Precision Pays

In this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we listen in on one of the sessions at the recent International Conference on Precision Agriculture held in Denver, Colorado.

Dr. Ken Cassman with the University of Nebraska’s Center for Energy Sciences Research told the standing-room-only crowd that if you look at the past 40 years of farming and extrapolate those increases to the next 40 years, food production will still fall short, putting the world’s population … estimated to be 9.2 billion people by the year 2050 … and the world’s food supply on a crash course. He says estimates are that agriculture will have to increase production by 1.75 percent a year. Right now the numbers are closer to about a 1.3 percent increase. And Cassman says world agriculture will have to meet that increasing demand without negatively impacting the water supplies, nutrients, and wildlife of this planet.

So what’s the solution? Increased biotechnology to get more out of crops? Cassman says while biotechnology has increased yields somewhat, there’s no good, hard scientific evidence it will be able to meet the growing demands. He believes the real solution is meeting a food crop’s true genetic potential through something he calls Ecological Intensification.

It’s a fascinating conversation, and you can hear more of it in the player below below. Precision Pays Podcast

You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here.

This morning’s opening session of the 10th International Conference on Precision Agriculture (ICPA) was certainly a good one, as attendees heard that while the world’s farmers have increased the rate of growth of the food they produce, the current increase doesn’t match the rise in the human population and its rising incomes expected by the year 2050 when it’s expected that we’ll share this world with 9.2 billion people.

Dr. Ken Cassman with the University of Nebraska’s Center for Energy Sciences Research told the standing-room-only crowd that without negatively impacting some of the world’s most sensitive ecosystems – the rain forests, wetlands, and grassland savannahs – the current rate of production growth won’t meet the rising demand. He says a process of increasing yields and reducing agriculture’s “footprint” is necessary: a process he calls “ecological intensification (EI).” And he believes precision agriculture could play a key role in that process.

“The buffer between proper management and poor management narrows, that is, the margin for error becomes smaller in terms of what helps the crop or what hurts the crop. So your precision of management becomes the single most important factor in helping farmers achieve yields near the yield potential ceiling.”

Cassman says the goal is to achieve 80 percent of a crop’s genetic yield potential while not increasing the impact that crop has on the environment. He says while biotechnology might help get us there, there is no magic bullet. It will take a combination of new technologies and techniques to hit that potential.

And a man who shared the stage with Cassman during the opening session believes we cannot play down the importance of testing and monitoring of fields to make sure the crops are living up to their potential. Dr. William Raun with Oklahoma State University also made a pitch for funding of extension services so that testing can take place.

“Extension is obviously important to us. We cannot just do research. We’ve got to have thousands of enrich strips and ramps out there in the fields and investing in that extension so farmers can see it.” And he adds that the numbers and formulas are out there to best forecast what can happen in a field. We just need to make sure it’s measured. “Yield potential can be predicted.”

It really was a great session. Because of the length of it, I can’t post all of the audio here, but I am going to let you hear the question and answer session after Cassman’s and Raun’s presentation. You’ll also hear from Dr. Raj Khosla during this segment. You can download or listen to this session at ICPA here: Opening Session Questions and Answers

I’ve also posted the day’s pictures on the ICPA Photo Album

The 10th International Conference on Precision Agriculture (ICPA) has kicked off at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center in Denver and runs through Wednesday, July 21, 2010.

Throughout the day, hundreds of research scientists, producers, technology company representatives, equipment manufacturers, input dealers, agronomic consultants, software developers, educators, government personnel and policymakers have been pouring into the Mile High City from 40 different countries to look back on the past 20 years of precision ag innovations and to work together on the future of maximizing the potential of the world’s farmlands.

At the opening reception tonight, I caught up with Dr. Raj Khosla, the chairperson of the 10th ICPA and a professor at Colorado State University. He told me with 300-500 participants from such a wide variety of places around the world, he expects a large part of the conversation will be on the hot topic of food security.

“Precision agriculture has been mentioned as one of the soultions in meeting food security. Populations are increasing. People’s eating habits are changing.” And to meet those increasing demands, Khosla says they have to figure out how to translate some of the precision ag techniques used in the U.S. and apply them to lesser-developed countries. He says meeting the food demands of these growing countries could literally transform those societies.

“When you’re tummy is hungry is hard to listen to anything else other than feeding itself. There’s an opportunity for precision ag to contribute to lesser developed countries, smaller field sizes by coupling the technology and the [large labor markets].” He says it is just as important to use the same amount of labor to grow the larger quantities of food so precision agriculture doesn’t end up putting those workers out of jobs.

Khosla says precision agriculture is putting the right inputs in the right place, at the right time, and in the right manner. It’s a great conversation, and download or listen to Khosla’s interview at ICPA here: Dr. Raj Khosla

And check out the ICPA Photo Album

Professionals, professors, scientists and some farmers will be traveling to Colorado next month for the 10th International Conference on Precision Agriculture in Denver … an event that happens every two years, and this year happens July 18th through the 21st at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center in Denver.

