At the CeBIT 2015 trade fair three agricultural machinery manufacturer, CLAAS, GEA Farm Technologies and Amazone, have united with new software company 365FarmNet from Berlin to jointly demonstrate how agricultural operations can be made simpler, more productive and more environmentally friendly through across-the-board digitalisation of farm processes.
"Agricultural machines are increasingly being equipped with intelligent technologies to communicate with each other and to automatically coordinate working processes. As a result of this, the task of data management for improving efficiency throughout the production process is becoming more challenging", emphasises Thomas Böck, executive board member responsible for technology and systems at CLAAS.
This year, the eye-catching display at the CLAAS trade fair stand (Hall 12/Stand B88) included a modern AXION 830 high horsepower tractor from CLAAS. Even as early as the sowing stage, application maps based on satellite data ensure that the seed is applied in such a way as to ensure the best possible crop growth. The CLAAS TELEMATICS telemetry system records the work actually carried out. The machine settings are also optimised on an ongoing basis. The weather data provided by the 365FarmNet agricultural management software helps the farmer to adjust their daily work schedule to the weather conditions. Thanks to a crop sensor from CLAAS, the farmer can also precisely determine the nitrogen requirements of their plants so that only the quantity of fertiliser that is actually needed is then applied. And with 365FarmNet, the farmer merely has to perform a few mouse clicks to find out the correct settings for the Amazone fertiliser spreader, ensuring that the fertiliser is applied in an economical and environmentally friendly manner. The farmer no longer has to search for information in manuals.
The crop yields registered in 365FarmNet also allow the farmer to perform feed calculations for their dairy cattle more easily. A GEA milking parlour supplies the relevant data for each cow in real-time. This provides an indication, not just of its milk production, but also of the health of the animal, which can subsequently be improved by optimising its feed. It is thus possible to avoid using medicines.
The farmer can document the performance of their farm both in the field and in the barn. As a cloud-based solution, 365FarmNet provides the required mobility and networking for this. Nevertheless, the farmer retains ownership of all of their data at all times. ISO-certified servers in Germany provide full control of the data hosting. The farmer can selectively provide read or write authorisation to employees or service providers - the farmer controls who sees what and when.
The partnership between CLAAS, Amazone, GEA Farm Technologies and 365FarmNet is an example of how cost efficiency, animal well-being and good environmental management can go hand-in-hand. Before the development of 365FarmNet, there were no systems capable of managing all of the data available on the farm, including in the barn and in the tractor. For the first time, even small farms can now be managed with one software program, from dairy through to arable operations. Other farming sectors will follow. The data thus provide tangible added value for daily farm operations. To date, 15 partners have joined up with 365FarmNet in order to simplify farm management.
Source: CLAAS
