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(JimPattison.com)
Crops, Machinery & Shop, Markets, Reuters

Deere lifts 2021 forecast on solid equipment demand

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Reuters — Deere and Co. on Friday raised its full-year earnings forecast after quarterly profit topped Wall Street estimates on the back of strong demand for farm and construction equipment. The world’s largest farm equipment manufacturer now expects net income in fiscal 2021 to be between $5.7 billion and $5.9 billion, up from a range […] Read more
(Romaset/iStock/Getty Images)
Crops, Machinery & Shop, Reuters

U.S. FTC votes to make ‘right to repair’ a priority

Commission also drops 1995 merger policy

By ,
Washington | Reuters — The U.S Federal Trade Commission voted Wednesday to make it a priority to address the issue of manufacturers pushing consumers to use licensed dealers to repair items ranging from smartphones to farm equipment, a practice that critics call anti-competitive. The five commissioners, three Democrats and two Republicans, voted unanimously to approve […] Read more
While the DOT autonomous platform (shown here at a recent seeding demonstration at the Olds College Smart Farm) is scaled for large farms, Monarch’s fully electric, driver-optional tractor (shown below) is designed for small operations, such as vineyards and orchards. But both represent important milestones in the evolution of farm equipment, say experts.
Crops, Equipment

DOT earns passing grades at college, but not straight A’s

Fuel and labour are issues but the driverless implement shows plenty of potential in Olds College trials

By
Reading Time: 4 minutes Is the DOT ready for a full-time job on your operation? It might be too early to say, but researchers know the self-propelled, driverless tractor-minus-the-tractor finishes what it starts. “Every mission we started with DOT we were able to finish with DOT,” said Joy Agnew with Olds College. “There was never a catastrophic failure or […] Read more
Two Raven OMNiPower (formerly DOT) machines at work in the field. (RavenPrecision.com)
Crops, Machinery & Shop

CNH to buy Raven Industries

Heavy equipment maker to pay US$2.1 billion for precision ag firm

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The parent company behind Case IH, New Holland, Flexi-Coil and Steyr farm equipment is set to absorb a significant U.S. supplier of precision ag tech to its product lines and others. CNH Industrial on Monday announced a friendly all-cash agreement to buy up all shares in Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based Raven Industries for about US$2.1 […] Read more
Raven is rebranding the DOT autonomous system, shown here, under the name OMNiPower. (Raven Precision video screengrab via YouTube)
Crops, Machinery & Shop

DOT, AutoCart autonomous equipment lines rebranded

Parent firm Raven Industries' products tied to new brand

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U.S. precision agriculture equipment firm Raven Industries has set up a unifying brand for its acquired product lines, including the Canadian-born DOT autonomous field tool system. South Dakota-based Raven on May 12 launched the OMNi brand for its autonomous platform, rebranding DOT as OMNiPower and the AutoCart system as OMNiDrive. All of Raven’s intelligent autonomous […] Read more
Even in the best of circumstances, moving farm equipment on highways carries risks.
Crops, Equipment, News

Be seen and be safe when moving farm equipment on roads

Do everything you can to be visible, and consider taking extra measures, says expert

By
Reading Time: 3 minutes Think there’s no way a massive piece of farm machinery travelling down a highway can be completely unseen? Consider this story. On the morning of Jan. 4 of this year, a 72-year-old man died when a semi-trailer hit the tractor he was driving on a two-lane highway in southern Manitoba. The driver of the semi […] Read more
Equipment, News

Cervus to fold two dealerships into one

By
Reading Time: < 1 minute Cervus Equipment is building a new facility near Penhold that will combine operations from its Red Deer and Olds John Deere dealership locations. The new 44,000-square-foot facility at the junction of Highway 2 and Highway 42 is expected to open in early 2022. Travel charges for field service technicians will be charged at the same […] Read more
A growing number of farmers are frustrated by not having access to diagnostic tools when an error code flashes on the monitor on a combine.
Equipment, News

Do farmers have the right to repair their own equipment?

Interest groups debate the ‘right to repair’ versus ‘right to modify’ with producers stuck in the middle

By
Reading Time: 5 minutes It’s a story that’s becoming more and more common. You’re smack dab in the middle of harvest and an error code appears on your combine’s monitor. A call to the dealership results in a long wait for a technician to come out, with anxiety rising with every passing hour because priceless harvesting time is being […] Read more
Equipment, News

Remote diagnostics blocked by poor internet on farms

By
Reading Time: < 1 minute Waiting for a dealership tech or mechanic to come to your farm to fix a problem is frustrating for farmers — but also for those who work on equipment. As with home computers or computer-controlled industrial machines, technicians can remotely access the onboard computers on farm equipment. But only if there’s broadband internet. “So on […] Read more
Equipment, News

Connectivity ‘grey’ under new trade agreement

By
Reading Time: < 1 minute Some producers are concerned that a farm equipment industry push against modification may spell the end of connectivity — in other words, the ability of third-party manufacturers to produce tools which adapt farm vehicles for specialized uses. An example would be a combine header specifically designed for pulse crops. But abolishing connectivity is not on […] Read more

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