John Deere’s HarvestLab 3000 technology is the next leap forward in site-specific farming.

Available to order now on S-Series and T-Series combines, HarvestLab uses a near-infrared sensor to allow combinable crop farmers to measure important quality parameters in wheat, barley, and oilseed rape continuously in real time.

Up-to-the-second analysis of the crop means operators know instantly whether the grain has achieved milling or feed specification, giving the farm more information about harvest quality, and meaning grains can be stored separately for optimal marketing at a later date.

Importantly, HarvestLab also provides farmers with a granular view of field performance; an essential building block when gaining an overall picture of which soils have most successfully converted nutrients into yield and protein.

As the combine moves through the field, a motor-driven auger pushes grain in front of the HarvestLab sensor. Together with the StarFire receiver, site-specific data is generated on the Generation 4 Display and sent to Operations Center via JDLink. Farmers can use Operations Center to review harvest results and field profitability with different tools.

The sensor can process a 12% wider wavelength spectrum for additional accuracy and provides more than 4,000 measurement points per second. Typically this equates to 1 million measurements per load.

This greater level of detail and analysis is all part of the progression to site-specific farming; targeting inputs where they are needed, reducing unnecessary expenditure, and paving the way for a more productive and profitable future. For example, decisions around fertiliser rates for the next season can be adjusted according to performance, field by field, tramline by tramline.

Grain Sensing is the fourth application of John Deere HarvestLab 3000. For years, farmers have successfully used HarvestLab for constituent sensing on John Deere self-propelled forage harvesters.