In the sea of tractors and implements displayed at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show last month, one might not immediately notice the technology draping the orange tractor at the GPS Ontario booth.

“It’s the first aftermarket installed level five autonomous tractor in Canada,” said Wallace, GPS Ontario’s advanced solution technician. 

“It’s the first BX992 Trimble antenna in Canada, and it’s the first Kubota tractor used in autonomy Canada-wide.”

The Sabanto system can be retrofitted on an existing tractor, where it hooks into the computer controls, hydraulics and some mechanical operations of the tractor.

Wallace can program Deacon from an app on his phone or computer dashboard from anywhere worldwide. He can create field grids and do tasks involving specific equipment, as well as track fuel consumption, speed, PTO RPMs and sensor-related information.

“It doesn’t physically matter whether we’re on-site or not, as long as the vehicle is physically within the geofence and field boundaries,” he said.

There is an automatic kill switch if the tractor crosses the geofence boundary, and once finished, it alerts the producer.

Sensors detect objects in front of the tractor.

The operator can tow it from field to field, allowing it to work in tandem or separately.

During late-summer demonstrations, the Sabanto mowed and raked hay fields while the farmer baled behind it.

These time-consuming labour-eating tasks are the low-hanging fruit of Sabanto’s capabilities. Wallace hopes to run strip-till and planting demonstrations to showcase the potential range of the technology.

“This particular grower we worked with (for the haying demo) was a goat dairy,” said Wallace. “They’ve got to manage the goats, and they’ve got to manage other tasks around the farm. To be able to send this tractor out and have it complete its job is simple. It becomes very energy-focused on efficiency.”

With a base cost of $65,000, the outfit comes with an annual subscription that covers the warranty and a cellular and GPS subscription, he said. Each tractor gets a name for the tracking software.

Wallace suggested the return on investment is two-fold. The Sabanto Steward turns existing tractors into autonomous tools with minimal investment compared to purchasing new ones. Additionally, it provides a labour savings cost of, at minimum, a single employee, offsetting the initial investment and providing a year to a year-and-a-half ROI.

As a bonus, Wallace says the tractor doesn’t call in sick, never leaves early, and will work through any weather and timeline outside of a refuelling break.

“We wanted to pursue this technology partly because GPS Ontario is usually a leading endeavour in precision agriculture,” he said. “And autonomy and labour force shortages are a big deal right now.”

Wallace appreciates Sabanto’s current focus on smaller tractors under 200 horsepower, which lowers compaction potential and promotes healthy soil structure.

He admits the system isn’t perfect. It isn’t yet able to communicate with implements and alert if there are issues. Sabanto is working on software to remedy that. 

If farmers work with older analog implements, the tractor offers the same service as a worker in the driver’s seat, said Wallace.

“It’s about preserving the land. It’s about being efficient in agriculture. It’s about maximizing the time we have available to us with the labour shortage and the workforce we do have available.”

– This article was originally published at Farmtario.

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The Washington, D.C.-based American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) on Monday announced it had reached memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with equipment firms Agco and Kubota on allowing the so-called “right to repair.”

The MOUs, reached separately with each company, follow similar pacts the AFBF made in January with Deere and Co. and in March with CNH, the maker of Case IH and New Holland equipment.

READ MORE: Deere agrees to independent equipment servicing

The agreements lay out a framework under which farmers and independent repair facilities in all 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico would be able to access Agco and Kubota manuals, tools, product guides and information to self-diagnose and self-repair machines.

The pact also provides for support from the manufacturers to directly purchase or lease diagnostic tools and order products and parts. Farmers or independent repair shops would be able to obtain specialized tools, software or documentation from authorized repair shops on “fair and reasonable terms” via subscription or sale.

Barry O’Shea, vice-president for customer support at Agco — whose brands include Massey Ferguson, Fendt and Challenger — said in AFBF’s release that “Agco’s farmer-first focus guides us in everything we do, and we support farmers’ ability to repair the equipment they own.”