In this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we talk to Raj Khosla, a professor of Precision Agriculture at Colorado State University and the chair of this year’s conference who says this a landmark event, as they mark 20 years of meeting like this.

“It started as a small workshop with a bunch of people in Minnesota.” He says there are several scientific and practioner-oriented papers at this year’s meeting for the anticipated 500 attendees.

While much of the conference is focused on information for the scientists and consultants, he’s hoping to attract more frontline farmers and producers.

“I strongly believe there’s a lot of information for them.”

More information, including how to take advantage of the early bird discount for those who sign up before July 9th, is available on the International Conference on Precision Agriculture website.

We’ll have coverage from the conference, and in the meantime, you can hear more of my conversation with Khosla in the player below. Precision Pays Podcast

You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here.

A South Dakota State professor of plant science is using a formula to optimize planting populations… leading to a more precise way to get the most out of farmers’ fields.

In this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we talk to Gregg Carlson, who is using an algorithm to figure out precisely in each corn field what the optimum planting population should be for specific areas within that field.

Carlson says his formula even shows what fields should not have a lot of precision techniques applied to them.

It’s a fascinating conversation, and you can hear more of it in the player below. In addition, you can contact Carlson and get some insight on some papers they haven’t yet published at the South Dakota State University Web site.

You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The AG CONNECT Expo team of Rich Jefferson, Sara Truesdale-Mooney, and Charlie O’Brien with the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) were at the recent National Agri-Marketing Association annual meeting in Kansas City to promote the second expo coming up next January in Atlanta.

Sara is AEM’s Show Director and she says they were happy with the very first AG CONNECT expo held this past January in Orlando. “We are very pleased with the results and it really exceeded all of our expectations for a first-time event,” Sara said in an interview with Agwired’s Joanna Schroeder.

The next Ag Connect Expo will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, January 7-10, 2011 at the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta. Sara reports that the educational program is taking shape and it will be bigger, better and have more offerings. AEM is also planning to expand the Innovations Center as well as adding days and sessions on the show floor as well as more seating. Sara noted that all the sessions were full this past January. Sara says they are also planning to have a broader scope of exhibits and more floor space.

Sara also notes that Ag Connect Expo has been selected to participate U.S. Department of Commerce’s Buyer Program. Approximately 35 shows are selected for the program each year, and this will be the second year Ag Connect has been selected.

More information about AG CONNECT Expo 2 is available now on-line at www.agconnectexpo.com.

Listen to Joanna’s interview with Sara in the player below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The latest in precision agriculture might not be at the ground level, turning the soil.  It might come just a few feet above the top of the crops in the form of the Autocopter.

In this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we talk to Autocopter president Donald Effren, who describes how this little helicopter with a five-foot blade-span operating at about 25 feet above the ground brings farmers and ranchers a level of sophistication that has its roots in the high-tech Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, better known as UAVs, that the military has been flying in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Effren says his aircraft is actually more stable than some of its military cousins.  And with controls that are easier to operate than most hobby shop model helicopters and a price tag of $30,000, in line with most farm implements, this little dynamo could be the next big thing in precision agriculture.

Listen to the podcast in the player below to find out more about the Autocopter. You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

This photo was taken of me with Ag Leader general sales manager Mike Olson at the Commodity Classic as we both checked email on our cell phones to prepare for an interview. Amazing what technology we have in our pockets these days! Some people may argue whether cell phones actually make us more efficient, but most of us wonder what we ever did without them – as most farmers who use precision technology wonder how they got along without it in the past.

I talked with Mike about how precision technology saves time as well as money. Sometimes it may be hard to put a dollar value on our time, but when planting or harvesting windows are as tight as they were last year, saving time in the fields is saving money. “When you start implementing precision ag technologies, it’s amazing how much time you can save,” Mike said. “You think of the steering systems. You’re reducing overlap, that’s obvious, but if you can make less passes across the field then it’s saving you time.”

Also, steering systems allow farmers to work longer hours with less fatigue. “So if you have a good window of a dry stretch it allows you to work longer into the night and plant longer or spray longer,” he added. Time savings may be one of those things that’s hard to monetize, “but if you don’t get a crop in, it’s pretty easy to see how much value there is.”

Listen to my interview with Mike from Commodity Classic below.

Commodity Classic Photo Album

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) Director of Research Tracy Blackmer was one of the presenters for the PrecisonAg Learning Center at the 2010 Commodity Classic trade show. Tracy is head of ISA’s On-Farm Network®, which focuses on precision agriculture tools and technology to collect information that can increase growers’ profits from crop production and I interviewed him at Classic for this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology.

The Iowa Soybean Association started this project nine years ago to study both the environmental and economic aspects of farming practices and to help growers find out what works best for them on their operation. Since that time they have expanded into nine other states. “We’re trying to say that growers can use a lot of the precision ag technologies to actually identify which products or practices are working better,” Tracy says. “In Iowa alone we had over 450 replicated trials.”

Listen to the podcast in the player below to find out more about the ISA On-Farm Network®. You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

This year’s winner of the American Soybean Association scholarship has a passion for precision.

