Autonomous tractors could save the farm

Agricultural equipment company Case IH believes its autonomous tractor concept vehicle could open new career paths in agriculture and overcome labour shortages in the Australian industry.

The Case IH Autonomous Concept Vehicle (ACV) was first demonstrated at the Farm Progress Show in the US in late August.

The cabless row crop tractor can operate autonomously with a range of paddock implements along a preset route. Alerts let operators know if fuel, fertiliser or seed are low so they can be manually refuelled.

Radar, lidar and onboard video cameras are used to detect stationary and moving obstacles and stop the tractor until an operator assigns a new path. The device can be controlled via a handheld tablet or desktop computer.

At the recent GrowAg Summit in Albury, Case IH marketing manager for A/NZ said the technology has the potential to add valuable, skilled jobs to the agriculture industry, open up the possibility to work 24 hours with no variation in productivity and address labour shortages.

A 2012 Senate inquiry estimated that labour shortages cost Australian farmers more than $150 million per year in lost productivity.

“This sort of technology can help to overcome these shortages and allow workers to focus less on manual labour and more on the science of farming, helping to attract people into the industry,” he said.

“Some of the components of the ACV, such as information control, could eventually be applied to standard tractors. These are very exciting times for farmers, as they — and Case IH — look at every avenue possible to optimise returns from every square centimetre of their farm.”

Image courtesy Case IH.