Company takes home eight 2022 AE50 Awards for innovative product engineering from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.
By Andrew Joseph, Farms.com
It doesn’t matter how often you win them or even how many, but John Deere (aka Deer & Company) is excited with its eight 2022 AE50 Awards for outstanding innovations that improve production agriculture.
The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) annually recognizes the 50 most innovative product-engineering designs in the food and agriculture industry with AE50 Awards, chosen by international engineering experts.
All the winning engineering developments help farmers and food processors increase efficiency, enhance quality, improve safety, and increase profitability.
John Deere received its 2022 AE50 Awards for the following innovations:
- See & Spray Select (see image above);
- MY22 9 Series Tractors;
- Integrated ExactRate Liquid Fertilizer System;
- 1775NT Planter;
- Quick Change Blades for ProSeries Openers;
- HDF Hinged Frame Flexible Cutterbar Draper;
- W200 Series Self-Propelled Windrowers and Platforms;
- C770 Cotton Harvesters.
"AE50 Awards reaffirm the innovative spirit of John Deere employees around the world. Innovation is in our DNA and one of our most important core values. No other company in agriculture invests more time, money and energy into research and development than John Deere," said Joel Dawson, manager, production and precision ag for John Deere. "Our engineers take great pride in creating amazing new technology and products that benefit our customers and help them meet the world's growing need for food, fuel, shelter and infrastructure in the most productive and sustainable ways possible."
The See & Spray Select is a factory-installed, machine-integrated solution that enables farmers to spot spray weeds on fallow ground by using advanced camera and control technology to differentiate colour on fallow ground, it detects weeds and spot sprays them.
"This targeted spray application has similar hit rates to broadcast spraying while applying 77 percent less herbicide on average, providing a tremendous savings on inputs for farmers," pointed out Dawson.
The MY22 9 Series Tractors help large-acre grain produces begin earlier and run later to complete spring seeding and planting work during tight, optimal seeding and planting windows. Powered by an all-new John Deere PowerTech 13.6L engine, 9 Series Tractors can pull wider implements faster and more precisely than ever before. Paired with integrated John Deere precision ag technology, farmers can drive important management changes to improve crop yields, lower input costs and farm more acres in less time.
In March of 2021, John Deere was the first agricultural company to bring to market a factory-installed, integrated liquid-fertilizer-delivery system on a tractor and planter together. The ExactRate liquid fertilizer system includes integrated ExactRate tanks on an 8RX Four-track Tractor, integrated plumbing, and integrated factory-installed fluid tanks on the planter. When full, customers can use ExactRate to cover up to 80 acres per fill when applying at 20 gallons per acre. In addition, tracks on the tractor and planter reduce ground pressure and minimize soil compaction while seed and fertilizer are precisely placed.
The MY22 1775NT 24-row planter has features that increase onboard seed and fertilizer capacity and reduce soil compaction. New commodity tanks provide a 30-bushel increase in onboard seed capacity and 150-gallon increase in liquid-fertilizer capacity compared to previous models, with a mainframe tracks option that reduces ground pressure under the center section by 70 percent compared to tires.
"The reduction in ground pressure helps increase crop yield by reducing soil compaction in rows under the center frame, and increases the productivity of existing farmland," Dawson noted. "The additional onboard commodity capacity reduces the number of seed and fertilizer tender stops, saving customers time and fuel."
John Deere HDF Drapers were another AE50 award winner. These drapers provide superior ground-following capability for on-and-off-ground harvesting, so customers can recover more crop while meeting the high-capacity needs of today's combines. The HDF combines a flexible cutterbar with a hinged frame and hydraulic suspension and is the industry's first combine header that merges a flexible cutterbar; hydraulic suspension between combine and head and between center frame and wings; a hinged frame with vertically articulating wings; and in-cab, on-the-fly float pressure and cut-height adjustment. This combination offers the best terrain-following performance in the industry.
The Quick Change Blades for its ProSeries Openers helps farmers save time and reduce labour costs required to change them on no-till air seeding tools. Using Quick Change Blades significantly reduces dealer maintenance costs and the time a customer may spend under the drill performing this routine maintenance.
John Deere W200 Series Self-Propelled Windrowers are available with optional new features that include TouchSet in-cab push-button controls operators can use to adjust swath flap and forming shields from the cab. This technology helps it maximize windrowing efficiency with every pass through the field.
The CP770 Cotton Picker and CS770 Cotton Striper were first introduced in August of 2021, with each machine providing high levels of productivity, technology, and efficiency for cotton growers. The CP770 Cotton Picker can harvest more than 10 acres per hour while reducing cotton losses. The CS770 Cotton Stripper can harvest up to an extra 100 acres per day in dryland cotton.
"Both machines feature a new cotton handling system that reduces wrap and hauling costs up to eight percent on the picker and 12 percent on the stripper," Dawson summed up. "Customers and the environment benefit through less wrap and fuel being used through the life of these harvesters."
Detailed information about all these award-winning John Deere products can be found on JohnDeere.com.