John Deere’s X9 combine: Boosted by HarvestLab

In a season where every hour of harvest counts, the ability to gather grain efficiently, accurately, and with minimal waste is essential. According to Staythorpe Farming, that’s why they made the leap from running two S690s to a single John Deere X9 combine harvester– a decision that now feels like a no-brainer.

At the heart of the X9’s appeal is its intelligent design. Fitted with a 45ft header, the combine is designed to make fewer passes, cut fuel use, and reduce compaction – all while maintaining serious output. According to John Deere, it’s not just the size of the header that makes the difference, but the subtle upgrades in reel design.

The cam reel offers a more consistent knife-to-reel relationship, especially useful in laid or undulating crops. Compared with flip-over or standard reels, the cam option rakes the crop more gently and efficiently, keeping the knife clean and cutting even in tough conditions.

Coupled with the dense-pack tine configuration, it reduces material build-up and improves feeding, making a big difference in peas, beans, and tough-strawed cereals.

But John Deere says that the biggest step now lies in automation. Both X9s that we saw on the day were kitted out with John Deere’s latest vision and sensor suite. Two front-facing cameras monitor crop height and density in real-time, correlating live images with satellite NDVI data.

Grain loss sensors on the rotors and sieves, engine and rotor load data, ground speed, incline and crop conditions are all factored into the combine’s real-time decision making.

The result of all these sensors and automation capabilities is a machine that continually adjusts rotor speed, fan speed, sieve settings, and forward speed, all with minimal operator input. To avoid racing through thin patches, you are still able to set cap speeds.

When it’s time to unload, John Deere offers MachineSync. The combine harvester and tractor communicate constantly, with the combine maintaining a steady speed and the tractor adjusting to stay in the optimal unloading zone.

This removes stress and strain from the trailer drivers and ensures a smooth grain carting process. If MachineSync isn’t available, a fixed offset or reduced combine speed provides a simpler fallback.

HarvestLab 

One of the standout technologies was HarvestLab, which provides real-time protein and yield data during harvest. According to Tom, this has revolutionised how they manage quality – protein-rich and lower-protein crops are tipped into separate sheds as they come off the field. Come winter, the team blends loads strategically to maximise value.

The data has also exposed problems that yield maps alone couldn’t catch. A few seasons ago, the team noticed distinct protein bands in their mapping. The culprit? Their fertiliser spreader was slightly overreaching, blowing product into the adjacent tramline. The yield maps looked fine, but the protein map told a different story.

With that kind of insight, the X9 starts to become more than just a harvesting machine. They are on-farm data engines that can provide growers with the information needed for better agronomic decisions, more precise spreading and spraying, and informed storage decisions (assuming the data is used correctly!).

Operators can even use HarvestLab to pre-select which trailer a load goes into, depending on the destination market or storage plan.

Big machines, bigger questions 

The 9RX (read about it here) and X9 aren’t just large – they’re vast. Their presence on British soil raises important questions about the direction of British agriculture.

On farms of this scale, the appeal is perhaps obvious. Larger, more capable machines reduce the number of passes, can slash fuel use per hectare, and cut the number of operators required at peak pressure times.

When weather windows are narrow, and margins are growing even narrower, having the capacity to move fast, decisively and with minimal loss is a serious advantage.

However, it’s clear that these machines aren’t just about brute force. The integrated precision tech, from HarvestLab, to MachineSync, to predictive engine load management, signals a shift in how power and intelligence are being combined.

Therefore, we’re not just seeing bigger tractors and combine harvesters, but much smarter ones too. Labour shortages, cost pressures, and environmental constraints are inevitably pushing the industry in this direction.

That said, size isn’t always an easy fit for the British countryside. Field gateways, headlands and local roads weren’t designed for 3m wide, 20+ tonne machines towing another 12 tonnes behind them.

Farms who are thinking about adopting machinery at this scale will need to assess not just the benefits, but the infrastructure required to support it.

Big machinery isn’t new. But this kind of scale, combined with this level of intelligence, marks a shift in how big farms like Staythorpe can operate. Machines like the 9RX and X9 aren’t just impressive – they’re a sign of where British arable farming is heading.

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