Precision Pays

Spring 2012 got off to an unpredictable and unstable start with wind, rain and tornadoes in parts of the Midwest, but after Mother Nature calmed down, farmers had a decent planting season with most of the crops already in the ground or nearing completion. And with planting behind them, growers are now turning to spraying.

Rocky Brown, corn and soybean grower from LaPorte City, Iowa, says he’s used products from Ag Leader for more than 20 years and the DirectCommand system is one he wouldn’t do without.

Not only is he saving time and energy, he’s being a good steward of the land. Rocky lives in an area of Iowa that’s much like neighboring states with hills, terraces and waterways. Rocky says it’s a big change from how he used to spray.

So as the old saying goes, “In like a lion and out like a lamb”, we wait to see what the rest of the growing season has in store. To find out how you can make things more efficient and less stressful for yourself, be sure to visit your Ag Leader dealer to find out what’s right for your growing operation.

Become a fan of Ag Leader on Facebook today, and get the latest precision ag videos on the YouTube channel. For more information about Ag Leader products and services, or to visit the blog site, go to www.agleader.com.

Last month, Ag Leader Software Support Specialist Luke James, traveled to the Willamette Valley in west central Oregon to talk about the value of data. The Willamette Valley is known as the grass seed capital of the world. According to the Oregon Seed Council, about 500,000 acres of the grass seed are grown in Oregon and nearly 90 percent of that is grown in the Willamette Valley.

While in the valley, Luke had the opportunity to interview Patrick Lanz of Ag West Supply. Listen as Patrick describes agriculture in the Willamette Valley.

Like other regions, farmers in the Willamette Valley have been utilizing precision agriculture for several years. Listen as Patrick describes the different types of precision agriculture being used by farmers in the valley.

Luke and our NW Territory manager Sean Ealy, a native Oregonian, discussed the value of data with farmers and ag specialists from the Willamette valley. The meetings were informative and they discussed various items including yield monitoring, guidance, sprayer control, crop sensing using OptRx and analyzing data using the SMS Software.

While in the valley, Luke had the opportunity to interview Jammie Wutzke of Ag West Supply. Listen as Jammie explains how farmers may utilize precision ag data to improve their farms in the Willamette Valley.

Ag West Supply is one of the Ag Leader dealers located in the Willamette Valley. They focus on helping growers learn more about how precision ag can benefit their operation. Listen as Jammie defines the role that precision ag dealers play in helping farmers progress their operation.

To learn more about the SMS Software, click here.

Become a fan of Ag Leader on Facebook today, and get the latest precision ag videos on the YouTube channel. For more information about Ag Leader products and services, or to visit the blog site, go to www.agleader.com.

This summer, Ag Leader will be hosting a series of 13 different informational courses for their network of dealers, beginning June 5 and ending August 17. The sessions aim to prep dealers for a successful summer planting and 2012 harvest and arm them with the knowledge on how to grow and improve on their precision ag businesses.

Training sessions will focus on key Ag Leader product offerings: displays, GPS and steering, SeedCommand, DirectCommand, harvest and SMS software. They also give Ag Leader dealers an opportunity to network and learn from each other.

Kaleb Lindquist, Ag Leader training specialist, says Ag Leader strives to do everything they can to help dealer businesses grow because dealers really are the face of the company. When growers have questions about precision ag, they go to their local dealer, not to the corporate office.

So what does that mean to you, the customer? It means you have the most dedicated, educated, professional network of Ag Leader dealers who can help you decide which product offering is right for your individual needs, and keep you up-to-date on the latest software and upgrades.

Here’s what’s being offered this summer.

And, many dealers extend what they learn by hosting local training sessions, with coursework that mirrors what they learn during these summer training sessions. You should contact your local dealer to find out if training will be available in your area.

Become a fan of Ag Leader on Facebook today, and get the latest precision ag videos on the YouTube channel. For more information about Ag Leader products and services, or to visit the blog site, go to www.agleader.com.

Managing and organizing data is an essential part of any business operation. Data that is not properly organized cannot only be difficult to find, but difficult to work with. In an office setting, you may have different folders in your filing cabinet, or on your computer to organize your information.

