A Look Back at 2025 Commodity Classic

The 2025 Commodity Classic likely will be remembered for featuring few brand-new machines but instead showcasing a plethora of new technologies to run them.

Here's DTN/Progressive Farmer's final look at the technologies and equipment highlighted at this year's Commodity Classic in Denver.

CASE IH, NEW HOLLAND REVEAL SPRAYING AUTOMATIONS

New Holland and Case IH introduced at the Commodity Classic new precision sprayer automations: IntelliSense Sprayer Automation (New Holland) and SenseApply (Case IH). The capabilities of the two technologies are essentially the same.

IntelliSense Sprayer Automation and SenseApply use a cab-mounted, factory-fit camera unit. The forward-looking, multi-spectral vision camera enables IntelliSense Sprayer Automation and SenseApply to scan field conditions out to 50 feet, and from left to right as wide as the boom.

There are several modes to the precision sprayer technologies:

-- Selective Spray. This feature includes Spot Spraying and Base + Boost functions. Spot Spraying is a green-on-brown feature that detects weeds smaller than 2 inches tall. It activates the nozzle on the boom that corresponds to the location of the detected weed. When no weeds are present, no spray applications are made with the Spot Spraying function.

-- Base + Boost. Where an operator is applying a broadcast herbicide over a field, the Base + Boost mode applies a uniform base rate across the entire coverage width and activates a localized boost rate from nozzles where weeds are detected.

-- Live Variable Application. IntelliSense Sprayer Automation and SenseApply offer full-season Live Variable Rate (VRA) application functions. Functions include nitrogen variable-rate application (VRA), plant growth regulator VRA, fungicide VRA, harvest aid VRA and burndown VRA.

New Holland's IntelliSense Automation is available for model year 2026 Guardian series front boom sprayers: the SP310F, SP370F and SP410F.

IntelliSense and SenseApply technology include lifetime Live VRA use and a one-time activation fee for Selective Spray. There is no annual subscription or per-acre fee.

For a close look at all the sense and act sprayer technologies available today, including IntelliSense Sprayer Automation and SenseApply, look for the April 2025 issue of Progressive Farmer magazine.

DEERE ADDS OPTIONS TO SEE & SPRAY

John Deere's See & Spray Select option has been used to control weeds in fallow fields. But Deere is giving it new variable-rate capabilities with later-season fungicide, desiccant, pre-harvest passes and others.

Boom-mounted cameras rate the amount of green biomass detected. Farmers then adjust how much product they wish to apply on an individual nozzle level based on green biomass percentages (using variable-rate capabilities with a G5 or G5Plus CommandCenter display).

See & Spray Select will be available from the factory on model year 2026 John Deere 400 and 600 series sprayers with 90-, 100- or 120-foot steel booms. See & Spray Select also will be available as a precision upgrade kit for model year 2018 and newer John Deere sprayers with ExactApply and a 120-foot steel boom.

MASSEY FERGUSON'S NEW TWIN BALER

DTN/Progressive Farmer did a walkaround at Commodity Classic with Jessica Williamson, a marketing manager with Massey Ferguson Hay Equipment.

Massey Ferguson's new 9,600-pound SB.1436DB small, square double baler is the first OEM baler that produces two rows of bales per pass.

"We have a big, wide pickup," said Williamson. "It's 105 inches from panel to panel, with a big auger system that's going to do a great job of increasing the capacity of this baler."

The 1436 baler has one chamber and one plunger, and a separating knife to create two bales. Completed bales are dropped into independent rows for easier handling and transport. The baler automates bale density, weight and dimensions with Massey Ferguson's SimplEbale system.

The SB.1436DB is engineered to keep operators in the field longer. Twine storage bins hold 20 balls of baling twine, producing up to 8,000 bales before refilling. "That's double what you're getting from a regular baler," Williamson said.

The automated knotter lubrication minimizes manual intervention, increasing field time.

The double baler offers optional scales. "The goal is to make sure that you're getting the same length bail on both sides," she said.

Tandem wheels are another option. "If you're in pivot ground, it gives you a smoother ride across those pivot tracks," Williamson said.

DEERE'S PRODUCTIVITY UPDATES FOR 2026 S7 COMBINES

Deere is adding weed detection as a new input for its Predictive Ground Speed technology for model year 2026 S7 combines.

The S7's two factory-installed stereo cameras, in addition to sensing crop height and mass for predictive ground speed automation, will now sense individual weed patches. Depending on the weed density and operator-defined sensitivity, the combine will adjust its ground speed as it harvests through these areas to reduce slugging and help prevent reel or rotor wrapping. Detected weed data also can be used to review the presence of weed pressure in a field.

Here are other updates for 2026 S7 combines:

-- To help better manage various terrains such as waterways, ditches and terraces, a new update senses the presence of these field attributes to adjust ground speed.

-- The S7's Harvest Settings Automation will include an out-of-crop settings adjustment that engages when the combine is passing through areas already harvested.

-- An update to AutoTrac Turn Automation automatically raises and lowers the combine head as the machine crosses specific field triggers, including exterior boundary and interior impassible boundary.

DEERE'S NEW DISK

Also at Commodity Classic in Denver, John Deere showed off one of its new high-speed disks (HSD), a dual-season tool that provides field finish and residue management.

HSD also comes autonomy ready from the factory with a receiver mast, harnessing, lighting package and TruSet.

HSD offers improved residue flow by way of an additional 4 inches added between the disk and the finishing basket.

The HSD series comes in widths from 2 feet to 45 feet. For farmers who need a tool for narrow transport, four options -- HSD25, HSD29, HSD32 and HSD35 -- fold up for a 13-foot transport. For farmers looking to pull a larger implement, Deere offers the HSD39, HSD42 and HSD45. These tools fold up for transport of 16 feet.

Dan Miller can be reached at dan.miller@dtn.com

Follow him on social platform X @DMillerPF

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