ASABE presents John Deere with six 2021 AE50 Awards for innovative product engineering

• ASABE announced John Deere received six 2021 AE50 Awards for innovations in engineering and technology for agricultural, food, and biological systems.
• John Deere received 2021 AE50 Awards for its ExactRate™ Liquid Fertilizer System, Harvest Monitor SmartClean™ System, X9 Combines, CH950 Sugar Cane Harvester, HDR Rigid Cutterbar Drapers, and CF Folding Corn Heads.

John Deere was recently presented with six 2021 AE50 Awards for outstanding innovations that improve production agriculture. Each year the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) recognize the 50 most innovative product-engineering designs in the food and agriculture industry with its AE50 Awards, as chosen by international engineering experts. Winning products are recognized for ingenuity in product development, and for saving farmers time, costs and labor while improving safety.

This year John Deere received 2021 AE50 Awards for the following innovations:

• ExactRate™ Liquid Fertilizer System
• Harvest Monitor with SmartClean™
• X9 Combines
• CH950 Sugar Cane Harvester
• HDR Rigid Cutterbar Drapers
• CF Folding Corn Heads

“Innovation is one of our core values and AE50 Awards reaffirm the innovative spirit of John Deere employees. No other company in agriculture invests more in research and development than John Deere,” said Joel Dawson, manager, production and precision ag for John Deere. “Our engineers take great pride in creating new technology and products to benefit our customers. We remain committed to helping them meet the world’s growing need for food, fuel, shelter and infrastructure in a productive and sustainable manner.”

One of the award-winning innovations John Deere introduced last February was ExactRate, a liquid-fertilizer-application system on John Deere planters that farmers can use for row-by-row section control. This system helps reduce fertilizer costs at time of planting by automatically shutting off application in areas of overlap or non-application.

Also receiving a 2021 AE50 Award was the John Deere Harvest Monitor with SmartClean™ System – an industry-first cleaning performance and documentation system for mechanical sugar cane harvesters. SmartClean enhances operator decision making and helps deliver a consistent, customer-defined product to the mill. Coupled with integrated machine sensors, SmartClean minimizes cane losses and manages residue ejection, and leaf trash sent to the mill by automatically adjusting primary cleaning fan speed settings. Agronomic information also can be documented and recorded to provide live feedback to the farmer about the machine via the John Deere JDLink dashboard and the John Deere Operations Center.

Last summer, John Deere introduced two models of X Series combines, the X9 1000 and X9 1100, which received a 2021 AE50 Award. The X9 1100 can harvest up to 30 acres of tough, high-yielding wheat per hour, and harvest up to 7,200 bushels per hour in high-yielding corn. As conditions change, the combine automatically adjusts itself to keep running at peak levels.

John Deere also received 2021 AE50 Awards for its HDR Rigid Cutterbar Drapers and CF Folding Corn Heads that were introduced last summer. The HDR enables small grains, oilseed or soybean farmers to maximize their combine’s acres-per-hour capacity across various crops, changing conditions and uneven or rolling terrain while capturing more grain. With a new hinged frame, the HDR provides unmatched terrain-following capability and uniform cut height when harvesting on curves or uneven terrain.

John Deere CF Folding Corn Heads feature an industry-leading fold cycle time of less than 40 seconds when connected to a John Deere X Series Combine. The folding corn head reduces a farmer’s operating costs by eliminating the need to purchase a header trailer to transport between fields. It also eliminates the time needed to mount the header to a trailer and then reattach it to the combine at the next field. After harvest, it takes up less storage space in the shed.

Another AE50 award was presented to John Deere for its CH950 Sugar Cane Harvester, the industry’s first two-row harvester introduced last March in Brazil. The CH950 doubles productivity and decreases crop losses by 60%. And, since it’s a two-row harvester, it enables the owner to reduce in-field transport equipment, the number of machine operators, and overall harvesting costs. “A CH950 allows for more precise controlled traffic patterns in the harvesting operation and reduces compaction by 60% for increased yields and crop longevity while using 30% less fuel,” Dawson said.

Detailed information about all these award-winning John Deere products can be found on JohnDeere.com.