In order to meet the growing demands of farming in the future, agricultural enterprises are relying more and more on precision farming. These solutions include the Variotronic operating interface, which includes the applications VarioGuide, VarioDoc Pro, SectionControl, Variotronic^TI automatic and ISOBUS. Heiner Müller, farmer in Rommerskirchen, and Joachim Pfannstiel-Wolf, Managing Director of the Leyen-Nesselrode GbR and the Land Expert Dienstleistungen OHG, have good experience in practice with the cutting-edge technologies from Fendt.

The young farmer employs a permanent staff of four as well as one trainee and three seasonal workers. Some of the workers are still outside on the field 5 km away planting industry potatoes. Besides these, sugar beets, oilseed rape, winter wheat and maize are also in the crop rotation of the farm. This all has to be managed properly. Time is the scarcest factor.

Two machine combinations of Fendt tractors and planters make their rounds precisely on the good soil. They leave perfectly straight dams behind them. A track for the pesticide sprayer is produced in spacings of exactly 36 metres. The data for this was entered in the Fendt terminal beforehand. “We use the VarioGuide automated steering system with RTK accuracy, for example, to plant potatoes accurately and straight. That greatly reduces the tractor operator’s workload. The tractor automatically drives in the right track, so that the operator can direct his full attention to the implement. “For this reason, we can optimise the use of our machine and even work at night during peak times,” says Heiner Müller explaining his use of the automated steering system, with which he no longer needs to turn at the edge of the field. Instead of having to turn at the headlands, the machine combination drives an arc and creates the next bed with the exact pre-calculated spacing. Of his four Fendt tractors, the 718, 720 and 824 are equipped with VarioGuide and two of them are also equipped with SectionControl. “Through the use of SectionControl, I save between six and seven percent on pesticides, fertilisers and seeds,” he comments. The automatic SectionControl saves working time. At the headland it takes over switching the sections on and off as soon as there is any unwanted overlapping. That minimises overlapping at the headlands when sowing sugar beets with the precision seeder or when planting potatoes. In the past, the extra plants had to be removed by hand.

When the ground is frozen in the winter, Heiner Müller drives over the field and records the field boundaries and waylines via GPS (GlobalPositioning System) and the RTK correction signal. Then, when the field work begins in the spring, hesimply transfers these to other terminals via USB stick. Pesticides and fertilisers can now be applied with the highest possible precision.The ISOBUS implement control integrated in the Variotronic operating interface on the Fendt terminal informs every ISOBUS-capable potato planter exactly where the rows are located. The ISOBUS interface is not only the decisive connection to the implement for the Fendt Variotronic. “We can also place up to ten functions from theimplement onto the multifunction joystick. To do this, we simply go to the ISOBUS settings in the terminal. This allows even easier operation of the machine,” says Michael Zumfeld, AGCO ATS Product Engineer, pointing at the Fendt terminal. He provides consultation and support for AGCO dealers and distributors, but also users, in all questions concerning the Fuse Technologies and FendtVariotronic strategies. Today he has made a pitstop at Heiner Müller’s.

Planting carrot seeds with VarioGuide RTK and VarioDoc Proat the Leyen-Nesselrode GbR near Grevenbroich.

“Not only our customers’ staff are brought up to date on the latest state of the technology. Our sales consultants for GPS technology also attend training twice a year. In the meantime, we do online or video training together with Fendt,” explains Frank von Ameln, Managing Director of the RWZ-Agrartechnik-Zentrum Rommerskirchen and Chairman of the RTK Association Rhineland. An accuracy of up to 2.5 cm is possible with the RTK correction signal. The correction data are sent via radio relay system or mobile network. “Everything works very well with Fendt and the proprietary Fendt terminal. The ISOBUScapable implements can be connected with the Fendt terminal via the ISOBUS socket,” says von Ameln. According to his information, the RWZ Technikgruppe Rommerskirchen sells about 130 Fendt tractors per year. Nine out of ten Fendt tractors sold in the 500, 700, 800 and 900 series are ready for GPS. Of these, more than 50 percent are equipped with a full version RTK VarioGuide. In this region, the RTK accuracy is primarily used for cultivating vegetables, potatoes, sugar beets and maize.

Only 10 km away from Heiner Müller’s farm, Joachim Pfannstiel-Wolf in Grevenbroich has dedicated himself to vegetable growing. He is the managing director of two companies, the agricultural enterprise Leyen-Nesselrode GbR and the service provider Land Expert Dienstleistungen OHG. It is the end of May. Today the last areas are to be sowed with carrots. That is why the field looks like an open-air laboratory right now: Martin Bellen is handling measuring cups, scale, tables, tape measure, pencils and slips of paper. Because exactly 3.1 million seeds are required per hectare. The two seed drills need to be adjusted precisely. Each machine plants seeds on four dams that lie 75 cm apart. Operator Martin Bellen climbs down from his Fendt 720 Vario, measures, weighs the seeds, writes down the amount per row and adjusts the sowing disc on the seed drill. Until the position of the seeds is just right. Because seeds are expensive. Around 1,200 euros/hectare. The GbR has 70 hectares of carrots under contract for a super market chain. The carrots are only allowed to be 2.8 cm at the most. They are therefore planted into the ground relatively late.

The machine combinations each pull four dams with carrot seeds precisely with VarioGuide RTK.