AE50 award winners 2009

For the past 23 years, the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (www.asabe.org) has selected its top 50 innovations for the year. To qualify for an AE50 award, innovations must be for agricultural, food, biological and related systems and must be available on the market. Prototypes are not eligible.

AE50 award winners for 2009, based on 2008 launches, include Harrison Ag Technologies’ Smart Nozzle, which we reported on in the April 20 Grainews, and Seed Hawk’s Sectional Control Technology, which we wrote about in the March 2 Grainews. I got news releases this week from New Holland and from Claas to highlight their winning products.

One of the Claas winners is the Lexion Quantimeter yield monitor, shown in the photo. The Claas release says: “Using light-emitting measuring (LEM) technology to accurately measure the real time yield performance is made possible through a beam of near-infrared (NIR) light. Harvested grain volume is measured and displayed in real-time (bushels per acre, tonnes per hectare, etc.) via the Lexion Cebis in-cab monitoring system. Primary yield monitor calibration efficiency is improved as the Quantimeter utilizes a single volume or single batch calibration method versus multiple loads at different rates of travel used to simulate different flow rates." You can add Quantimeter to any Lexion combine.

John Deere also has a bunch on the list. Click here to see the complete list. Let me know by email if you see something you’d like more information about. I’ll get an article into Grainews.