Harvesting machinery, innovations 4.0

Implementing digital technologies and automation to harvesting machinery is crucial in increasing production yields and improving the final product quality. And yet it is also a response to the agricultural labor shortage that came with the pandemic

Nowadays,, farming is one of the sectors looking with the highest interest at recent developments in robotics and artificial intelligence as their implementation can optimize agricultural production, positively impacting product quality and sustainability. Specifically, technology 4.0 applied to harvesting machinery for agricultural production can result in increased field yields, increased harvest efficiency and profitability, and reduced environmental impact. The wheat supply chain is one in which essential steps of digital technology transfer to machines have taken place, namely to combine harvesters, which, according to some, have undergone even more marked technological growth than tractors. The trend has been spurred by the sharp contraction in agricultural revenues, which in turn is due to rising input prices and the rise of foreign production of questionable quality but convenient in terms of price. In this light, technological innovation, digital technologies and precision agriculture - cornerstones on which the Agriculture 4.0 model rests - can significantly contribute to the contraction of production costs, particularly in a time like the current one marked by soaring fuel costs and generalized price increases. However, the critical element in precision agriculture- and, thus, planting, fertilizing, and even variable-rate treatments- is the timely and georeferenced knowledge of a plot's production yield. This can provide a starting point for new field management logics or validation concerning the effectiveness of those already adopted. 

 

Combine harvesters. The most recently produced machinery is equipped with several technological devices that constantly monitor a plot's production yield. With automatic guidance systems with satellite correction and real-time weighing systems for the harvested crop, the machine can record the amount of grain produced from each field area on the onboard computer. Moreover, some machines also have a moisture sensing device, which allows further information to be gathered. Clearly, such collected data can be sent to the farm cloud (5G is the ideal solution), where it can be processed through a DSS (Decision Support System) and cross-referenced with other information, such as soil analysis to establish a relation between soil texture, fertilizer dosage, seed and production yield. The DSS will provide information and guidance about what to do in the following season to correct production defects and enhance the most fertile areas. Some combines are highly accurate in collecting moisture data at a rate of every 30 seconds. Many systems have been refined to optimize the reliability of the sensed data, with specific sensors providing very accurate information regardless of the crop type or the relative grain moisture. Regarding data transfer, some companies stand out thanks to Wireless Data Transfert, a connection that enables the combine harvester to download information to the company computer via the Internet. Moreover, through this device, the machine can receive all kinds of data, communicate its working parameters, its location, and also make it possible for remote diagnostics to be performed by the service department. This model can be implemented thanks to the availability of the 5G network, which, as pioneered in the 5G Project in Matera, the only town in Italy, makes it possible to have latency times of 1 to 10 milliseconds and a transmission speed of 10 Gigabytes/second. The remote control option is one of the latest frontiers of agricultural harvesting machinery. With it, if the appropriate package is installed-both the farm owner and the dealership can receive on the computer all the operating parameters: not only hectares worked and average yield, but also combine harvester adjustment and operation data such as settings for beater, sieves and ventilation. This makes it possible, through constant contact, to instruct an operator, advising them on the best settings based on that day's technical-operational and climatic conditions. Moreover, even more interestingly, by receiving data from all active machinery, a computer operator can compare the productivity of the machines and assess, for example, which setting is yielding the best results. Such aspects are not negligible because precisely on a device like a combine harvester, even the most experienced operator can encounter difficult conditions to deal with. The latest generation of combines, in fact, can connect through innovative connection technologies. In this way, the operator can receive data from the other machines on his terminal, suggesting to the respective drivers which settings to change to improve productivity and work quality. Thus, in addition to communicating with the company headquarters and the dealership (for remote diagnosis of any malfunctions), combines can also connect directly to each other, thus creating a kind of intranet between machinery at work simultaneously. The agriculture of the future may be heading in this very direction.

 

Harvesters. Technology 4.0 has also changed the profile of grape harvesters which can now monitor precisely the quantity of the harvested product and other quality metrics peculiar to the productions. Next, plot mapping and onboard sensor technologies make it possible to obtain punctual, georeferenced data that, when related to a precise parameter, gives essential information about spatial variability within the individual plot, allowing a zoning map to be drawn up. Today, these data are crucial for making management choices during the crop cycle, such as - for example - fertilization, irrigation and treatments, but they are even more so at harvest time (for the selection of grapes to be harvested according to variety, vegetative vigor or other vital parameters distinctive of wine quality and typicality). An essential aspect of such technological tools is precisely the products' traceability right from harvesting, necessary to ensure the healthiness of the productions and protect the typicality of Made in Italy.

 

Robotic land vehicles. Featuring autonomous or semi-autonomous driving systems, these robotic interfaces, thanks to specific software based on advanced artificial intelligence techniques, are used for a variety of crop operations such as pruning and weeding. Furthermore, the sophisticated sensory (cameras, laser scanners, RFID, RTK) and handling (mechanical arms) components of these robotic vehicles also enable them to be programmed for selective fruit harvesting, ensuring high precision and efficiency. Broadly speaking, autonomous or semi-autonomous robots exploit different types of technologies; these are the very ones that enable them to move "consciously" in the field and keep an eye on crop progress, performing the same activities that until now have been human responsibility. In addition to making up for labor shortages, an issue that occurred during the Covid pandemic and in the post-pandemic phase, robotic systems make it possible to optimize processes and improve the quality of agricultural products, reducing environmental impact and offering solutions to meet the challenges and critical issues facing the agricultural sector today. But in order for this to happen, it is imperative to increase digital culture and confidence in the potential of technology.