Argo Tractors, getting smarter technologies

McCormick Farm is the name of the new App developed by Argo Tractors - a multinational company based in Fabbrico (RE) that designs, manufactures and distributes Landini, McCormick and Valpadana brand tractors all over the world - for McCormick Stage V tractors, for smart farm management, able to contribute to the creation of an "integrated and quality-controlled supply chain, from producer to consumer, of the various agricultural products."

The result: a tractor that, thanks to the new App, becomes the pivotal centre for data collection of agronomic activity and, by virtue of integration with assisted driving systems, the ISObus protocol for dialogue with equipment, data transmission and remote diagnostics, allows effective management of the farm's fleet with immediate control of the various cognitive parameters, to increase efficiency and reduce waste.

In detail, McCormick Farm, starting from the mapping of the land, stores all the operational data of the various activities carried out, thus creating a database that, thanks to an integrated reading of what has been completed - via PC, tablet or smartphone - allows the optimal management of means and human resources.

Thanks to the sensors on the working means, information is sent to the management system, for example, on the degree of soil humidity and leaf wetness, data that when cross-referenced with meteorological data recommends the best irrigation times. And again, on the health of the plants, the information collected reveals the presence of diseases or pests for a prompt and targeted intervention that restores the optimal conditions to safeguard the crop in progress.

The system also contributes to stock management, for example by detecting the levels of fertiliser used and subsequent stock control, and creates a planned maintenance agenda for vehicles with diagnosis of any irregularities, to avoid downtime and thus ensure the best performance for a long tractor life cycle.

Thanks to McCormick Farm, agricultural professionals can count on the complete digitisation of their activities, with the possibility of not only operational and logistical but also financial control, through a more rational management of resources and greater attention to the environment.

For Antonio Salvaterra, marketing manager of Argo Tractors, McCormick Farm offers "a decisive approach that involves our entire company, and it is for this reason that we have undertaken a training campaign that, starting from within the group, has involved all the European subsidiaries.

The value of machines for farmers will increasingly depend on the ability to generate and transmit data in integrated digital ecosystems to work with efficiency, traceability and sustainability".