s.”

As with so much of Deere’s equipment offerings, the main takeaway for 2027 is that high-end technology keeps getting more sophisticated, making it easier for inexperienced operators to do a first-class job bringing in the harvest.

“The message we want to emphasize, especially with our technology features, is our commitment to getting better over time … expanding the automation capabilities to more crop types and conditions,” says Alley.

“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.”

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.

John Deere showed three new technologies available now or will be available soon.

Harvesting grain, especially small grains, on slopes challenges getting the grain cleaned as it floats toward the down-slope direction.

John Deere has its Hillmaster line for significant slopes, but its reach is limited, especially because Hillmaster combines can’t be fitted with tracks.

As a result, the company has developed active slope adjustment, which uses belts to adjust the cleaning shoe, keeping it level for better grain separation and more even chaff spreading out of the back of the machine.

“When we’re on side slopes, we need a system that’s able to level the material on the shoe,” says Jonathan Edwards, a product manager for combines in Europe for John Deere, during an interview at Agritechnica.

The tilt angle is determined by the drain compensation module on the Starfire 7500 receiver.

“By levelling, it’s also preparing the material to the residue system evenly which will make residue management much, much better,” says Edwards.

In testing during this year’s harvest, the company found that at a six percent slope, there was an improvement to the performance of the shoe at 107 percent, with a 0.5 percent loss.

“In other words, we’re doubling the performance of the shoe,” he says.

The tilt system was fit on a standard shoe, which meant the capacity of the shoe was not affected. That also means that a combine should be able to be retrofitted with the active belt system at a dealership in the future.

The company will have more of the active slope adjustment systems in combines for testing in 2024, with a limited product launch likely in 2025.

A unique new draper head belt design from John Deere keeps more small-seeded crops like canola and mustard, on the header and into the combine.

Edwards says the grain saver belts can reduce canola cutterbar loss by up to 25 percent. The pattern on the belts keeps canola seeds from rolling down the belt back to the cutterbar before it is fed into the combine.