KUHN Farm Machinery has launched an innovative section control system to its range of ploughs: the “Smart Ploughing” system uses a GPS-based precision farming system to automatically lift and lower each individual plough body into and out of the ground at the start and end points of each furrow.
The new system, for which KUHN has filed a patent application, has been awarded a silver medal for innovation at Agritechnica 2017 for its ability to ensure uniform ploughing across the full field width.
Raising and lowering each plough body individually eliminates the Z-shaped furrow edge and minimises overlap at the end of furrows. This not only reduces the number of times the tractor passes over the headland, thereby reducing soil compaction, but also ensures all surface trash at the furrow/headland interface is buried effectively.
Establishing a clear, undisturbed boundary between the ploughed furrows and undisturbed land also reduces jolts and bouncing when turning on headlands. The new technology also makes ploughing easier and less time-consuming as the automated lifting and lowering of the plough bodies leaves the operator free to concentrate fully on driving the tractor. It also makes it easier for less experienced operators to create the perfect seedbed and eliminates the need for the tractor to slow at the end of each pass, thus speeding up the whole ploughing process.
The Smart Ploughing system will be available across a selection of KUHN ploughs.
