Precision Pays

Spring is just around the corner – the time when a farmer’s fancy turns to thoughts of planting.

Growers stopping by the Ag Leader Technology booth at the Commodity Classic trade show last week definitely had spring on their minds. General sales manager Mike Olson says they talked a lot about what growers need to know to get precision farming equipment ready for the season. “The biggest thing is to get the stuff out early and start going through it,” Mike told me. “You need to bring the monitor out and download all the data from last year, make a back up, and then get it set up for this year. Make sure all your field names are in there, your boundaries, and make sure all your firm ware is updated.”

Mike says updating is important because all companies bring out new features that make things more efficient and easier. Listen to Mike’s interview below and talk to your local Ag Leader dealer for more pre-planting tips.

Commodity Classic Photo Album

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Precision is the name of the game when it comes to farming these days. It’s getting hard to find a farmer anymore who doesn’t use auto steer at the very least – and the options to save resources, time and money just keep growing.

At the New Holland exhibit at Commodity Classic, I talked to Matt Ahrens about some of the products they offer for growers and a program they have that can help farmers see exactly how they can benefit from using different types of precision solutions on their own operations. “We have a website – PutYourFarmOnTheMap – and on that website we have a cost savings calculator and you can go in and put your input costs on their, how much fuel usage per acre depending on implement width, and you can see what kind of savings you can get,” Matt said. “The good thing with that is that it’s their numbers, their input costs, so they get to see what their savings are.”

Matt also demonstrates the new AgGPS® FM-1000™ integrated display working with the Trimble Field-IQ in the video below. You can find out more about New Holland’s product line-up and more on the website PutYourFarmOnTheMap.com.

Commodity Classic Photo Album

Trimble debuted a couple of new innovations at the recent National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, which they were also showcasing at the Commodity Classic last week.

EZ-Sync™ is a wireless data transfer capability that provides enhanced information management for growers and agribusinesses, and the EZ Surface Software provides surface drainage analysis and design for farmers and drainage contractors.

Brian Stark, who does information management for Trimble, is the company’s EZ-Sync expert. “EZ-Sync allows you to take data wirelessly from a mobile computer or from the Trimble FMX display and send that data from the field to the office,” Brian explained in an interview. “Or, if I’m in the office, I can send my data from the office, [such as] prescription maps or target points, to the field.”

Brian says the software is compatible with several different computers offered by Trimble and it lets producers and managers exchange information in real time. Plus, it decreases the amount of data that is lost simply because workers don’t have time to manually enter information gained in the field when they come back to the office. And, managers are able to better communicate with their workers still in the field.

Trimble retailer Joey Schlatter of Schlatter Inc. of Francesville, Indiana explained EZ Surface. “This software helps contractors define watersheds and flow patterns so they know how to properly drain their fields, whether using surface or sub-surface drainage methods,” Joey said.

With this system, elevation data is gathered through using some GPS-based tools from Trimble. “Once we’ve collected all that elevation data, we bring that data into the office, into our EZ Surface program and generate a 3-D elevation map. Then, with a click of a few buttons, we can see the flow lines, watesheds and all the tools we need to properly design that [drainage] system,” he added.

More information on both EZ Sync and EZ Surface are available from www.Trimble.com.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack gave the keynote address during the general session at the 2010 Commodity Classic in Anaheim, California on Friday and focused on the achievements of American agriculture.

Comparing agriculture in this country to gold medal winners and hall of fame inductees, Vilsack talked about the amazing productivity of our producers. “These are people who plant 240 million acres of our land, they are the most productive farmers in the world,” Vilsack said. “They help to produce 108 billion pounds of protein a year that feed 300 million Americans and many millions around the world. In my lifetime, they have gone from one farmer feeding 20 folks, to one farmer feeding 150 folks. They’re responsible for a trade surplus at a time when we talk mostly about trade deficits.”

You can definitely give credit to farmers for taking advantage of advancements in precision technology and biotechnology for those accomplishments!

Listen to Vilsack’s speech in the player below.

Commodity Classic Photo Album

Thanks to John Deere for sponsoring our coverage of this year’s Commodity Classic.

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The opening of the trade show is the real “official” start to the Commodity Classic. The exhibit hall is filled with the latest and the greatest technology and machinery for growers of corn, soybeans, wheat and sorghum. According to the official attendance figures, there are 4175 attendees at Classic this year, 1338 of them are growers. This is the 15th annual Commodity Classic, which started as the combined meeting of the corn and soybean growers, but in recent years has grown to add wheat and sorghum grower organizations as well. It’s an event that can benefits a grower’s farm operation and profitability for years to come.

Take a look and a listen to the official kick off and ribbon cutting for the 2010 Commodity Classic, with coverage on Precision Pays sponsored by John Deere.

Commodity Classic Photo Album

The New Holland Boomer 8N made its debut at the National Farm Machinery Show last year – but it was just as popular with young and old alike at this year’s show.