Ag Leader’s SMS Advanced users have had the ability to have unlimited projects to help organize data. Think of a project as a filing folder that allows you to have a different Management Tree to separate out your information. If you do any custom fieldwork or custom mapping for anyone, this would provide you the ability to have a project for each person you did custom work for. This makes it much easier to find the information that you’re after, as well as providing privacy on who else you are doing work for in the event that you have a client come over to look over some data with you. Projects are also a great way to work with sample files to try out new tools and features without doing anything with your main projects.

In Version 11.5, Ag Leader made changes that allow SMS Basic users to have up to five projects. SMS Basic and SMS Advanced users both get to take advantage of an updated Projects Dialog and Backup Wizard. To learn more about these updates, please watch the videos below:

Using Projects in SMS Basic

Using Projects in SMS Advanced

Become a fan of Ag Leader on Facebook today, and get the latest precision ag videos on the YouTube channel. For more information about Ag Leader products and services, or to visit the blog site, go to www.agleader.com.

Growers looking for application flexibility can take advantage of a new Crop Sensor Rate Table available now from Ag Leader Technology. This functionality offered through the DirectCommand system on the INTEGRA display allows producers to utilize the OptRx crop sensors to apply the agrochemicals they need on-the-go at the rates necessary for optimum performance.

Crop Sensor Product Specialist Chad Fick explains, “Many agrochemicals, such as fertilizers, pesticides, defoliants, growth regulators and others, can be more effectively applied if the rates are varied according to crop health.”

OptRx crop sensors work by shining light on the crop canopy and reading the light reflected back to determine the crop health, also known as Vegetative Index. “The new Crop Sensor Rate Table allows growers to choose a Vegetative Index range and assign the recommended rates based on those ranges,” Fick said. Working with agronomists or crop consultants, farmers can use OptRx to improve the application of any agrochemical to any crop that needs a variable rate.

Fick says it’s almost like the plant is telling the grower what it needs.

Growers with the INTEGRA display can take advantage of the Crop Sensor Rate Table by updating their firmware to version 3.3.

Become a fan of Ag Leader on Facebook today, and get the latest precision ag videos on the YouTube channel. For more information about Ag Leader products and services, or to visit the blog site, go to www.agleader.com.

Ag Leader will soon be releasing SMS Basic/Advanced v12.0 and SMS Mobile v6.0. Here are a few of the items that will be included in this upcoming release.

Among the updates in SMS Basic/Advanced Version 12.0, updated tools allow growers to work with the latest file formats on the market from the following precision farming companies: Ag Leader, CNH, John Deere, Precision Planting, RDS and Trimble.

Ag Leader has also added a tool that allows for the exporting of information to a grower’s crop insurance provider. This includes information like dates planted, crop planted and acres planted. If growers would like to use the information collected by precision farming displays to help report to a crop insurance agent, contact Ag Leader’s software support team for this free tool unlock after updating to SMS Basic/Advanced v12.0.

Luke James, Ag Leader software sales specialist, says being able to provide specific crop and field information to insurance agents is on the minds of many growers this year.
Listen to James explain

Another function that’s helpful to insurance agents is the “Summary Report” from SMS. Growers can generate this type report by going to File – New – General Report in SMS Basic/Advanced.

As always, if growers have any questions after updating to SMS v12.0, contact Ag Leader’s software support team.

Become a fan of Ag Leader on Facebook today, and get the latest precision ag videos on the YouTube channel. For more information about Ag Leader products and services, or to visit the blog site, go to www.agleader.com.

What a spring! With beautiful weather and warming soil temperatures many growers have started to feel the itch to get out and start planting. Ag Leader’s Tech Support wants to take the time to pass along a few helpful pointers to ensure a smooth planting season while using Ag Leader equipment.

Measures taken prior to lowering the planter into the first field should begin with powering up the display to manage data, update firmware, and to create a back-up of the display for the 2012 planting season. Kati Knolting, Ag Leader representative for hardware tech support, gives growers a list of suggested steps to get started.

Ag Leader also is happy to announce the release of the new v3.1 firmware for our INTEGRA and VERSA displays. The new firmware download is only available through your Ag Leader dealer at this time. Growers can find all of the available display firmware here.

With the display ready to go, proceed to check the Ag Leader equipment found on the tractor and planter. Knolting runs growers through the pre-season equipment checklist.

To help with settings, configuration setup and troubleshooting steps, visit the Ag Leader Customer Support site. Ag Leader wishes you all the very best as you begin your spring fieldwork.

