Exclusive: John Deere Tech Takes the Guesswork Out of Guess Rows
John Deere Autopath Technology 111720
Iowa farmer Bart Harris doubts they would have harvested much of any of their derecho-devastated corn crop this year if it wasn’t for a brand-new John Deere technology.
Harris’s farm was a test cooperator for John Deere’s AutoPath, now available via John Deere dealers.
The software maps the planted rows during the initial pass of every field, removing the need to establish traditional A-B guidance lines.
“AutoPath is a brand new precision ag application that really helps farmers automatically manage their guidance lines throughout the crop year. It begins with that first pass in the field–most often that's planting, sometimes it's strip-till,” explains John Mishler precision ag marketing manager at John Deere. “But what AutoPath does is actually map those rows, and then uses that data of those mapped rows throughout the crop year to automatically create guidance lines for each of those next infield passes. So that may be automatic guidance lines for spraying, for harvesting. And what's really interesting is the original A-B line isn't all that important, because we now actually know where the crop rows are.”
Knowing where the rows are was paramount for Harris who saw a flat mat of corn across most of his fields—without a distinguishable row path in sight. He said most of it was less than two feet off the ground.
“Everything was laying in an east-southeast direction. So if the rows were planted north and south, it just looked like just a flat mat of corn. And until you were trying to run the machines into it, you had no idea where the rows were. With AutoPath, I was able to engage the guidance, and it would drive me perfectly into the rows that I should have been on. And then my only concern was making sure I keep the head under the corn but out of the ground.”
They ran the combines a lot slower this year, and he says field conditions were so tough that auto-height on his corn head had to be run manually. But he didn’t have to worry about staying right on the rows.
“I didn't have to count a single row this year. And that's the first time that I've never had to do that when harvesting, I could just turn towards the field, the rows that were still standing and engaged the AutoTrac, and it would take me exactly where I needed to be. So it’s just one less thing to have to try to pay attention to while doing everything else,” Harris says.
Mishler explains AutoPath requires the implement and tractor to be equipped with StarFire receivers, and AutoPath is included in the John Deere Generation 4 Automation bundle and available for either the 4600 CommandCenter Integrated Display or the 4640 Universal Display.
“If you happen to plant with a 24, row planter, and now pull in with a 16 row combine, jumping over that guess row, you can actually do that successfully. So it really just makes everything a lot easier for the farmer to accomplish throughout that crop year,” Misher says.
And for spraying or other applications, the data flows through John Deere Operations Center, so farmers can elect to share field data with ag retailers or commercial applicators who are making custom applications.
