With product updates across the full portfolio, Amazone has focused its development around a series of new precision farming systems.
The first technology shown was the AutoLane system, processed through the AmaTron 4 Isobus terminal and available for Catros 2TX disc harrows from 7m up to 12m. It uses an angle sensor to monitor the offset between the cultivator and the tractor, as well as a gyroscope to measure the inclination on sloping ground. If a difference is measured and the Catros is drifting from the tractor line, then the system will automatically adjust the second row of discs to pull the machine back in line.
It works through the existing SmartFrame system, which can adjust each row in relation to the other. This helps to minimise differences in working depth as changes are made. According to the company, it can also recognise deviations caused by increased wear on the front of discs and make adjustments to compensate.
This was announced in line with the Catros 12003-2TX, available in a 12m working width, and a 12.25m width to suit controlled traffic farming (CTF) systems. Each features a specially developed five-part folding system, built around the mid-mount TX chassis and the SmartFrame hydraulic depth control system, with the ContourFrame system allowing each wing to move independently over ground contours.
Customers can choose from 510mm discs, in smooth, fine serrated or coarse serrated variants for depths down to 14cm. As an option, there is also the X-Cutter 480mm disc, designed to shred cover crops and residues and work down to 8cm. In all cases, the discs are individually mounted, suspended and protected from overload.
Five packer options are available, including cage rollers, wedge ring and the matrix tyre profiles, each suitable to carry the weight of the machine at the end of the row for tight headland turns. New for this model is the DUW 580 Pro double-u packer for very light soils.
New 5m Cenio tine cultivator
Tine cultivators have also received an update with the new Cenio 5000-2, extending the maximum working width to 5m and offered alongside the existing 3m, 3.5m and 4m models. Tines are spaced across three rows, with tine spacings of 30cm, and working depths from 5cm down to 30cm. A wide choice of share options available, including wide 320mm and 360mm options, and a 40mm C-Mix tine for deep loosening.
Customers can choose between the Special model, with shearbolt protection, or the Super, which uses compression springs for a trigger force of 500kg. Hydraulic depth control is standard, with a clear gauge visible from the cab.
Rounding out the Cenio is the LevelControl levelling discs, comprising 410mm serrated concave discs. This is automatically adjusted as the working depth of the tines is changed and is followed by a choice of six packers, which can be easily exchanged, and an optional row of harrow tines.
Mentioned alongside the Cenio, although not necessarily exclusive to it, was the SoilDetect system. Amazone has worked with FieldExpert GmbH, exatrek GmbH, Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences and the JKI, as well as associated companies Westrup-Koch and Brunotte, as part of the BMLEH Soil4Climate project to develop the technology.
Building on the existing AutoTill system, it measures soil conductivity during cultivation operations, which is then fed into an artificial intelligence to produce a high-resolution soil map. Combined with satellite data, it’s believed that this will create site-specific maps for the following applications.
Rounding out the cultivation launches was the introduction of 5m and 6m TopCut knife rollers, which can be front or rear-mounted. Sharing many features of the flagship 12m model, Amazone states that by front mounting the units and running a drill behind the tractor, operators can sow directly into crop stubbles or cover crops.
