Research and development project ResiTrac
ResiTrac - Resilient Food Production with Green Tractors

Agricultural machinery has a big impact on the CO₂ footprint of modern farming. Machines typically have combustion engines and burn fossil fuels like diesel. ResiTrac has the goal to develop, test and introduce tractors to the market which do not use diesel, but pure plant oil (PPO) like rapeseed oil. This does not only reduce the CO₂ footprint of food production, it also makes the farmer independent from the volatile market of imported fossil fuels, because he can grow the necessary oil crops on his own farm. The tractors will be developed by John Deere and tested in Italy, Switzerland and Germany under the accompanying scientific research of the Bern University of Applied Sciences, the Laimburg Research Centre and the TFZ.

The project ResiTrac (Resilient Food Production with Green Tractors) has the goal to develop, test and introduce tractors to the market that can be operated with 100 % pure plant oil (PPO) with equal power performance and maintenance to serial diesel operation, comfortable regeneration of the exhaust gas aftertreatment system and the capability of using different kinds of PPO, depending on the regional availability (e. g. rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil).

The engine controller software and some hardware components of current tractors will be adapted to the differing fuel characteristics by John Deere. A fleet of tractors will be equipped with the developed technology and supplied to farms in Italy, Switzerland, and Germany to demonstrate the practicability and usability in real farming operations. The machines will also be tested on tractor test benches to ensure the reliability of the engines as well as the compliance to emission regulations. Furthermore, emissions are measured on tractors in real farming operations in the field and CO₂-reduction potential will be calculated. The results will allow life cycle assessment of these tractors compared to standard diesel tractors.