Automatically Steering All Farms to Success with Raven Precision Technology

Farmers are more efficient, effective, and profitable using Raven automatic steering solutions.

By Eric Shuman, General Manager - Precision Technology Operations, CNH

In our everyday life, GPS-based guidance plays an instrumental role in keeping us going from point A to point B. Without it, we are lost trying to navigate a complex world with limited resources. In a similar way, automatic GNSS-based guidance and steering technologies keep farmers on-track, reducing crop damage and ensuring every square inch of their field is covered.

Today, 80%^[1] of farmers are using a form of automatic steering to expand their productivity. Automatic steering, or "autosteer," improves farmers' efficiency and profit by giving them the power to drive faster without running over crop. With precise GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) guidance, they consistently drive the same route with less than an inch of variance, from initial planting through harvest. This improves yields and profits by preventing crops from being run over, reducing soil compaction, and covering more acres per day due to faster application speeds. Guidance and Steering technology also relieves operator stress, giving them the freedom to take care of other application tasks in the cab while the machine steers itself. At the end of the day, they are less tired and burnt out, allowing them to be present and enjoy the things they like to do.

Building Innovation for All Farms

At Raven, we build Guidance and Steering innovation for all farms. We developed our technology with the customer first, making it easy to use for all crop types and applications. The new Raven CRx Guidance Kits provide a powerful electric or hydraulic steering option for every price point and fleet. We have guidance solutions at every level - from basic to high precision. These kits give our customers faster GPS convergence times, more comfortable and intuitive in-cab design, and full backing from our service and support. The kit's intuitive installation, quiet operation, and customization provide a winning combination for users.

The Raven CRx Guidance Kit is the ideal solution for customers who want a consistent, high-performance automated steering system across their multi-branded fleet. With its precise accuracy, simple installation, and intuitive operation, the system effortlessly makes machines more efficient. Customers can choose from the following options to build their kit:

• Steering Unit: hydraulic drive unit or DirecSteer™ electric drive steering
• Receiver: 500S™ or RS1™
• Displays: CR7® or CR12®

These options provide the flexibility to implement high-performance automatic steering for a variety of crop types, machines, and operations. The Raven CRx Guidance Kit gives operators the ideal in-cab experience at a competitive price, no matter what they are driving.

Expanding Productivity Beyond the Steering Wheel

Raven's Guidance and Steering portfolio goes beyond "reinventing the wheel" with premium innovations outside of just the steering column. The following solutions either feed more precise data to the auto-steering unit with non-GPS technologies or steer an additional machine using existing positioning data.

• VSN^® Visual Guidancecovers up to 20% more acres per day with half the stress of manual steering.^[2] This camera and radar-based technology automatically tracks and steers around crops as planted - accounting for slight row variances with no damage.
• RS1™is a 3-in-1 guidance and connectivity system that precisely controls the automatic steering unit (using data from VSN and/or GNSS), receives precise guidance data using GNSS and RTK, and transmits machine and agronomic data via Slingshot®.
• Implement Steering prevents unwanted crop damage from pull-type and trailing implements by aligning their direction to the tractor's guidance line.

By using advanced technologies to bring automatic steering "beyond the wheel," farmers effortlessly expand their productivity while giving them more time back to accomplish more tasks or do other things they enjoy.

Steering & Guiding Operators to Automatic Success

Whether users are looking for a simple, customizable setup or are wanting to use advanced technology to enhance crop protection, Raven Guidance and Steering technology has a solution for their farm. We continue to develop customer-first solutions that go beyond the "standard auto-steer," delivering better yields and profits for farmers across the globe.

[1] Erickson, B., and J. Lowenberg-DeBoer. 2021. Precision Agriculture Dealership Survey. Sponsored by Croplife Magazine and Purdue University. Available online: https://ag.purdue.edu/digitalag/_media/croplife-report-2021.pdf

[2]https://www.ravenind.com/resources/news/stress-buster

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