Become a fan of Ag Leader on Facebook today, and get the latest precision ag videos on the YouTube channel. For more information about Ag Leader products and services, or to visit the blog site, go to www.agleader.com.

According to Isaac Bowers, Ag Leader Software Support and Training Supervisor, common questions during the winter months are, “Where can I go to find soil survey data?” and, “What do I need to do to bring that data into SMS?” In the past, growers had to know which websites had that data, wait to download a county’s worth of information to their local hard drive, and then had to assign each column of data they wanted to import that data.

“As part of Ag Leader’s continued effort to simplify tasks in SMS, we have added a simple wizard in SMS Basic/Advanced Version 11.5 that allows you to download soil survey data,” says Bowers. “SMS can download many attributes such as soil type, soil description, erodibility class, drainage class, up to six horizons of soil information, and many more.”

To access the new wizard in SMS, go to File – Download Soil Survey Data from Internet. Learn more from this video.

After downloading the soil survey information, growers can analyze data using queries, or the Comparison Analysis if they’re using SMS Advanced, and use the results to assist in making better management decisions to make sure they are getting as much out of their field as possible. For example, compare yield values to the different soil types in the field to determine which soil types are the more productive, and then use that information when creating planting and seeding prescriptions.

**Note – This ability is currently only available for U.S. customers. Customers outside of the U.S. can import shapefiles for soil survey data by going to File – Read Files.
**Note – The ability to download this information requires an active internet connection.

Become a fan of Ag Leader on Facebook today, and get the latest precision ag videos on the YouTube channel. For more information about Ag Leader products and services, or to visit the blog site, go to www.agleader.com.

In 2010 US crop growers lost $20 billion to insect damage and spent $4.5 billion on insecticide.  In this Precision Pays Podcast, brought to you by Ag Leader Technology, we take a closer look at a new way to monitor insect pressure in your field.

Johnny Park, president and CEO of Spensa and a Purdue research assistant in electrical and computer engineer has created an easier, more efficient way for producers to monitor insect data collected from fields.  This month, Park launched MyTraps.com.

You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here.

You can learn more at www.MyTraps.com.

The use of precision farming products continues to increase. With increasing input costs, producers are often looking for ways to adopt technology to make farming operations more efficient and productive. Guidance systems also reduce overlap in fields which leads to less passes across the field, less fuel and product use (i.e. seed, fertilizer, and herbicide), and fewer operator hours.

And since today’s high-tech seed isn’t cheap, if growers aren’t controlling where and how much of each type of seed they plant, they’re probably sacrificing yield potential and bottom line performance. SeedCommand from Ag Leader helps growers manage all of their planting operations, including seed population, planter performance, hybrid/variety mapping, split planting and variable rates.

“I particularly like being able to monitor my skips and doubles with the Advanced Seed Monitoring,” says Merrill Swanson, grower from Gilbert, Iowa. “When you change hybrids, you usually have a different seed size. When I see that I’m having skips or doubles because of that, I can adjust my seed meters and see that the problem’s fixed on the screen.”

To quantify the amount of overlap that occurs in a typical production setting, Iowa State University researchers partnered with two Iowa producers in 2011 who did not own any precision ag technologies. More than 2,500 acres of field operations were monitored and analyzed to determine typical overlap in central Iowa production systems. Results from these producer tests showed an average 3.3 percent overlap during planting operations. Given these overlap levels, the return on investment by using precision ag products can be directly measured. Read the full analysis here.

The bottom line is: precision technologies such as SeedCommand from Ag Leader can help you lower seed cost during planting season and improve yield potential at harvest time. Contact an Ag Leader dealer today.

Become a fan of Ag Leader on Facebook today, and get the latest precision ag videos on the YouTube channel. For more information about Ag Leader products and services, or to visit the blog site, go to www.agleader.com.

Ag Leader Technology is offering current Case-IH AFS and New Holland PFS desktop software users the opportunity to convert to Ag Leader SMS desktop software. CNH AFS/PFS users that choose to convert will be assured continued SMS software updates and industry leading support directly from Ag Leader. Ag Leader and SMS will continue to support the CNH file formats and changes that occur with new display firmware releases.

This conversion does NOT require a user to re-read their data. Users will be able to restore a backup from AFS/PFS into SMS or direct an SMS install to the location of their AFS/PFS data folder.

