Precision Pays

Special coverage of two recent Precision Ag Expo days, in Casselton and Dickenson, N. Dak., has been documented by Farm & Ranch Guide–and the webpage includes educational videos of numerous presentations. Both field days were hosted by North Dakota State University Extension Service.

You can learn about site specific hardware, history of GPS, GPS system choices, accuracy of GPS, LIDAR technology and drainage, satellite imagery, precision ag adoption in ND, and much more.

Check it out!!

The Alabama Precision Agriculture Team is sponsoring and participating in the International Conference on Precision Agriculture to be held July 18-21, 2010 in Denver Colorado.

Team members will present on various topics including Profitability of RTK and Its Influence on Peanut Production, Adoption and Use of Precision Agriculture Technologies and Proper Implementation of Precision Agricultural Technologies for Conducting On-farm Research. In addition the Alabama Precision Agriculture Program will sponsor an exhibit at the conference featuring current projects and outreach efforts of the program.

For further information on presentations provided by team members click on the individual titles below. Visit the Alabama Precision Ag Website at www.AlabamaPrecisionAgOnline.com for current precision ag information and updates.

A Case Study for Variable-Rate Seeding of Corn and Cotton in the Tennessee Valley of Alabama

Adoption and Use of Precision Agriculture Technologies by Practitioners

Application Rate Stability When Implementing Automatic Section Control Technology on Agricultural Sprayers

Determination of Crop Injury From Aerial Application of Glyphosate Using Vegetation Indices and Geostatistics

Economic Analysis of Auto-Swath Control for Alabama Crop Production

Precision Agriculture Education: Using Social Media

Profitability of RTK and Its Influence on Peanut Production

Proper Implementation of Precision Agricultural Technologies for Conducting Field-Scale Research

Tip Flow Uniformity When Using Different Automatic Section Control Technologies During Field Operations

Variable Rate Application of Nematicides on Cotton Fields: A Promising Site-Specific Management Strategy

As a agricultural journalist originally from a rural Iowa family farm, who now lives in suburbia close to Minneapolis, I’m always educating urban friends about farming and correcting their misconceptions.

To this end, I applaud anyone in agriculture who takes time to listen and understand consumer thoughts and feelings–without getting defensive about farming practices. If you want to learn good techniques (especially via social media), Michele Payn-Knoper is doing an awesome job educating farmers. Check out the upcoming training seminar.

Right now, as we’re fully into the county fair and soon approaching state fair time of the year, I challenge growers to seek out consumers at these events and help them better understand your role in putting food on their table. Ask questions and truly listen, rather than preach.

Farm shows are another good venue, especially if the show makes an effort to get consumers on the grounds. The upcoming Wisconsin Farm Technology Days farm show near River Falls on July 20-22 has set up special “Courtesy Tours” for consumers.

Jay Richardson, organizer of “Courtesy Tours” is excited about this unique feature of this year’s show: “We love telling our story to the 98% of our population who are not engaged in producing the food they consume. This year we are setting up special tours to educate and answer questions about production agriculture.”

The Applied Technology Education tent will serve as headquarters for a group of almost 50 dairy and crop producers that have volunteered to serve as tour guides of tent city. These producers will take small groups on guided tours along predetermined routes through tent city. Each tour will be about an hour to an hour and a half in length. During that time the participants will be able to ask questions of the guides about the equipment that is on display as well as general questions regarding modern agriculture.

The goal is to reach out to the people that may be attending in hopes of learning more about what it is that dairy and crop producers do and the tools that they use to produce the world’s safest and most abundant supply of food. Even though Farm Technology Days is primarily a show for farmers, many curious non-farmers attend as well. With the close proximity to urban areas, this year’s show in Pierce County hopes to capitalize on its location. “We want to welcome and educate those that might not call a farm ‘home!’”

Tours will leave about every 10 minutes from the Applied Technology Education Tent; starting at 9:30 a.m. with the final tour leaving at 3 p.m. each day.

For more information, please contact Jay Richardson at 715-495-8440 or Liz Doornink at 715-760-1221 or visit www.piercefarmtech.com

Time for other farm shows and country fairs to use this idea! Pass it on.

The North Dakota State University Extension Service has scheduled Precision Agriculture Expos in conjunction with the NDSU Research Extension Center Field Day tours on July 12 at Casselton and July 14 at Dickinson.

The expos will include educational presentations, exhibits, field demonstrations, ride and drive demonstrations and user sharing sessions.

Precision agriculture includes management practices that allow farmers to be more precise in field operations and apply crop inputs more efficiently. A global positioning system (GPS) is the basis of most precision agriculture practices. The most common GPS applications in farming are operator-assisted tractor guidance systems and completely automated steering systems.

“However, farming in North Dakota includes an increasing number of other precision agriculture applications, such as variable-rate fertilization, crop yield monitoring, section and row control on planters and sprayers, precision irrigation and GPS-guided field drainage equipment,” says John Nowatzki, NDSU Extension Service agricultural machine systems specialist. “Specialized farm geographic information system (GIS) computer programs also are an essential element of precision farming. GIS programs are used to correlate crop and soil factors with satellite imagery. Farmers use remote-sensing products and in-field sensing technologies with a GPS to manage individual field sections based on potential productivity.”

