Billed as a future market leader John Deere S7 Series combines offer predictive ground speed and settings automation tech that looks ahead of the front
Twenty-nine of the grain industry’s brightest emerging leaders were the first growers and agriculture professionals to witness John Deere’s S7 Series Combine Harvester release on local soil.
The group attended the AU and NZ headquarters in Crestmead Queensland and participated in a purpose-designed interactive experience to learn why they should switch to the transformative value of technology harboured in an S7 Series Combine.
John Deere Precision Ag Manager, Max Cusack outlined how representatives from the major grain-producing states in the nation were in attendance for the launch during the Innovation Generation Conference 2024.
“The new iteration of the iconic S7 Series Combine Harvester was a huge announcement for us earlier this year and we were delighted to share the first glimpse of these machines with those who are going to shape Australian grains production into the future.
“Working collaboratively with industry, including with younger farmers and professionals, to understand their needs – and then meeting these needs with the innovation and tech we are developing or already have in-built in our equipment – is at the heart of what we do to help make our customers the most productive and sustainable in the world.
“Innovation Generation is a wonderful event, and one that I have been part of a number of times since first attending eight years ago as a John Deere graduate. Connecting with the event, and with the delegates from across the country who travel to be part of it, is a wonderful way for us to not only support industry but to listen and learn,” Max Cusack concluded.
AI and automation hot topics
For many of the Innovation Generation attendees, it was technology and Artificial Intelligence they were most keen to discuss with the John Deere team.
George Gibson, who manages a farm near Arthur River in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt, said achieving optimal operational efficiency was top of mind in all decision making.
“For example, the new boom spray we have seen today, with cameras and See & SprayTM Select, is something that makes me very excited about the technology that is coming into the country,” Mr Gibson said.
“Operational efficiency is a massive thing for us within our group, so having that technology available and seeing John Deere innovate makes us innovate as well.”
For Ryan Greaves, a fourth-generation farmer also from WA’s Wheatbelt, it was automation, and what that means for his workforce requirements, that captured his attention.
“Being able to hire people that don’t really have a background in agriculture and put them in a machine that is worth a lot of money, and then trust them because the machine is doing a lot of the work – that’s what excites me,” Ryan Greaves added.
Angus Malmo, an agronomist, from Cootamundra in New South Wales, said it was discovering the “one per center” ways to grow efficiency and comparing notes with peers he was keen to focus on.
“Being an agronomist, I am really trying to think about what is happening with Artificial Intelligence and where that puts me in the future,” Angus Malmo reinterated. “The networking, and meeting people from right across the country, is also pretty exciting. Our production is probably same-same, but also completely different.”
