John Deere Precision Cotton Harvesting Technology

New for 2017 harvest, John Deere released new industry leading cotton harvesting technologies aimed at preserving cotton quality, improving data management, and cotton round module tracking.  The onboard technologies include a new moisture sensor for on-the-go moisture readings to precisely monitor harvest moisture conditions and improve quality of cotton through moisture management.  The second is onboard module weighing, to provide real time module weight data.  Combining these new onboard features with off-machine data management and module logistics optimization is the Harvest Identification, Cotton Pro system which utilizes onboard RFID reader technology to log and track every module made by the harvester.  The updated Pro system includes additional valuable data points over the original Harvest ID system, and is made even more valuable as a management tool with the integration with John Deere Operations Center and Field Analyzer.  The Harvest ID data and Operations Center benefit not only the producer, but sharing this data with gins can greatly improve module logistics and data management for the gins.  The focus is not only awareness for producers of the benefits, but increasing gin awareness of these features and understanding the potential for field to gin traceability that is possible with integrating this system in their operation.