Todd Stucke, senior vice-president of marketing for Kubota, said in the same release that the company, through its dealer network, makes shop tools, parts, guides and manuals available to owners who choose to work directly on their machines.

“We strive to ensure that our equipment is manufactured to the highest engineering standards to maximize performance for our customers, and this agreement is a good step toward further protecting their safety while operating, maintaining and repairing it,” Stucke said.

The agreements emphasize that the manufacturer isn’t obliged to divulge any trade secrets, nor to allow farmers or independents to override equipment safety features or emissions controls, nor to sell tools, software or documents that either never existed or are no longer available to either the company or its authorized repair sites.

Taken together with the Deere and CNH MOUs, AFBF said the four agreements cover about 70 per cent of the farm machinery sold in the U.S.

“Farmers and ranchers urged us to find a private sector-solution to the challenges of repairing their own equipment,” AFBF president Zippy Duvall said in the same release. “These agreements represent ongoing efforts to ensure farmers have access to the tools necessary to keep their equipment running, and to keep food on the table for families across America.”

The MOUs with Agco and Kubota both took effect as of May 17. They also commit the companies and AFBF to meet at least semi-annually to assess how the MOUs are working and suggest changes as needed.

The MOUs also allow for the AFBF or either company to withdraw on delivery of written notice, but the parties agree to “co-operate in good faith” to schedule a meeting within 30 days of that notice to discuss the “ongoing viability” of the MOU.

The MOUs’ “intended beneficiaries” are farmers in the 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico; neither agreement mentions any commitment to provide the same services to farmers outside U.S. territory. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Earth Power Tractors and Equipment, owned in partnership by Jim Kelly and Jeff Cook since 2005, said Thursday it has a deal in place to sell its sites at Owen Sound and nearby Meaford to Robert’s Farm Equipment, which has Kubota dealerships at Chesley, Lucknow and Mount Forest.

The third Earth Power dealership, at Stayner, about 35 km west of Barrie, will go separately to Stewart’s Equipment, which has Kubota dealerships at Erin and Cookstown. Both acquisitions are expected to take effect July 1.

Kelly, who first purchased the company in 1998, died last year, and “we took some time to reflect and decided that now is the right time for us to sell our operations,” Earth Power spokesperson Cindy Barton, Kelly’s daughter, said in a release.

“Both dealer groups align with our core values not only from a sales and service standpoint, but also in how they work and interact with staff,” she said. “We expect that this business transition will be seamless for our customers.”

Yannick Montagano, Kubota Canada’s vice-president for sales, marketing, service and engineering, said the company supported Earth Power’s decision to sell the chain, adding the manufacturer is “very proud of the customer and community engagement from Earth Power” and endorses the dealerships’ new ownerships.

Earth Power, a full-service tractor and construction equipment chain whose customer base covers Grey, Bruce and Simcoe counties, deals mainly in Kubota but also supports “select complimentary short lines” including Vermeer, Merlo, Land Pride and Walker Mowers, among others.

“There was an opportunity for us to work with Earth Power and keep that business thriving. Our thought was, if we can continue to develop the Kubota brand in Grey and Bruce counties, then we should,” Robert’s president Brian Osterndorff said in a separate release.

Robert’s said the Owen Sound and Meaford shops will get new names and branding in July but their employees have been “guaranteed gainful employment” with the new owner and the locations will otherwise remain as they are.

Similarly, Stewart’s president Jeff Stewart, in a separate release, said the Stayner facility’s location, staff and operations will remain the same.

“We look forward to meeting and working with everyone in Stayner and the surrounding area,” Stewart said. “Kubota is a great brand, and together we are looking forward to continued support of their products within the local community.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Publicly-traded AgJunction, which is registered in Calgary but based at Scottsdale, Ariz., said Thursday its board has unanimously approved Kubota’s 75-cents-per-share proposal and recommended shareholders vote in favour.

AgJunction would be taken private under this deal and its common shares delisted from the TSX.

