This tractor has a lot of firsts to it,” said Jordan Wallace, as he motioned to Deacon, the Sabanto Steward-equipped Kubota M5 111 demonstrated at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show in Ontario in September.
“It’s the first aftermarket installed Level 5 autonomous tractor in Canada,” said Wallace, GPS Ontario’s advanced solution technician. “It’s the first BX992 Trimble antenna in Canada, and it’s the first Kubota tractor used in autonomy Canada-wide.”
With the Sabanto Steward system, a tractor can be converted into a fully autonomous tool without investing in a new machine.
The Sabanto system can be retrofitted on a tractor, where it hooks into the computer controls, hydraulics and some mechanical operations.
Wallace can program Deacon from an app on his phone or computer dashboard from anywhere worldwide. He can create field grids and do tasks involving specific equipment, as well as track fuel consumption, speed, PTO RPMs and sensor-related information.
“It doesn’t physically matter whether we’re on-site or not, as long as the vehicle is physically within the geofence and field boundaries,” he said.
There is an automatic kill switch if the tractor crosses the geofence boundary, and once finished, it alerts the producer. Sensors detect objects in front and it can be towed from field to field.
During late-summer demonstrations, the Sabanto mowed and raked hay fields while a farmer baled behind it.
These time-consuming labour-eating tasks are the low-hanging fruit of Sabanto’s capabilities. Wallace hopes to run strip-till and planting demonstrations to showcase the potential range of the technology.
“This particular grower we worked with [for the haying demo] was a goat dairy,” said Wallace. “They’ve got to manage the goats, and they’ve got to manage other tasks around the farm. To be able to send this tractor out and have it complete its job is simple. It becomes very energy-focused on efficiency.”
With a base cost of $65,000, the outfit comes with an annual subscription that covers the warranty and a cellular and GPS subscription, he said. Each tractor gets a name for the tracking software.
Wallace suggested the return on investment is two-fold. The Sabanto Steward turns existing tractors into autonomous tools with minimal investment compared to purchasing new ones. Additionally, it provides a labour savings cost of, at minimum, a single employee, offsetting the initial investment and providing a year to a year-and-a-half ROI.
Click here to see more...