Luke James, software sales specialist for Ag Leader, says once users learn how to use a certain software, change can be hard. But this conversion is easy, seamless, and allows for continual updates. Listen to James explain

James says the benefit to growers is that they can convert straight over to SMS right now and they don’t have to learn a new software. Listen to James explain

To learn more and convert from CNH AFS/PFS to Ag Leader SMS, please contact the Ag Leader software support team at 515-232-5363 or SMSsupport@agleader.com.

Become a fan of Ag Leader on Facebook today, and get the latest precision ag videos on the YouTube channel. For more information about Ag Leader products and services, or to visit the blog site, go to www.agleader.com.

Ag Leader Technology announces the launch of Insights magazine, a new precision farming publication produced by the Ag Leader team. The debut issue of the quar¬terly magazine reached a circulation of more than 20,000 readers this month, primarily targeting growers and precision farming industry professionals who are looking to get more out of their precision farming tools and to learn about the latest technologies.

Lori Costello, Ag Leader Marketing Communications Manager, says the transition to using precision agriculture can take time. Online articles are very time-sensitive and may expire, but the magazine provides information in a way that can be accessed at the grower’s convenience. Listen to Costello explain

Content of the magazine includes wisdom from renowned agronomists, showcasing how precision farm¬ing technology can and will be used to overcome new challenges caused by changing weather patterns and growing conditions. Profiles of growers explore the innovative ways precision farming technology is being used around the country to reduce waste, increase yields and bolster profits. Additional content takes readers behind the scenes of Ag Leader, where they will learn how to get more value from Ag Leader products and learn about the benefits and features of new precision farming tools coming soon.

Costello says the magazine contains more than just Ag Leader product announcements – it is a tool to help growers understand how precision ag fits into their business model. Listen to Costello explain

Those interested in signing up for a free subscription to Insights magazine are encouraged to visit: www.agleader.com/subscription. The Ag Leader team will be on the constant lookout for interesting story angles, profile subjects and precision farming information, so please email your story tips to Info@agleader.com, subject line: Insights Tip.

Become a fan of Ag Leader on Facebook today, and get the latest precision ag videos on the YouTube channel. For more information about Ag Leader products and services, or to visit the blog site, go to www.agleader.com.

This year’s PrecisionAg Give-Away winners were selected at the 2012 Commodity Classic.

Integra from Ag Leader: winner was Bob Metz
DGPS subscriptions from OmniSTAR: winners were Linda Wolfert and Dennis Clarke
Cruizer II from Raven: winner was Darin Anderson
Summit & Stratus With Field PC from SST Software: Cal Dalton

Congratulations to all!

2012 Commodity Classic Photo Album

To integrate water management into its expanding precision farming portfolio, Ag Leader has acquired Soil-Max, manufacturer of the market-leading Gold Digger tile plow, and the assets of Gradient, Inc., a related company which revolutionized the control of tile plows with the Intellislope GPS-based control system. These products allow growers and tiling contractors to solve water management challenges very cost effectively by greatly reducing the technical knowledge, labor and time required to install tile.

The acquisition allows Ag Leader to establish a significant footprint into the fast-growing precision water management market, and will serve as a base for developing additional products for other water management tasks such as land leveling, waterway grading, ditching and levee building.

Soil-Max will operate as an independent subsidiary of Ag Leader under the Soil-Max name, continuing to manufacture Gold Digger tile plows from its current locations in Brazil, Ind. and Sioux Falls, S.D. It will maintain its current dealer distribution system – which will be enhanced by the addition of select Ag Leader dealers.

The Intellislope control system will be transitioned to operate on Ag Leader displays in 2012. Intellislope will continue to be available from Soil-Max on Gold Digger plows, and will be available from either Soil-Max or Ag Leader for use on other brands of tile plows.

Ag Leader’s market-leading SMS desktop software will be enhanced to include water management design and documentation functions.

Find out more about the acquisition in this video:

Become a fan of Ag Leader on Facebook today, and get the latest precision ag videos on the YouTube channel. For more information about Ag Leader products and services, or to visit the blog site, go to www.agleader.com.

When you think of technology, tires aren’t exactly the first thing that come to mind.   In this Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology we examine how the world of implement tires is changing and how Titan Tires is helping producers become more efficient in their operations.  Brent Murray is a sales rep for Titan Tires and he says stubble damage is a problem that farmers deal with on a regular basis.  Today, we find out what the tire industry is doing to help producers overcome this challenge in the field.

You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here.