Although John Deere has maintained its position at the top of the UK tractor sales league, the company has suffered because it hasn’t had anything under 8t to offer in the 150-200hp sector since it dropped its welterweight 7710 and 7810 tractors in 2003.

Somewhat naively, at the time the market-leading manufacturer expected farmers to make the switch to its much heavier and bulkier American-built 7020 replacements. But Deere had missed a trick – people liked the 7010s for their compact layout, manoeuvrability and high power-to-weight ratio.

Competitors like New Holland, McCormick and Massey who could cater for those customers were able to capitalise on the glaring gap in the green giant’s line-up.

But that could all be set to change – along with an update of its existing tractor range, Deere has introduced two new models to plug this uncomfortable chasm.

The 7430 and 7530 are essentially stretched versions of the firm’s new six-cylinder 6030 machines and would have been numbered as such if the company hadn’t run out of digits.

We got hold of a brace of 7530s to see how they perform both in the field and on the road.

If you’ve been waiting with bated breath for a radically new concept in tractor technology, then I’m afraid you’re going to be a little disappointed.

From a driver’s perspective little has changed. Effectively, Deere has tweaked its ever-popular -20-series tractors to produce a -30-series range that is that little bit more refined and, most importantly as an engine manufacturer, that meets the next round of emissions rules.

From a distance everything looks pretty much the same from the outside. Half-hearted styling upgrades include silver-sprayed light trims and gaping gill-like grills to provide airflow for the monster cooling package.

But what counts is how the tractor performs. Predictably, as an 8.1t tractor pumping out a maximum of 195hp, it hardly struggles with a five-furrow plough even on the wettest, heaviest, most slippery clays in Nottinghamshire. However, such conditions do illustrate that light weight isn’t always the best choice for high draft applications.

Coupled to a 14t trailer, which takes overall train weight to just under the legal limit at 24t, the 7530 barely notices its tag-along load, although there aren’t that many serious hills in the Trent Valley. The five-speed mechanical AutoQuad gearbox will be familiar to many, the only difference being that changes for the four powershift steps have been smoothed out, so that once in “Auto” mode, shifts are scarcely noticeable.

As with all new Deere models, the 7530 has a power-boost function that can progressively supply up to 23hp extra when it is required for pto and transport work.

Available as one of many optional readouts on the tractor’s new CommandCenter computer terminal, a graph shows how much power is used and when the power-boost activates.

It also highlights the usefulness of the new AutoQuad transmission’s Eco function, which reduces engine revs to an impressively low 1670rpm once top speed is reached. This can only have a positive effect on fuel use on the road.

Computer controls

It’s the CommandCenter computer that’s at the heart of the upgrades for all Deere’s new -30-series tractors.

Like the Cebis terminal in Claas‘ new Axion tractors the CommandCenter handles almost every key tractor function. It is this new control set-up that is going to take operators a while to get to grips with.

All switches, dials and levers used to control linkage, spool-valve and pto functions are gone from the cab. In their place is a bank of push buttons that run along under the right-hand window.

It is these buttons that provide access to the various CommandCenter menus.

The main opening screen shows six of the tractor’s main functions which can be selected by the operator, but might typically include fuel usuage, area covered and, as previously mentioned, power in use/power-boost graph.

Five “hot keys” give access to user defined functions, but some tractor adjustments are accessed via the main menu key.

This brings up a list of options including pto speed selection, worklight controls, transmission settings, 4wd, diff-locks, suspension and linkage/draft settings.

Either of these functions can be assigned to one of the five hot keys, to aid frequent use.

The question is: Does the switch to computer controls increase output or ease driver workload?

By making more tractor functions electronically controlled they can be integrated into the Headland Management System (HMS), which records and replays – at the touch of one button – a preset sequence of functions.

But even in this department Deere hasn’t managed to integrate everything. Even though throttle controls are fly-by-wire, preset engine speeds aren’t included in the HMS package.

That said, grouping all the controls on a colour-display that shows a graphical representation of the HMS sequence makes set-up a much easier task than before. It’s worth pointing out that New Holland and others have had this facility for a number of years.

But are buttons better than levers and dials for adjusting settings on the move?

Fine-tuning draft sensitivity while ploughing is actually now more complicated than ever before.

Previously, if the draft system was slow to react, you twiddled the sensitivity dial until the system started behaving itself.

Now you have to press the direct access key, press the “tick” button and adjust accordingly, then confirm by selecting the correct setting and then the system reacts.

It’s a long-winded process that seems to be more complex than it really needs to be.