Cost-free technologies: keys to maximizing harvest efficiency

Faced with the need to reduce losses during harvest, INTA professionals recommended free strategies that articulate technological advances, good management practices, and trained personnel with the objective of maximize the quality of the grains to be marketed.

According to various evaluations carried out by the agency, almost four million tons grains remain in the lots unharvested per year, which exceeds the recommended tolerance levels between 25% and 50%, depending on the type of crop.

John Mark Giordano specialist from INTA Rafaela, maintained that “not only do we have to think about the cost per hectare to carry out the collection, but also about the entire environment, which will result in being able to seek stability in the results, reduce random variables and collect information on useful yield for other opportunities.”

In this sense, the expert recommended that time should be invested in the maintenance of the combine during the winter break, in addition to the implementation of improvements. “It is essential to carry out a cleaning before entering a new lot in order to avoid future chemical controls on crops with weeds,” explained Giordano.

The head is decisive at the time of threshing

Second, under normal harvesting conditions, the head can be responsible for 70% of the losses caused, whether soybean, corn or sunflower.

“The good state of maintenance, and the possibility of making adjustments during the harvest, can be decisive to achieve correct operation, depending on the variables of the crop conditions”, explained the professionals.

In this way, to achieve efficiency in the harvest of wheat and soy it is necessary to control daily the state of the head, its blades, spikes and the press clamp. In addition, it is important to ensure that the reel speed is 10% to 15% higher than the forward speed of the machine.

Meanwhile, the velocity of the head for corn must act in sync with the advance. In addition, the roll cover plates must be adjusted and check that the spike occurs a little behind the middle of these, and adjust the height and angle of the head, which is essential to increase the power of the harvest.

Automation and robotization streamline and perfect the work of the operator

“The technological improvements in the harvesters improved their logistics and efficiency, not only in the evaluation of losses, but also in obtaining a quality performance map added Ulises Loizaga, INTA Balcarce specialist.

The sound of the machine, as well as the robotization provided by the autopilot, together with the different degrees of automation “allow the harvester to adjust according to the amount of material that enters and according to the levels saved, which streamlines the process and does not require so many measurements by the operator”, explained Loizaga.

In turn, the telemetry service, which collects and processes information remotely, makes it possible to visualize what is happening in real time on the machine, through a mobile application or web page.

“The person can receive all the machine alerts on their mobile phone and if they need help, they notify the dealer and they can proceed to solve the problem. Both tools allow to act before interruptions in efficiency. This standardizes the language, does not allow the disparity between those who are above the machine and those who are below”, added Loizaga.

Meanwhile, they highlighted that in Argentina more than 60% of the planted area in the country is in the hands of contractors. In this sense, “it is especially important to achieve continuity in the relationship with this team,” Loizaga said.

In this way, as he pointed out, one can observe with time the status of the units allows organizing the order of the lots to be harvested according to the crop conditions, and obtaining quality in the harvested grains according to the previous experience observed in said service.

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Finally, the specialists indicated that it is important choosing the right hybrid that provides more even grains, plants of an adequate size and that the beans do not open.