Automation is not be the only innovative path the agricultural machinery world is headed down. Fendt unveiled an all-electric tractor — the e100 Vario — this fall, and had it on display at Agritechnica in Hanover, Germany. “We’ve removed the diesel engine and the diesel tank and have installed an electric motor with a 100kWh… Read More

You just finished a great spray day. Your timing and product choice were bang-on, the weather was good, and your sprayer was calibrated. But do you know what happened to the spray once it left the nozzle? The Spray Guys — Jason Deveau and Tom Wolf — find out in this premiere episode of Micron Woman…. Read More

A robot that zaps unwanted organisms with lasers may describe a character in a science fiction plot, but in reality, it’s a technological response to farming with high labour costs. The Jäti is a battery-powered autonomous crawler built by a pair of German companies that is designed to identify weeds and destroy them with laser… Read More

We’ve read headlines about a future with robots in the field and witnessed the unveiling of a few self-driving prototypes at farm shows over the past few years, but there probably hasn’t been a single event that collected as many of these concepts and products as Agritechnica in Hanover, Germany last week. The innovation in… Read More

A soil sensor that can detect compaction from above the ground in real-time is enabling a concept described as “variable depth tillage” for targeting compacted layers. The Topsoil Mapper made by Austria-based Geoprospectors is an example of a real-time sensor allowing farmers to account for variability as their tractor passes through a field, rather than… Read More

There are 3.5 million professional truck drivers in the United States and somewhere around 300,000 in Canada. What does their future hold with recent developments in autonomous or robotic technology? We’ve talked about the autonomous semi truck Otto delivering beer and appliances in the past. Last week, we saw Tesla unveil its electric semi truck… Read More

If you were to see a New Holland tractor equipped with NHDrive, you might think it looks fairly typical of the machines of today. But beyond its stylish blue and silver exterior is a fully autonomous, unmanned vehicle. NHDrive was developed by CNH Industrial in collaboration with Utah-based Autonomous Solutions Incorporated. It allows tractors to… Read More

Amazone is taking lawn mowing (harvesting?) to a whole new level. The company’s Profihopper is on display at Agritechnica this week. The 24.5 horsepower machine features a flail mower with a two-part auger system. According to the company, the mower is “unimpressed by whether the grass is wet, especially tall or even dense”. The mower’s four wheels… Read More

Claas unveiled a fierce-looking hybrid machine that it describes as the first half-track tractor with full suspension at Agritechnica 2017 in Hanover, Germany. “It’s combining the best of two worlds. We have the traction efficiency with the tracks on the rear, but we have the driveability and comfort of a wheeled tractor integrated,” explains Henning… Read More