John Deere’s latest precision farming technology and innovative dealer services, brought together under the FarmSight banner, are designed to increase machine performance and uptime while reducing costs.
JDLink wireless communication between the farm, its equipment and the John Deere dealership enables remote support, proactive maintenance and effective fleet management. By monitoring and analysing machine usage, operating hours and average engine load, field and transport operations can be made more productive and fuel efficient.
With John Deere’s award-winning Remote Display Access (RDA), for example, the dealer can remotely view a machine’s GreenStar 3 2630 display and advise the operator how to correct tractor and implement or other vehicle settings for maximum efficiency, as well as carry out operator training.
In addition to dealers in different parts of the country providing their own RTK networks, John Deere has recently established a new partnership with Leica Geosystems to provide mobile phone network RTK (NRTK) corrections via its UK and Irish dealers, for repeatable, highly accurate precision farming applications down to +/-2.5cm.
The company’s latest mobile RTK offering has three different components. Firstly, the John Deere Mobile RTK Modem provides the connection to the RTK corrections over the mobile phone network, and allows customers to choose their own service provider.
Secondly, John Deere Mobile RTK Access gives customers access to third party RTK corrections, and allows automatic RTK Extend and satellite-based SF2 signal correction down to +/-5cm, to increase reliability during field operations when the mobile phone service is interrupted.
Thirdly, the partnership provides access to the Leica Geosystems NRTK correction service for all agricultural customers in the UK and Ireland. Using this service, Leica Geosystems will be the preferred supplier of Mobile RTK corrections, and provide annual subscriptions through the John Deere dealer network.
In addition to the satellite GPS signal, Mobile RTK correction data is sourced from a countrywide pool of existing base stations, so users don’t need to invest in their own. A centrally located server calculates the correction signal, which is then transmitted via the mobile phone network to the vehicle, equipped with the John Deere Mobile RTK modem and a StarFire 3000 receiver. This maintains continuous data connection, even in difficult terrain or across wide geographical areas.
Alongside these latest developments, John Deere’s new web portal MyJohnDeere.com has been designed to serve as a central resource for customers, so they can access a variety of relevant machinery and business applications to help in daily decision making and farming operations.
A single login leads to the various John Deere apps, such as JDLink and StellarSupport. MyJohnDeere.com also includes a new Operations Centre app, which provides a quick overview of any equipment’s current location and the work progress of individual machines on a map.
A new Data and Account Management system has also been developed within MyJohnDeere.com, to ensure secure data handling and protection. Accounts are set up so that only the customer controls data access.
Further details of John Deere’s full range of precision farming products and services will be available on the company’s stand at the Precision Farming Event, being held at the Peterborough Arena on Wednesday 5 March 2014.