Ben Bellar, a high school senior from Howard, Kansas, was named the 2010-2011 Secure Optimal Yield (SOY) Scholarship recipient during the 2010 Commodity Classic in Anaheim, California. The scholarship package, made possible through a grant by BASF, included a one-time $5,000 education award, a trip to the Commodity Classic and special recognition during the ASA Awards Banquet. Ben is pictured here at the BASF exhibit on the trade show floor with ASA First Vice president Alan Kemper of Indiana and Nevin McDougall, Group Vice President, North America Crop Protection Division at BASF.

As an active member of the ASA and FFA, Ben has been raising soybeans since he was a child and plans to study agriculture technology management at Kansas State University next year, something he decided when his father “finally broke down and bought a GPS” about six years ago. “I just like days when I can go out there, hit one button, go for half a mile, pull out a magazine and read it until I get to the end of the row,” Ben told me during an interview.

Listen to or download that interview in the player below and thanks again to John Deere for sponsoring our coverage of this year’s Commodity Classic.

Commodity Classic Photo Album

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

At Commodity Classic in Anaheim, CA, Jared Hayes, John Deere, was showing attendees what the company is offering to growers in the area of precision ag.

With spring almost here and planting just around the corner I asked him what’s new from the company. Jared says one of the big things with planting which is becoming more important every year is automatic section control via their Swath Control Pro. He says this allows for a reduction of input costs while also allowing for the use of multiple products.

At Commodity Classic John Deere was showcasing their full line of AMS products. Jared says the show provides them an opportunity to find out what growers are looking for in future product offerings.

You can listen to my interview with Jared below:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

TeeJet now offer two new solutions for ISOBUS sprayer control for owners of factory-installed virtual terminals, or for operators who require a complete system including a virtual terminal.

The TeeJet ISOBUS Sprayer System uses a John Deere, CASE IH or AGCO virtual terminal.  The kit includes the IC18 ISOBUS Sprayer Electronic Control Unit (ECU), BoomPilot automatic boom section control module, a switch box and all cable and connection to operate on Deere, CASE IH or AGCO virtual terminals. The IC18 Sprayer ECU has an intuitive interface with advanced features such as multiple rate selection, section status and task control for prescription applications.  The IC18 and BoomPilot can automatically control up to 9 sprayer sections.

TeeJet Technologies also offers a sprayer control solution that includes the components noted above plus the new Matrix 570VT interface. Matrix 570VT features a bright 5.7” touch screen suitable for daylight and nighttime viewing and can be used with other ISOBUS-compatible ECUs in addition to the IC18.

“We’re fully committed to the ISOBUS standard and want to help as many growers as possible experience the benefits of it,” said Jim Shone, Business Unit Manager at TeeJet Technologies. “Most growers don’t yet own a virtual terminal and will find our Matrix 570VT ISOBUS Sprayer System an affordable way to take full advantage of the ISOBUS platform. For the operators that do have a virtual terminal, our ISOBUS components are an economical way to leverage their current investment,” Shone continued.

TeeJet Technologies was among the first to sell ISOBUS compatible products in North America. ISOBUS job computers and controls have been in the field the last two growing seasons, and product line expansion is underway.

In 2001, farm machinery manufacturers agreed to implement a common standard for communication interfaces on tractors, implements and farm management systems. The standard is called ISO 11783 and is commonly referred to as ISOBUS.

The common standard enables products from different manufacturers to communicate and eliminates the need for separate terminals, displays and controls. Once ISOBUS is fully implemented, tractors will have a single virtual terminal in the cab.

A virtual terminal is the device that allows the operator to provide input information. An Electronic Control Unit (ECU), also known as a job computer, installed on the implement is where processing and control occurs.

Certified ISOBUS virtual terminals and ECUs will communicate and function on the same communication BUS, regardless of the manufacturer.

ISOBUS benefits:

• Operators can leverage their investment on factory installed terminals instead of having several controller consoles.
• Implements with certified ISOBUS ECUs give operators the flexibility to choose the best products for their applications without concerns about compatibility.
• Standardized plugs, cables and software simplify installation and connectivity and result in true “plug and play” technology.  Operators can operate multiple implements with any tractor in their fleet.
• Data from the ECU can be easily exported and analyzed on the farm computer.

Listen to an interview with TeeJet technology specialist Jon Reinecker conducted at the National Farm Machinery Show by Agwired reporter John Davis:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The PrecisionAg Institute can help growers know how well it Works now with a new Profit Calculator. The organization was exhibiting at Commodity Classic and I stopped by and spoke with Director Elliott Nowels. In the photo you can see one of the educational presentations scheduled in their booth taking place.

Elliott says the profit calculator helps growers understand the actual return on investment for each element of precision application they are using or planning on purchasing. It is an online tool that asks a series of questions about field size, inputs being used and their value and then it takes that data and figures how much money you can save by using various gps guided applications like controlling individual planter boxes or spray nozzles.

You can listen to my interview with Elliott below.

Commodity Classic Photo Album

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download