At the John Deere Agritechnica stand was one of the company’s most expensive machines, the CP690 self-propelled cotton picker with precision cotton-harvesting technology
This unique technology consists of onboard round module moisture sensing, round module weighing, Harvest Identification, Cotton Pro and the John Deere Operations Centre Field Analyser app, which enables a cotton producer to protect seed cotton quality while increasing harvest productivity and minimising the cost of harvest.
The CP690 cotton picker and CS690 cotton stripper carry on the legacy established by the 7760 in non-stop cotton harvesting with the onboard round module builder.
This technology has increased harvest productivity and lowered the cost of harvest through non-stop harvesting, requiring one operator and one machine while protecting cotton quality with the patented round module wrap, which covers the module to protect it from rain, wind and sunlight.
The new round module moisture sensor removes the guesswork from the cotton producer in terms of when to start and finish harvesting for the day. Real-time feedback in the cab of the cotton harvester allows the producer to stop harvesting when moisture approaches 12 per cent to preserve cotton quality and the cotton grower’s profit.
Round module weighing removes the burden of transporting modules from the field to the gin to get the weights required to calibrate the harvester’s yield monitor. The real-time round module weight displayed in the cab allows the producer to calibrate the yield monitor based on individual fields and varieties. This is also a standard feature on all cotton harvesters sold worldwide and will enable customers to have more-accurate data when comparing yields year on year.
Harvest Identification, Cotton Pro documents each module the cotton harvester produces and provides a detailed report with 27 data points captured for each module.
This allows producers to manage their cotton modules more quickly and track the relevant data for each one. This means no more guessing how many modules were made per field or if input costs are providing the expected yield increase.
Agritechnica ran from November 12-18, 2017 in Hanover, Germany. Not all products launched at the event will be available in Australia.