The company makes guidance and autosteering hardware and software products for precision agriculture, including systems for original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and the Wheelman brand of after-market autosteer systems for farmers.

The company’s Canadian roots date back to 1990, when it launched under the name Canadian Systems International (CSI). Up until 2018 it owned the Outback Guidance aftermarket positioning and autosteer technology business.

AgJunction, in a release, said farm equipment automation is “rapidly advancing with increasing investment and consolidation” — but adoption of new automation calls for “tighter vehicle integration and large-scale distribution.”

Kubota’s proposed deal, AgJunction said, is the best option given “current industry, economic and capital markets conditions as well as (the) existing strategic relationship between AgJunction and Kubota.”

AgJunction board chair Lori Ell, in the same release, said the deal is “expected to accelerate the execution of AgJunction’s business plan, enhance access to additional customers and markets (and) provide efficiencies from greater scale.”

The deal with Kubota, Ell said, also “allows the opportunity for the retention of many AgJunction employees in the go-forward entity.”

The deal is subject to approval from AgJunction shareholders, who are expected to vote on the matter at a meeting next month, and from Alberta’s Court of Queen’s Bench after that.

Separately on Tuesday (Oct. 12), Kubota announced a “collaboration research agreement in the field of smart agriculture” with California-based Topcon Positioning Systems.

That agreement would see the two companies “work collaboratively to move forward with research and development into smart agriculture in a wide range of fields.”

Those fields, Kubota said, include “collecting and managing agronomic data that utilizes various sensors, and solutions for productivity improvements through automation utilizing big data.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Royal Reesink announced Friday it has bought a controlling stake in Hepson and has a partnership deal in place with the Kehler family, owners of GenAg. Hepson operates a dealership just north of Brandon; GenAg has two, one at Portage la Prairie and the other between Winkler and Morden.

GenAg specializes in potato equipment and carries brands including Claas, Spudnik, Kubota, Horsch and Valley; Hepson sells Claas’ Jaguar forage harvesters along with Kubota, MacDon, Salford and other brands.

“In Royal Reesink, we have found a business partner who understands the dynamics of agriculture and has a good track record in our sector,” the Kehler family said in a statement in Reesink’s release. The family keeps a “significant ownership share,” Reesink said.

“We’re approaching retirement age and wanted to guarantee the continued existence of the company, but also further develop the company. Royal Reesink can play an important role in this,” Hepson chiefs Sid Patterson and Paul Hepworth said in the same release.

Reesink made its first inroads in ag equipment sales in Canada in October last year when it bought Claas dealer Tingley’s Harvest Centre, which has dealerships at Lloydminster and Vegreville, Alta. and North Battleford, Sask.

Reesink Canada Holdings, the Canadian subsidiary of Royal Reesink, will operate Hepson and hold the GenAg partnership stake. The holding company also operates Tingley’s and Reesink Canada Wholesale, the Canadian distributor of Agrifac sprayers.

“By investing in Canada, we are diversifying our field of activity and making ourselves less vulnerable to geopolitics and weather disruptions,” Royal Reesink CEO Gerrit van der Scheer said in the company’s release.

“Canada is a stable agricultural market, where there is plenty of ongoing investment. Farmers there are very open to progressive European technology. So it’s been a logical next step to further invest in Canada,” Erwin Ros, managing director of Reesink Canada Holdings, said in the same release.

Based at Apeldoorn, about 90 km east of Amsterdam, Royal Reesink’s businesses worldwide have about 2,100 employees in the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Germany, the U.K., Kazakhstan, Denmark, South Africa and Turkey.

Overall, Reesink reported pro forma revenue of about 720 million euros (C$1.06 billion) last year and expects revenue to reach 850 million euros ($1.25 billion) in 2019.

Financial terms of the deals for GenAg and Hepson weren’t disclosed in Friday’s release. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

Correction, Sept. 17, 2019: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated Royal Reesink acquired a controlling stake in GenAg. We regret the error.

