Kinze® Manufacturing, Inc. announces a partnership with Raven Industries to develop a standalone monitor solution for the Kinze 4900 series planter. With this new monitor, Kinze and Raven have partnered to develop the software and its integration with the planter, with the goal of eliminating reliance on ISOBUS and other manufacturers’ software.

“Offering our own monitor will make for a more simplified planter set up and provide increased monitor reliability,” says Susanne Veatch, Kinze vice president and chief marketing officer.

“We’re extremely excited to partner with a company as innovative as Kinze. The two companies share a vision in providing solutions to help growers meet the challenge of feeding a growing global population, all while making them more efficient across their entire operation. For Raven, this also fits our commitment of bringing more innovative solutions to customers in our grower markets,” says Matt Burkhart, vice president and general manager for Raven’s Applied Technology Division.

In addition to the standalone monitor solution, Kinze’s plan is to have the 4900 planter also support ISOBUS virtual terminals that meet Kinze’s requirements and pass Kinze’s qualification tests.

While features of the monitor are currently in development, the current plan is to include:
– A large, color, touchscreen monitor for all planter functions,
– A customizable screen layout to show only the information the farmer wants to see,
– A “screen within a screen” feature giving the ability to monitor mapping and field coverage area as well as planter functions at the same time,
– and a dedicated CANbus line to eliminate issues from overloading the CANbus with too many components.

Timing for the release of the new monitor is yet to be determined and is always subject to meeting Kinze’s standards and requirements. Kinze expects it could be ready as soon as next spring.

Known for providing a comprehensive suite of precision ag solutions to global markets, Raven Industries is also providing the electronics for Kinze’s new electric multi-hybrid planter that is in limited production for the spring 2015 planting season. This will be the industry’s first commercially available multi-hybrid planter system.