PTx FarmEngage Unites Mixed Fleets On One Farm Management Platform

PTx FarmEngage is AGCO and PTx’s newest operations management platform, designed to connect a farmer’s entire fleet, across multiple manufacturers. 

“We believe that this is a more deployable solution to a real farm which has many different makes and models of equipment of many different ages. Our mission is to ensure that we support the compatibility for any type of machine that the farmer has on their farm,” said Cory Buchs, director for product development for PTx. “We aren’t pushing the farmer to adopt one brand of equipment across their farm — we feel that this is more of an accessible solution to some of the alternatives in the market.”

FarmEngage will be AGCO’s lead farm management software moving forward. In the past, AGCO has offered the Fendt One and AGCO Connect platforms for farmers to connect their machinery. 

Now, the company is moving all the capabilities of those platforms into FarmEngage, and placing it under the PTx Trimble umbrella. AGCO will still offer these platforms for the next 12–24 months as farmers make the transition to the new platform, according to Buchs. 

FarmEngage’s biggest strength is all around task management, Buchs said. Farmers will be able to plan tasks, set boundaries, and deploy plans across their whole fleet, from one platform. 

Connecting Machines

There are three methods available for farmers to connect their machines to the FarmEngage platform. 

Retrofit: Farmers can retrofit the Precision Planting Panorama 20|20 or Trimble GFX guidance systems on any make or model of machinery the systems support.

Cloud API Connections: Farmers are able to use their machinery brand’s ag software platform — like John Deere Operations Center — to connect to and share data with Farm Engage. This allows farmers to use the machine’s factory-installed technology. PTx currently has API connections with John Deere, Case IH, New Holland, and Raven, with more on the way.

Direct Connections: Farmers using AGCO machines are able to directly connect to the Farm Engage platform. PTx is also working directly with other OEMs that don’t have a cloud service to directly connect with the platform.

Development

FarmEngage is the evolution of Trimble Ag software that was initially built to work with Trimble’s guidance systems and application control systems, according to Buchs. PTx took the platform, and extended it to become a mixed-fleet platform.

Other specialized technologies — like PTx’s OutRun autonomous system, and Precision Planting’s Radicle Agronomics soil sampling tools — will continue to work off of their own platforms.

“We’re keeping things ‘separate, but connected’ because it enables us to innovate faster. It’s also better from the farmer’s perspective because they engage [with this technology] for a specific workflow. By keeping a very purpose-built separate application, it enables it to be easier to use,” Buchs said. “Over time, as the technologies mature, they will be consolidated or integrated into the common platform, either as core functionality or as an integrated extension.” 

Availability

PTx FarmEngage is available for use now. For farmers already using Trimble Ag’s platform, it will have already been updated to FarmEngage. Moving forward, most AGCO machinery will come with a three year subscription to the platform. For farmers with mixed fleets, an annual subscription is available for $600. 

For more information, visit ptxag.com/en/farmengage.