New Holland combine and tractor developments win two Bronze Medals at SIMA Innovation Awards 2022

The International Agricultural Machinery Show from November 6 to 10, 2022.

New Holland Agriculture’s innovations in combine harvesting technology and in the progress towards a circular carbon economy have been recognized by two Bronze Medals at the SIMA 2022 Innovation Awards. Judged by an international jury panel of industry specialists assisted by a network of technical experts, the awards recognize the merits of products, services or technologies that constitute a genuine breakthrough in their sector. 

Grain Cam™ Mobile App  – easy, accurate grain loss calculation in the field 

New Holland’s first Bronze SIMA Innovation Award is for its Grain Cam™ Mobile app, designed to help owners quickly and safely determine the grain loss level of their combines and extract the maximum efficiency from their machines, thereby ensuring minimum grain wastage and the most sustainable use of the machine and its fuel.

Grain Cam™ Mobile App makes this possible without laborious manual grain counting or weighing, which means combine adjustment can be made rapidly in response to correct any issues to minimise losses and maximise production. The loss level is determined by taking a picture of a small area right behind the combine. The app subsequently identifies and counts the number of kernels in that area and calculates the loss level as percent of total yield and kilograms per hectare.

In the next evolution of the Grain Cam™ Mobile, the app will connect to the combine to collect inputs and starting data, then determine the amount of loss by taking and processing the picture. The app instantly calculates the loss percentage and, where the combine is equipped with telematics, this information is automatically sent back to the combine, which then uses the information to calibrate the loss sensors and/or as an input for the automation system.

The app eliminates any need for the common but laborious and unsafe method of determining grain loss using mats or ‘drop boxes’ placed in the field beneath a moving combine. The app can be used as a stand-alone tool or, in a future version, via connection to any New Holland combine equipped with telematics. Since the Artificial Intelligence system that powers the recognition of the kernels is resident in the app itself, there is no need for the mobile device to be connected to a mobile or wifi network.

By sharing ‘accepted’ and ‘rejected’ pictures with New Holland, users feed the AI learning system with useful information and help to collectively help to improve the system over time.

For the time being, the camera feature of the launch version of the app will only work in wheat. But it is New Holland’s intention to soon release this functionality for other crops as well.

Bennamann & New Holland: a circular economy approach for a negative carbon footprint

New Holland’s second award for a SIMA Innovation Bronze Medal is directly related to the brand’s CO2 emission reduction commitment, which has established New Holland as the Clean Energy Leader, with over a decade of active promotion and development of renewable fuels and sustainable agricultural technology. 

Back in 2021 CNH Industrial invested in Bennamann, a UK-based start-up working in innovation around the production process and storage of methane. The same year, New Holland launched the first commercial methane-powered tractor, the T6.180 ElectroCommand Methane Power, which runs on compressed bio-methane. This was the first step towards use of alternative fuels in agriculture and, together with combined technologies and common development between the two companies, it was able to bring to livestock farmers a circular economy business model based on their local production of compressed biomethane gas, offering the potential for energy autonomy.

The aim of the T6.180 Methane Power tractor development is to reach a scalable, adaptive, mobile and profitable way of farming, with a very clear negative carbon footprint result. This can be done through circular economy, by getting as much use as possible from products and materials and reducing or repurposing the amount of waste generated.

Via crops, livestock and soils, agriculture accounts for 10% of the total EU27 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and an additional 1% of total EU27 GHG emissions can be attributed to agriculture from the combustion of fossil fuels during the normal course of operating agricultural machinery. Biomethane, when processed naturally by livestock farms, exists in abundance and is able to power cleaner, highly efficient internal combustion engines. The approach of Bennemann and New Holland is to maximize the use of locally produced renewable energy resources in combination with animal waste, to supply the energy needed for individual farms, creating Energy Independent Farms that are not dependent from traditional fuels. A further benefit is reduced reliance on imported gas and fertilizers, improving agricultural sustainability.