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This autonomous grain tractor turns around all by itself during a display at Husker Harvest Days Tuesday. The self-driving technology is new thing to the ag show and the industry, says the company that owns the technology, Raven Industries. (Independent/Josh Salmon)
A Raven Industries combine driver operates the combine on the left and controls the speed of the autonomous grain tractor on the right during a display at Husker Harvest Days Tuesday. (Independent/Josh Salmon)
Every year Husker Harvest Days has the latest in agricultural technology on display. In recent years, automated farming equipment has been on the rise as technology edges closer and closer to the totally automated farm.
This year is no exception at Husker Harvest Days, especially for one company, Raven Industries of Sioux Falls, S.D.
Raven has been a part of Husker Harvest Days for 20 years, according to Gary Esselink, Raven Applied Technology product marketing specialist.
“We are really excited about the fact that we are showing two phases of autonomy,” Esselink said.
Raven has on display the OMNiDRIVE, which, he said, helps eliminate the need for a driver in the tractor pulling the grain cart to unload the combine on the go.
“It allows the farmer to monitor and operate a driverless tractor from the cab of the harvester so the harvester can offload on-the-go in the field, then return the tractor to a predetermined unloading area,” Esselink said.
Some of the OMNiDRIVE advantages are:
— Provides reliable consistency with fewer human variabilities.
— Saves grain loss with automated synchronization of harvester and cart.
— Harvester seamlessly controls the speed, sync and staging of the grain cart.
— Allows farmers to perform other functions.
— Offers the opportunity for scalable growth.
— Gives back 340 plus hours of fall maintenance and tillage.
The other piece of automated farm equipment on display at HHD by Raven is the OMNiPOWER, which is a self-propelled power platform designed to easily interchange farm implements such as a sprayer or spreader to do multiple tasks around the fields without a driver.
Esselink said the OMNiPOWER lets the farmer remotely operate and send the unit on autonomous missions from a tablet, with no driver necessary.
He said OMNiPOWER has many advantages, including:
— Improves operational consistency for spraying and spreading.
— Reduces input costs.
— Improves crop quality and yield.
— Allows for a reallocation of resources.
— Decreases fuel requirements.
— Reduces the potential for accidents.
— Creates the potential for 24/7 operations.
— Opportunities for multi-OMNiPOWER unit coordination.
— Makes the entire operation more efficient.
— Greater profit.
In developing their automated farm equipment they worked with a company, Autocart, in Iowa. Raven later purchased the company.
The global market for agriculture robots is expected to quadruple in size by 2026, according to a report by Research Dive.
According to the report, the agriculture robot market size was $4,082.8 million in 2018, and is expected to reach $16,640.4 million by 2026, and will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 19.2%.
Agricultural robots are specialized technology capable of assisting farmers with a range of operations. They have the capability to analyze, contemplate and carry out a multitude of functions, and they can be programmed to grow and evolve to match the needs of various tasks.
Along with Raven’s automated farm equipment, another type of agricultural robot — the drone — has been part of the HHD show for a number of years. Drones help in increasing crop production and monitoring the growth of the crop. They also help farmers to optimize the agricultural operation, which will further improve land efficiency.
It is reported that the driverless tractor segment was valued at $939 million in 2018, and is expected to reach $3,714.3 million by 2026. These vehicles operate without the driver, and are automated in detecting their position and speed. They are designed in a way to avoid obstacles while performing the task.
“We are a precision ag company,” Esselink said about Raven.
“So, this is just a natural progression of everything we’ve done,” he said about the automated equipment they have on display at Husker Harvest Days.
“This natural progression of tasks a farmer performs on his combine that are now being automated, allowing the producer to get more done, faster and creating less stress during the day.”
Esselink said farmers are excited about the new direction automation is taking agriculture.
“They’re glad to see it here,” he said. “I used to be a farmer myself. There was always this brand new thing and how is it is going to work.”
Esselink said Raven feels confident in its equipment’s ability to perform for the needs of today’s agriculture.
“Efficiency is what it’s all about,” he said. “It’s cool to see a machine going on the field, but if it doesn’t make the farmer any money, what good is it? You have to make it efficient.”
Esselink said looking 10 years down the road, the ultimate goal is total autonomy.
“This is when we’re doing everything via GPS satellites communication, where someone can sit in his office and he can make these things work,” he said. “It would not only be the grain cart, it could be the combine as well. Everybody talks about it as if it was a dream. Well, this is the first step. We’re realistic enough to know it just isn’t going to happen overnight.”
Esselink said technology is a cool thing, “but if it doesn’t make you money, it doesn’t do you good.”
“What we have to do is to take all that technology that we have that we’ve built and put that on a machine and make it pay and make it work, or otherwise it’s not gonna do anything.”
Raven Industries Inc. is an American manufacturer of precision agriculture products, high-altitude balloons, plastic film and sheeting, and radar systems. For more information, visit its website at ravenind.com.
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This autonomous grain tractor turns around all by itself during a display at Husker Harvest Days Tuesday. The self-driving technology is new thing to the ag show and the industry, says the company that owns the technology, Raven Industries. (Independent/Josh Salmon)
A Raven Industries combine driver operates the combine on the left and controls the speed of the autonomous grain tractor on the right during a display at Husker Harvest Days Tuesday. (Independent/Josh Salmon)
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