AgroPages-Topcon Agriculture launches new farm management and yield monitoring platforms-Agricultural news

Topcon Agriculture announces availability of its new cloud-based farm management platform integrating state-of-the-art connectivity, cloud services and data analytics.Topcon Agriculture Platform (TAP) subscriptions and cloud connectivity devices - Cloudlynk - will be available worldwide September 2019 and are designed to suit virtually any agricultural machine, implement, or technology. TAP has an exciting new interface that is designed for farmers to gain productivity and profitability without the learning curve of traditional farm data management systems.

Topcon is also offering a sneak peek at new solutions exclusive to TAP during the 2019 Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois, August 27 - 29, including innovations in yield mapping with HD Yield and a new agronomic recommendation engine that will build on the relationships farmers have with their agronomic partners.

"We've worked with farmers and institutions while beta testing and are excited to roll the platform out to farmers worldwide. It is the ideal solution for mixed fleets, so farmers can focus solely on decisions and action," said Brian Sorbe, VP of global production solutions.

"Additionally, the platform can provide seamless connectivity for sharing information so those supporting the farmers, such as dealers and agronomists, can provide real-time support, recommendations and tasks directly to the cab.

"The path to precision begins with highly accurate data, and data organization. These are critical benefit points of TAP for today's farmer working to navigate various technologies and software," said Sorbe.

"The platform ingests data from virtually any source and data type - such as yield, soil, fertility, imagery, topography - making the process free of software restraints and capable of unifying farm data regardless of brand. This freedom enables a clearer perspective for better agronomic decisions," said Sorbe.

Jeff Bathurst, with Bathurst and Sons Family Farms in Abilene, Kansas, said, "It changes everything, because I can access that data on whichever device I want. It allows me to farm more acres and use that same piece of equipment and get more out of it."

Yield Data Management

Two new introductions at Farm Progress center around yield data, the starting point for key agronomic insight. The new Smart Cart solution is designed to provide farmers with the capability to gather highly accurate, weight-verified, geo-referenced harvest data that automatically uploads to TAP for visualizing, post processing, and yield reporting.

"When farmers have connected the combine to TAP or uploaded their yield maps manually, the capability to retrieve HD Yield map layers from TAP becomes available. This new advancement takes notoriously inaccurate yield maps and improves accuracy and granularity with the Smart Cart," said Sorbe.

Another new yield monitoring solution is also being released. The new YM-2 YieldTrakk yield monitoring system now services crops using conveyor-type harvesters, such as potatoes, sugar beets, grapes, onions, and tomatoes. These solutions combined with the Smart Cart solution are intended to provide the foundation farmers need to be on the one-step-ahead of digital farm management.

Autosteering and guidance

Strengthening and boosting connectivity of tailorable guidance solutions, Topcon introduces new options for autosteering as well as a new GNSS base receiver coming to market this fall.

Further strengthening satellite correction services offering for greater accuracy, Topcon is releasing the HiPer VR mobile base station to provide the latest GNSS tracking technology and RTK capability in a compact, rugged design to bring satellite guidance and value to any agricultural application.

"The AGS-2 auto guidance system provides leading autosteering for any agricultural machine type and model. For increased flexibility and connectivity, the system will leverage the new TAP Cloudlynk connectivity devices for RTK corrections via cellular or radio. A major benefit is the introduction of new TopNET Global signal options and SkyBridge, which will reduce downtime by allowing the system to continue steering due to signal coverage interruption's when using RTK," said Sorbe.

The EHi (electrohydraulic inline) steering valve retrofit offers a complete turn-key setup without additional hydraulic accessories and is an alternative retrofit autosteering solution to the Topcon electric steering wheel. It is designed to provide accurate steering in low- and high-speed conditions and is compatible with virtually all machines in the market.

Additional information on Topcon Agriculture and its solutions is available at topconagriculture.com. For those interested in TAP, the Smart Cart, HD Yield, and exclusive TAP solutions, visit Topcon Agriculture at Farm Progress and see these new technologies. Attendees can also sign-up to be notified as soon as TAP is released in September 2019.