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Winnipeg manufacturer Buhler Industries, the maker of Versatile tractors, on Thursday announced a “long-term” original equipment manufacturer (OEM) deal with Japan’s Kubota Corp. to “develop and produce a new tractor platform in the mid-range front-wheel assist segment.”

For Kubota, the OEM deal allows it to expand its tractor lineup to a horsepower range above its “currently largest” M7 170-hp line and “strengthen its large tractor business in the North American market.”

Development of the new tractor platform began almost five years ago, Kubota said, and the new higher-horsepower tractors are to be introduced in the U.S. and Canada starting from the second half of 2019.

Production of the new units will begin “immediately,” Buhler added.

The new line will incorporate Kubota’s “proprietary knowhow on ease of operation and functional design” to make new large tractors customized exclusively for the Japanese firm.

For Buhler, which will make the new tractors at its Clarence Avenue factory in Winnipeg, the deal will “increase overall production at the Versatile facility… which will reduce overhead and increase efficiency.”

The Clarence Avenue plant, which according to Buhler has built over 100,000 tractors in its lifetime, makes fixed-frame front-wheel assist tractors from 265 to 365 hp and articulated four-wheel drives from 380 to 610 hp.

Buhler, owned by Russian farm equipment maker Rostselmash since 2007, has operated the plant since 2000, when it bought the Versatile business from New Holland. The Versatile brand dates back to 1966, when the eponymous company began mass-producing articulated four-wheel-drive tractors.

“The Versatile brand has a global reputation in agriculture for building high-horsepower tractors that are reliable and well-built,” Buhler’s chief operating officer, Grant Adolph, said Thursday in a release.

“The result of this agreement is an increase in production at the factory in Winnipeg which will bring additional stability to the supply chain and employees.”

Kubota, whose Canadian and U.S. operations are headquartered at Markham, Ont. and Grapevine, Tex. respectively, today supplies over 1,100 dealerships in the U.S. and 150 in Canada.

The company’s compact and sub-compact tractors for the North American market are assembled in the U.S. at Gainesville and Jefferson, Georgia. Kubota’s current highest-horsepower tractor, the M7, is built at the company’s plant at Bierne in northern France, just south of Dunkirk.

“Today’s announcement will allow us to broaden our horizons as our engineers will work with Buhler’s employees, in order to develop and produce tractors specific to our local market’s needs and tailored for their applications,” Kubota Canada president Bob Hickey said in a separate release. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Kubota Canada announced Thursday it will move those operations from Markham, Ont. to a new facility it will build at Pickering by the end of 2019.

“It had become obvious that we needed a new state-of-the-art facility to ensure we could live up to our commitments to meet the increasing needs of our growing customer base,” Bob Hickey, president of Kubota Canada, said in a release.

The company, which has operated at Markham “continuously” since 1975, will start construction this fall on the new facility, at a total expected cost of $67 million.

The Pickering site will cover 565,500 square feet, Kubota said, but is scalable up to one million square feet “in the future.”

By the end of 2019, the company said, it would start moving its offices to its new location in two phases, first its head office and “wholegoods” operations, with its parts operations to follow.

The Pickering site, Kubota said, will also offer “enhanced testing, training and increased warehousing areas with room for future expansion.”

“Our new location will enable us to have easy access to highways (and) affordable housing for our employees, as well as to equipment testing and training areas,” Hickey said.

The company noted it plans to boost its Canadian workforce to 250 employees by 2027, from 190 currently.

Pickering, Hickey said, “provides a great sense of community and lends itself perfectly to our growing technological advancements.” — AGCanada.com Network

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Kubota, which has had a strategic alliance with Great Plains for implements in the U.S. since 2007, announced Friday it will buy 100 per cent of Great Plains’ stock for roughly US$430 million (C$556.4 million).

The deal gives Kubota all five Great Plains divisions and the company’s “multiple” manufacturing plants in Kansas, plus a plant in Sleaford, about 90 km southeast of Sheffield in England.