The Boomer 8N is a updated remake of the classic Ford 8N tractor, part of New Holland’s heritage. I talked about the Boomer’s first year with New Holland’s John Hundley. “The history of this project was basically a fusion between the old styling of the Ford 8N with new technology of today,” John said. Many of this first year’s sales have been to collectors or people who have fond memories of the legendary Ford 8N growing up on a farm in the 40s and 50s. “We have some people who are buying this tractor and parking it because they don’t want to use it, but this is a workhorse and we do have people buying it and running it in the field everyday.”

John says lots of people have stories to tell about the old classic tractor – and some have great stories about their new Boomer 8N. You can find out more on one of the Boomer 8N websites – myboomer.com features real people and real stories about Boomer tractors, and www.8N.com has information about the history and design of the tractor.

Listen to my interview with John about the Boomer 8N here:

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Green farm equipment apparel has gone pretty mainstream in the past several years, but if you see someone sporting a New Holland blue shirt or cap, you can be fairly certain they are a real farmer.

I talked with Glenn Brumley who was staffing the New Holland toys and merchandise display at the National Farm Machinery Show about some of the popular items at the big show. “Each year we have a special feature and this year it happens to be a combine in commemoration of the 35th anniversary of our twin rotor combine,” Glenn said. “So that’s been a popular item since every body likes to have something that’s dated from each farm show season.”

Glenn says the dated toys are always big sellers for collectors, but the kids like them, too! The little guy in the photo got a special deal on last year’s featured item. You can find some New Holland merchandise here on-line.

Listen to my interview with Glenn here:

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Earlier this month, Chuck told you about Ag Leader’s Blue Delta Dealer Network announced at the Iowa Power Farming Show. I had the opportunity to talk with one of these elite dealers and two of his satisfied customers at the National Farm Machinery Show.

Rick Hoeing is with Jacobi Sales of Seymour, Indiana and he is one of only a handful of dealers nationwide who have graduated thus far from the new Ag Leader Academy to become the very first Blue Delta Dealers. I asked him why it was important for him to go through the in-depth training it required to receive that designation.

“The Ag Leader Blue Delta Dealer Network is definitely a very important part of the precision ag industry which is very dependent on service to the customer,” Rick said. “As precision ag as an industry goes, it’s in constant change, almost seasonal change. To be able to gain hands-on experience well before we have a product in place in the field is a huge asset.”

“The customer is going to buy a product that he knows he has quality service for,” Rick added.

Two of Rick’s customers, Justin Gelfius (left) and Steve Bennett, were with him at the Ag Leader exhibit and I got a chance to ask them what was so special about a Blue Delta Dealer. “They’re always just a phone call away and normally over the phone they can diagnose your problem and get you going again,” Steve said. “Rick’s been great to work with,” Justin added. “It’s really nice to stick with somebody that you can know and trust with regard to technical support and Rick is very good with all the new equipment and technology.”

Steve and Justin actually use precision technology on their commercial tomato operation in southern Indiana, using it for everything from spraying and setting tomatoes to cultivating and picking tomatoes.

Listen to my interviews with Rick, Steve and Justin here:

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One of the great things about the National Farm Machinery Show is the Championship Tractor Pull … the largest, oldest and most prestigious indoor tractor pull, according to Corinne Fetter, Director of Expositions for the Kentucky State Fair Board.

“This is the 42nd year for the tractor pull and the 45th year for the National Farm Machinery Show, and so the two have worked together for quite a while now. And we feel they complement each other rather well,” said Corinne during an interview on the last day of the event last weekend.

She says for the men and women who compete in the tractor pull that it is truly a labor of love, that takes a lot of time, effort and money to get the kind of performance and down-to-your-toes rumble and roar that these machines produce. But she also credits the crews who get the track ready to give the pullers a world class area to put their machines through their paces. And she says none of this would be possible without the fans. “For some of them, this is their vacation every year,” she says. “And I can tell you, there are plenty of red fans, and there are plenty of green fans.” And plenty who are just color blind!

Listen to ZimmComm reporter John Davis’ interview with Corinne in the audio player below and enjoy short video clip of a few of the pulls here:

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Ag Leader Technology was demonstrating how the OptRx™ Crop Sensor System works at the National Farm Machinery Show this week in Louisville.

The OptRx crop sensor system measures and records data about a crop in real-time using the reflectance of light shined on the growing crop. “The biggest use for this is for variable rate nitrogen application on the go,” Ag Leader’s Roger Zielke told me, which helps farmers put exactly the right amount of fertilizer in the right spot.

That helps growers get a good return on their investment. “We ran this in quite a few fields in 2008 and 2009 and we compared to their flat rate that they would have done and we saw a big yield increase from what the sensor prescribed compared to the farmer and that has ranged from $20 all the way up to $100 – the average is about $20-30 per acre,” Roger said. “This could turn out to be one of the higher return on investment products that we’ve ever had since nitrogen has such a huge effect on yield in corn and other grass-type crops.”

You can watch a video showing how the OptRx™ Crop Sensor System works here and listen or download just the audio portion below.

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