Farms & Farm Machinery #401
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Harvesters<br />
Western Australia is likely to see the greatest impacts of<br />
climate change on crop yields, with substantial projected<br />
declines in winter rainfall<br />
Each new 250 Series combine now also includes<br />
a subscription to Case IH’s AFS Connect<br />
TELEMATICS<br />
AFS Harvest Command continues to raise the<br />
bar in combine automation<br />
All under<br />
control<br />
Case IH’s AFS Harvest Command, available on the Case<br />
IH Axial-Flow 250 Series combine harvesters, monitors<br />
everything from ground speed and engine load all the<br />
way up to feed-rate control and sieve settings, which<br />
are based on the feedback received from the loss<br />
sensors, a grain camera and sieve pressure sensors.<br />
These sieve pressure sensors are unique to CNH<br />
Industrial brands, including Case IH’s AFS Harvest<br />
Command product, providing for the relay of data<br />
concerning the load on the sieve, which in turn allows<br />
the system to determine the difference between sieve<br />
overload and blow-out losses. A grain camera monitors<br />
grain quality, including cracked and broken kernels, as<br />
well as foreign material, allowing for the adjustment of<br />
settings as required.<br />
In fact, the AFS Harvest Command automation on the<br />
250 Series uses 16 sensors to control a total of seven<br />
combine functions.<br />
“AFS Harvest Command is designed to maintain the<br />
greatest efficiency for the operator in all conditions,<br />
improving grain quality and grain savings through<br />
sensing and optimising machine settings,” says<br />
Tim Slater, Case IH Australia/New Zealand product<br />
manager for hay and harvest.<br />
Recently, the number of crops it’s designed to operate<br />
in has been expanded beyond corn, soybeans, wheat<br />
and canola to now include barley and rice.<br />
Each new 250 Series combine now also includes a<br />
subscription to Case IH’s AFS Connect with file transfer<br />
and telematics.<br />
AFS Connect is a tool that enables a machine in<br />
the paddock to be monitored by a customer from<br />
anywhere with an internet connection.<br />
“The customer can also then give permission for<br />
their dealer to see similar information, which can help<br />
diagnose any potential faults and more efficiently deal<br />
with any necessary repairs,” says Slater.<br />
“Machine, harvesting and yield data are automatically<br />
sent to the AFS Connect portal where it’s processed<br />
and ready to be viewed via web browser or mobile<br />
device. This negates the need to download the data<br />
from a USB in the combine, improving the safety of<br />
data and offering a more convenient option.<br />
“Two years on from the launch of AFS Harvest<br />
Command, these most recent updates and<br />
opportunities for customers only enhance the<br />
efficiency and productivity benefits that make this the<br />
most impressive combine automation product on the<br />
market.”<br />
CLIMATE CHANGE<br />
New management practices and new technologies have<br />
helped Aussie farmers offset the rising impa ts of climate<br />
change on crops, according to a new ABARES report<br />
Heating up<br />
Australian farmers are getting better at handling<br />
dry conditions, according to federal government<br />
statistics about the impact of climate change on<br />
agriculture.<br />
The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource<br />
Economics and Sciences (ABARES) Insights<br />
report found that Western Australian cropping<br />
farmers, in particular, had withstood the dry conditions<br />
during the 2020 winter harvest with crops<br />
“far exceeding expectations given the seasonal<br />
conditions experienced”.<br />
Across the board, ABARES has cited technology<br />
and management practices as areas where farm<br />
productivity has increased.<br />
Productivity has risen 68 per cent in the cropping<br />
sector since 1989 when adjusted for climate, while<br />
the wider broadacre farming sector has risen by 28<br />
per cent in the same timeframe.<br />
“These gains in productivity have offset the<br />
negative effects of climate over the last 30 years,<br />
such that actual industry productivity levels<br />
have still increased or at least remained stable,”<br />
the report says.<br />
These productivity gains have been necessary<br />
because seasonal conditions have reduced the<br />
annual average farm profits by 23 per cent in<br />
the past two decades, the report found, which is<br />
$29,200 per farm.<br />
Despite this, Australian farms have shown strong<br />
adaptability in the past decade, helped also by<br />
strong commodity prices, particularly for livestock.<br />
“A combination of productivity growth, better<br />
prices and increases in farm size have resulted in<br />
an upward trend in farm profits over the last decade,<br />
at least until the droughts of 2018–19 and 2019–20,”<br />
says ABARES.<br />
“Much of the adaptation effort on farms has been<br />
directed towards improving performance under<br />
dry conditions.<br />
“Within the cropping sector, for example, there<br />
have been a variety of management practice<br />
changes implemented in recent decades<br />
(including conservation tillage and soil amelioration)<br />
focused on preserving soil moisture as an<br />
adaptation to reduced growing season rainfall.”<br />
Another finding of the report is the “risk of very<br />
low farm returns due to climate variability” has<br />
doubled during the same time period from a 10<br />
per cent frequency to 20 per cent.<br />
South-western and south-eastern Australia have<br />
been the areas most impacted by the changing<br />
conditions, says ABARES.<br />
This trend was tipped to continue according to<br />
2050 projection scenarios.<br />
“Cropping farms in Western Australia are more<br />
heavily impacted than other regions under most<br />
climate scenarios, due largely to the more substantial<br />
projected declines in winter rainfall and the<br />
resulting effects on crop yield,” says ABARES.<br />
Cropping regions in Australia’s north-east,<br />
particularly around Queensland, are forecast<br />
to be the least impacted by climate changes<br />
in the next 30 years.<br />
ABARES also says there are several factors<br />
which will impact future productivity, which<br />
includes the extent of climate change impact in<br />
Australia compared to other nations.<br />
“It remains hard to predict future productivity<br />
growth, particularly the extent to which new technologies<br />
can improve the water use efficiency of<br />
crop and pasture systems beyond current levels,”<br />
it says.<br />
“In the long-term, there may be pressure for<br />
more transformative change, at least where<br />
productivity growth is insufficient to offset the<br />
effects of climate change.<br />
“This could include the emergence of new land<br />
use activities such as carbon abatement, biodiversity<br />
conservation, or renewable energy generation<br />
as complements to traditional farming.”<br />
52 <strong><strong>Farm</strong>s</strong> & <strong>Farm</strong> <strong>Machinery</strong>