PTx Trimble’s OutRun Could Be the Best Grain Cart Operator You’ve Ever Had
PTx Trimble’s OutRun, an autonomous grain cart solution, is available in 2025.
This technology promises to address one of the pressing challenges of harvest – labor constraints and the late harvesting of 33% of acres.
Those 33% of acres harvested late create substantial yield losses, Dinen Subramaniam, senior product manager of OutRun, told Farms.com.
These losses amount to significant financial impacts.
“All over the Midwest, we hear that 33% of acres are harvested late, causing a 10% reduction in yield on those acres,” explains Subramaniam. “That’s tens of thousands of dollars and in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars that farmers are leaving on the field in terms of lost yield.”
The primary cause of these delays is labor shortages during peak harvest seasons, a critical issue that OutRun aims to solve.
By automating grain cart operations, this technology allows farmers to harvest efficiently without relying on additional labor. This is particularly useful for farmers who find themselves waiting for available drivers or needing to return to headlands to offload grain.
OutRun is currently compatible with John Deere 8R or 8000R tractors and will soon support a mixed fleet.
The installation of this system is straightforward, typically requiring about a day to set up through a PTx Trimble dealership.
The financial model of OutRun is designed to be flexible, charging farmers only when the system is in use. This model fits operations ranging from 900 to 3,500 acres, proving to be cost-effective with a positive return on investment within the first couple of years.
The system's functionality includes tracking and avoiding unharvested patches and obstacles like power poles.
It also follows predefined paths that overlap with the combine to optimize the field's traffic pattern. Simple interface controls allow the grain cart to align with the combine for seamless grain transfer and can be prompted to return to a designated area for unload.
Watch a demo of this new technology below.
Farms.com connected with PTx Trimble to learn exactly how this technology works. For those interested in learning more, visit the Fall 2024 Farms.com Precision Agriculture Digital Digest here.
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