Autonomous fertilizer spreader put to the test

Anyone who has operated or worked on repairing machinery has from time to time cursed the engineer who came up with an awkward design, or when fighting with a part that is nearly impossible to remove and replace when it fails. But what if one of the major brands knocked on your door and asked you to try out their latest technology and tell them what, if anything, needs to be changed before it goes into production?

That would be a great opportunity to give designers your two cents’ worth as their machine design evolves, not to mention determining if the machine actually adds any real value to your operation.

In fact, that is how all brands have traditionally field-tested prototype equipment, and the Fahlman family was recently given such a chance. The machine they helped evaluate is like very few others that have made their way onto working farms. Case IH and its affiliate Raven brand delivered a Case IH Trident 5550 fully autonomous fertilizer spreader to their farm, and the Fahlmans operated it across about 4,500 acres during the 2022 season.

“This opportunity kind of popped up through conversations with Raven to begin with,” Keenan Fahlman told Country Guide. “One thing led to another. They were looking for on-field experiences with real-world farmers, not more test plot-type things.”

Keenan and his son Brady, who operate a family farm near Holdfast, Sask., remain involved in ongoing field trials of the Trident, and that has given them the opportunity to dive headfirst into the emerging world of autonomous farming.

Thoughts on autonomy

Both were invited to Maricopa County, Arizona, in early December to participate in Case IH’s Technology Day, where the brand publicly introduced several automated and autonomous machine concepts to media. Brady was invited on stage to discuss using the autonomous Trident, what the Fahlmans thought of it, and perhaps more importantly, what they think of the entire concept of autonomous farming.

“When we had the opportunity this year to demo the Trident with the Raven autonomy, we were very excited,” he told the attendees. “I was able to sit in my half-ton this fall and watch that Trident go up and down the field with no one in the cab, and it was the best moment I’ve had in my short farming career.”

However, safety protocol for testing required a person to remain in the cab as a failsafe in case anything went wrong.

As exciting as it was to watch an autonomous field machine working, the realization of what that technology has to offer made a significant impression on Brady and his father. Brady spoke about how it can enhance the operation’s efficiency overall.

“A lot of the conversation around autonomy focuses on labour,” he said. “And it’s true. Seasonal labour for us is hard to find. Autonomy for us is just the next step to improve efficiencies on our farm. If we can get guys out of the cab and we can use the labour we already have more efficiently … such as getting grain off the field more quickly, that’s really what we’re looking for.

“As the equipment has gotten so good and so big, we are more focused on logistics and support of that equipment. When you take guys and put them in the cab for 12 hours, we’re just not using labour that efficiently. That’s a big reason why we want (autonomy) on our farm.”

But will all or even most producers see the value in the near term? Will they be willing to pay what will almost certainly be a premium for autonomous equipment?

Keenan thinks the widespread adoption of emerging autonomous technology by farmers will likely be slow to start, in a way similar to how other advanced features on equipment have eventually become commonplace over his farming career. There will be skepticism at first, but when the advantages become obvious, producers will take to them en masse.

“In the mid-2000s when the first GPS systems came out,” he recalled, “everybody said ‘what a waste of time, that’s what you have a steering wheel for.’”

And he thinks the most efficient way for those who do invest in autonomous machines to integrate them into their operations will be to blend them with existing conventional farming operations.

“It’s not like you’re going to sit in an office and send out a fleet,” he said. “It’s more the ability to have a second or third machine working with you at the same time. That’s what we did, a lot of that type of testing. Using it in combination with what you already have is kind of a nice way to look at it. This is a starting point.”

Getting prepared

Getting ready to use the autonomous Trident required some preparation. Suitable field maps had to be created to determine its operational boundaries. Fields with the fewest obstacles proved to be the easiest to set up for the unmanned machine.

“We had no previous mapping done to match this,” Keenan said. “So we sent out our side-by-side outfitted with the same Slingshot (GPS) system so we could do a pre-map of it. On our farm we talk about making things autonomous-ready, removing rock piles, making certain fields a little more user-friendly for that machinery. The more your fields are not perfect, for example if you have multiple rock piles, water runs, trees — that’s going to limit it. There’s no doubt about that.”

The Fahlmans also used their own Patriot sprayer to create field maps to transfer to the Trident, which allowed it to simply work within those confines while an operator worked in a conventional machine in a nearby field.

“We were able to do the boundaries with it (the Patriot) and send the boundaries to the Trident,” he said “It takes off and goes in the middle and I’m in the other field right beside it. So there’s a lot of simple processes that can be repeatable with that unit.”

Unmanned tillage

At the Case IH Technology Day, brand executives also talked about an autonomous tractor capable of unmanned tillage that they will introduce in the future. Although most Prairie operations are zero till or minimum till these days, Keenan still sees value in what that type of autonomous machine can do.

“Here’s the applications we talked about,” he explained. “For example, we seed a lot of pulses, so we have a unit in the field that’s rolling behind (the drill). We run two drills, so you could have that second unit running (a drill), or pulling the land roller behind you.

“And there are other options. Put it on a set of harrows for those guys that want to harrow. The technology has gotten so good we see a big fit for it down the road in multiple applications.”

Will the Fahlmans buy a machine like the autonomous Trident when Case IH makes one available? The answer, said Keenan, is a definite yes. And Brady is in full agreement.

“We’re all excited about the future, and we’re ready to go,” he told the crowd at the Technology Day. “We’re ready to get the autonomy; we’re ready to get the tech. We want it on our farm. We can see the benefits and how it’s going to help us. We just want it as fast as we can get it. Not even for growth, but to do a better job of what we’re doing right now; autonomy and all this tech to us is necessary.”