Farmers are constantly looking for ways to do more with less: improve the quality of their crop while optimizing the use of inputs, preserving the health of the soil and reducing the environmental impact of their activities. It’s a delicate balancing act where advanced technologies can make all the difference. New Holland’s NutriSense system is one of them: awarded the Silver Medal at the SIMA Innovation Awards 2021, this innovation provides farmers with valuable measurements of crop moisture, starch, crude protein, fibre (ADF and NDF), ash and crude fat content in every area of their field. The farmer can visualize this agronomic data with an intuitive, user-friendly interface on their MyPLM Connect portal and use it to make informed decisions that will enable them to market their crops most profitably.

Eduardo Nicz, PLM Product Marketing Global, explains: “Our strategy at New Holland is to integrate digital technologies to deliver a smart and connected agriculture to our customers, with easy-to-use solutions. The NutriSense system is an excellent example: it provides farmers with detailed agronomic data collected by their New Holland combine or forage harvesters in the field. This will enable them to use their inputs most efficiently and harvest a crop they will sell at better prices.”

The NutriSense system on New Holland’s FR Forage Cruiser can help the livestock farmer or contractor in different phases of the farming cycle, starting from understanding and managing field health and performance using year-on-year field data. They can also use the measurements collected by the machine to determine if there is soil contamination in the forage, so they can add a safeguard for the livestock. At harvest time, the crop moisture data supports the farmer’s decision making on animal feed storage. The crude protein, crude fat and starch content of the crop enables them to improve the animal feed ration content and quality. The result is a healthier, more productive field and high-quality animal feed for the farmer’s livestock or for the contractor to sell at a higher price.

Cash crop farmers operating a New Holland CR or a CX7 and CX8 Combine with NutriSense will benefit too from the year-on-year field data to manage the health and performance of their fields. Understanding the crop protein levels across their field can be very useful when calculating fertilizer application rates for the following seasons, optimising the use of inputs. The protein content in the grain enables the farmer to determine whether the crop is suitable for animal feed or for milling wheat, which sells at a higher price. Knowing the value of their crop at harvest will also help them decide how to store the crop. The levels of crop nutrients such as starch also determine whether the crop is suitable for bio-fuel production. With the increasing demand for this sustainable fuel, this can represent an interesting revenue stream.

Lars Skjoldager Sørensen, Crop Harvesting Product Management Global, comments: “New Holland CR, CX7 and CX8 combines deliver massive capacity with outstanding grain quality. The NutriSense system gives our customers an additional advantage: the detailed information on nutrients enables them to optimize the use of inputs, determine the best way to manage their crop, and understand value of their crop to obtain the best price for it.”

Visualisation of data from the NutriSense system is the latest addition to the continually expanding array of features and functionalities of the MyPLM Connect Farm app designed to help farmers optimize the performance, productivity and profitability of their operation.

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