Daedong unveils self-running combine harvester

South Korea's leading agricultural machinery maker Daedong Corp. has released the nation’s first combine harvester, a machine that cuts and threshes grain or other crops harvested from farmland for pouring into sacks or barrels, featuring autonomous operation and a yield monitoring function.

Another advantage of the combine is its yield monitoring function, with Daedong’s agricultural solution app Daedong Connect enabling remote control of the combine. After a user determines the sizes of plots at a farm, the app shows the grain yield for each plot after harvesting.

“This can be used as data to determine optimal fertilization (fertilizer spraying) and control (pesticide spraying) based on grain growth status,” a company source said. “When farmers use the service under development by Daedong for monitoring soil quality and growth status, they can achieve precision agriculture of maximum harvests with minimal resources.”

The innovative combine is part of Daedong’s product lineup of automated agricultural machinery ranging from rice transplanters to tractors.

“We now have a full lineup of self-driving equipment with this month’s release of our automated HX tractors and combines,” Daedong CEO Won Yu-hyun said. “We will quickly open the era of unmanned farming machinery and agricultural robots.”

Write to Hyung-Chang Choi at calling@hankyung.com