Harvest Automation - Is It Worth the Hype?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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A full combine is a happy combine, right? In terms of performance. And so the predictive ground speed automation keeps it consistently full throughout that day of harvest. And so as you get into the days, weeks, months of harvest, maybe that expert operator isn't on a hydro handle quite so much, you know? And so they start to pull away from that hypothetical peak capacity, whereas the automation is just dead consistent, right? Just stays up close to that capacity.
Welcome back to the podcast. This is Tanner. This is David. We're hanging out, ready to talk harvest automation today. And excited to dive deep into that topic. But thanks for asking us to get a hold of these experts. Oh, man. Really? Experts? Well, an expert. An expert. An expert. Yeah.
Okay. Not I. Expert and a user. Yes. Yes.
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Yeah. There you go. Neck and neck. Neck and neck.
Well, if you follow Zach, go follow us, too. There you go.
Yeah, there you go.
It's our pleasure to dive deeper into this topic. We've alluded to it a little bit in the past. We've had good conversations with Zach at National Farm Machinery Show in the past, talking about his experience when it comes to harvest automation. But it is time now to get deeper into what it's all about, what makes it tick, where the future is, and we're going. And with that, we get to introduce to you Tim Ford. Welcome to the podcast.
Thank you. Happy to be here.
And what is your title, Tim?
I'm a combine specialist. So I help out with demos, new products, just getting things out there, getting the word out, helping educate people on how to use it, the value of it. And then also connect back from the customer back to engineering to try and get things better over time, too.
I got you. So what was your role with Harvest Automation?
So I came into this, I've been on the kind of marketing side of the fence for a couple of years now, but before that I worked in field testing and development for all the subsystems on Harvest Automation. So I've been with it for a long time, testing all over the world with it, primarily with customers to get customers you know, approval, uh, on, Hey, we're headed in the right direction, you know, because we can always, we can always come out with something. We can always release something, but just making sure that we're meeting a customer need. So did that, did some, uh, facilitate some UX research the last couple of years as well. Uh, just as we put the whole, and that's user experience about putting it all together into one nice shiny package to work well.
And you said all the parts and pieces you worked on, what are the different parts and pieces that you specifically worked with?
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–14:42
2
What is predictive ground speed automation and how do cameras and satellite imagery work together?
14:42–23:35
3
How did John Deere develop harvest automation over time and when did field testing start?
23:35–28:40
4
What customer feedback shaped features like green crop and down-crop detection?
28:40–31:44
5
Which sensors and inputs does harvest automation use to make real‑time combine decisions?
31:44–37:16
6
What measurable benefits—productivity, fuel efficiency, and grain loss—does automation deliver?
37:16–42:23
7
How quickly do operators gain confidence and what learning curve should farms expect?
42:23–43:43
Speakers
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