“Once final, this acquisition is going to lead to great advancements for both businesses without being a significant change for our people,” Todd Stucke, Kubota’s senior vice-president of sales, marketing and product support, said in a release.

For the foreseeable future, the companies said, all five of Great Plains’ divisions “will continue to operate as they have with their infrastructure intact and with respect to the distinctiveness of the brands, trademarks and operational strengths.”

Set up in Kansas in 1976, Great Plains’ divisions today include Great Plains Ag, which makes seeders, drills, sprayers and tillage equipment; Land Pride, which makes turf equipment, landscaping equipment, skid steer attachments and three-point implements such as rotary cutters; trucking firm Great Plains Trucking; lender Great Plans Acceptance Corp. (GPAC); and Great Plains International, the export arm for Great Plains Ag and Land Pride.

Kubota said the Great Plains deal meshes with its previous entry into the implement market, when it bought manufacturer Kverneland in 2012.

With the Great Plains operations, Kubota said, it will have GP’s seeders and tillage equipment, which are suited to North American farming methods, as well as Kverneland’s line of hay tools.

Thus, the company said, the deal “should help Kubota to strengthen and expand its implement product lineup in the North American market, which in turn will further expand its implement business overall.”

Kubota said the deal will also build on its own presence in Kansas, where it recently announced it would set up its North American distribution centre at Edgerton, about 50 km southwest of Kansas City. The site is to be Kubota’s primary distribution hub for parts and whole goods across the U.S.

“Through our Canadian marketing alliance, we’ve learned that Land Pride products are a great fit for our tractors, our dealers and our brand here in Canada,” Kubota Canada president Bob Hickey said Friday in a separate release.

The deal, Hickey said, “will strengthen our ability to deliver high-quality products to our customers and continue our strategic growth into new markets.” — AGCanada.com Network

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Kubota Canada this year didn’t even wait for the official start of the Outdoor Farm Show, but did it all a day early.

While most exhibitors set up displays, Kubota on Sept. 15 opened its permanent Farm Show exhibit, dubbed the Kubota Education Centre, then introduced its new M7 tractor series and its SSV skid steer loader.

The permanent structure is the latest commitment from Kubota, which joins several other manufacturers as well as seed and chemical companies in “setting down roots” at the Farm Show site.

As for its new tractors, Kubota has made considerable inroads into higher horsepower tractor lines recently, particularly with its M5 and M6 series. With the new M7, those inroads continue, including engines with 131-, 151- and 171-horsepower ratings, all from the Kubota V6108 engine.

The M7 design combines selective catalytic reduction (SCR) and common rail system (CRS) technology, to meet Tier 4 Final emissions standards. In all there will be three different levels of performance for the M7: Standard, Premium and Premium KVT (Kubota Variable Transmission), the company’s answer to the CVT design, providing a “virtually infinite” number of forward and reverse speeds.

“It’s a natural progression for us, and in terms of flexibility, this tractor will do things that the M6 won’t from a horsepower standpoint,” said David Webster, general manager for sales and marketing for Kubota Canada.

“You look at the hydraulic capabilities that are built into it, with a closed-centre load-sensing system, and an ISO monitor for running attachments. It’s a pretty capable machine.”

The SSV Skid Steer loader series, meanwhile, includes two models: the SSV65 and the SSV75. The SSV65 comes with a 64-hp engine, a rated operating capacity of 1,950 lbs. (885 kg) and a bucket breakout force of 4,839 lbs. (2,195 kg). The SSV75 carries a 74.3-hp engine, a 2,690-lb. (1,220-kg) operating capacity and a breakout force of 5,884 lbs. (2,669 kg).

The models include the company’s Shockless Ride function, meant to provide a smooth response, along with a unique vertical lift design, a long reach and high bucket, plus a variety of attachments, such as augers, stump grinders, power rakes and tillers.

— Ralph Pearce is a field editor for Country Guide at St. Marys, Ont. Follow him at @arpee_AG on Twitter.

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