A new global partnership between Argo Tractors and Topcon Agriculture – a leading precision farming technology company – is streamlining the selection, purchase and installation of satellite guidance and related products on the McCormick tractor range.

The agreement should ensure that tractors assembled in Argo’s factories are correctly equipped and configured to work seamlessly with Topcon Agriculture products for different levels of precision guidance using a choice of solutions.

These range from a dedicated touch-screen guidance console to a multi-role precision farming console with section and rate control, plus wireless data transfer to cloud-based farm records.

In Britain, the agreement paved the way for a commercial partnership between McCormick distributor AgriArgo and LH Agro, Topcon’s authorised distributor for England, Scotland and Wales.

Ray Spinks, AgriArgo managing director, said: “The LH Agro team in Britain and Topcon’s precision agriculture specialists in Ireland have the technical know-how and service back-up resources that are essential for these very specialised products. Farmers and contractors running McCormick tractors can, therefore, exploit the productivity benefits of precision farming systems with great confidence.”

Those wishing to retro-fit or have a Topcon guidance system installed on a new tractor will place the order with their McCormick dealer for LH Agro in Britain and Topcon Precision Agriculture in Ireland to action. On new tractors, the added cost can be covered by any financing agreement arranged through Argo Finance.

All McCormick X8 VT-Drive and Premium-spec McCormick X7 tractors are now optionally available guidance-ready from the factory. This will be introduced to other McCormick models over time, said the company.

The range-topping Topcon X35 is a 12.1in colour touch-screen console for guidance, auto section and variable-rate control, camera feeds and ISOBUS implement control. Its display can be duplicated on iOS or Android devices using the XTEND feature, and wireless data transfer is available through the Topcon Mobile AG cloud-based platform.

For McCormick tractors already in service, Topcon’s AES-35 steering wheel drive unit, plus one of the consoles, will provide a simple retro-fit solution that is easily transferable to other vehicles.