Farms & Farm Machinery #401

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