The primary goals of the expos are to explore energy efficiency aspects of precision agriculture management practices and demonstrate precision agriculture technologies. More information and a registration form are available on the NDSU precision agriculture expo website at http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/agmachinery. The public also is invited to visit and contribute to the expo Facebook site at http://www.facebook.com/pages/NDSU-Precision-Agriculture/110144575694517?ref=ts. Expo organizers encourage people to join the discussion groups on the Facebook site to provide input into planning the events and activities for the expos.

The events at both locations will begin with the regular field day crop plot tours from 9 a.m. to noon. The tours include reports by various NDSU research scientists. More information about the Casselton field day tour is available at http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/casselto/ and the Dickinson tour at http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/dickinso/.

The precision agriculture expos will follow lunch with educational presentations from 12:30 to 2 p.m. There will be a variety of concurrent educational presentations, including the economics of precision agriculture, satellite imagery delivered on cell phones, GPS problems and concerns, online field mapping services, precision manure application practices and remote-sensing options for agriculture.

Equipment and technology companies that sell precision agricultural technology will conduct field demonstrations, have displays and feature ride and drive demonstrations. Field demonstrations at both locations will include tractor and machine guidance, section control on sprayers, row control on planters and variable-rate fertilization. At the Casselton expo, there also will be field drainage software and equipment demonstrations. The Dickinson expo will have precision haying and manure application demonstrations.

Indoor and outdoor exhibit areas will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. An evening meal will be served from 5 to 7 p.m.

Wow, 19 years of test plots is a major undertaking, especially when started and conducted by a magazine. I’m sure you’re familiar with the Farm Journal Test Plots, started by Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie and Editor Charlene Finck. Initially, the plots were basically learning tools about how to grow crops better—shared with farmers. Today, Farm Journal launches into its third year of Corn College classroom and in-field events along with the test plots. And the knowledge goal remains unchanged.

This July, Ag Leader is sponsoring Farm Journal’s Corn College events near Bloomington, IL. Led by Ken Ferrie, Associate Field Agronomist, Missy Bauer and the Corn College crew, the events are packed with take-home crop production knowledge integrating both classroom and in-field instruction. The Corn College location is surrounded by 17 acres of demonstration plots which allow attendees to head out to the field with Ferrie, Bauer and other agronomic coaches.

As a sponsor of Corn College events, Ag Leader experts will present a Tech Session on crop sensors. Growers can learn details about how sensors work, how to collect crop scanning data, how to implement crop sensors into a nitrogen program and how this information can lead to successful management decisions.

“We’re participating in this event to not only educate growers on precision farming and the latest technology, but also to learn from the sessions and by visiting with growers,” says Jessica Reis, Marketing Communications Specialist for Ag Leader Technology.

The company will also be located in the vendor tent to answer questions about the latest technology trends and how growers can put together a year-round precision farming system—designed to achieve optimum input efficiency and maximum productivity.

If you cannot attend, Reis says to check out their Precision Point blog (link below) as they will be posting knowledge gained from the meetings.

Corn College is being held July 19-23. If you register for Corn College by Friday, June 18 (TODAY), you get the early-bird rate of $199. Otherwise you pay $249. Sessions are filling up fast. For more information and to register, visit www.agweb.com or http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=804054

For more information, visit

Precision Point blog http://www.agleader.com/blog/

Farm Journal Corn College https://secure.lenos.com/lenos/pcg/fjland/summer.htm

Corn College Registration http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=804054

Registration begins June 18 for the 10th International Precision Agriculture Conference, held July 18-21 at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center in Denver, Colorado.

Precision agriculture is growing and so is the precision agricultural community across the world. The 10th International Conference on Precision Agriculture is envisaged to be the largest ever; with more than 500 attendees from all over the U.S and over 40 countries (see program details, coming soon on www.icpaonline.org).

As with previous ICPA conferences, the 10 International Conference on Precision Agriculture will provide a forum for presentations on the current state of precision agriculture research and applications. The conference will facilitate interaction among research scientists, producers, technology company representatives, equipment manufacturers, input dealers, agronomic consultants, software developers, educators, government personnel and policymakers.

Presentation main topics include:

• Sensor Application in Managing In-season Crop Variability

• Spatial Variability in Crop, Soil and Natural Resources

• Precision Nutrient Management

• Precision Conservation

• Precision Horticulture

• Remote Sensing Applications in Precision Agriculture

• Engineering Technologies and Advances

• Profitability, Sustainability and Adoption

• Emerging Issues in Precision Agriculture (Energy, Biofuels, Climate Change)

• Information Management and Traceability

• Education and Training in Precision Agriculture

• Guidance, Auto Steer, and GPS Systems

• Modeling and Geo-statistics

• Global Proliferation of Precision Agriculture and its Applications

If you’re headed to Orlando next week to catch the first-ever world-class AG CONNECT Expo, there will be plenty of opportunities to learn about the latest precision technologies from around the world, as well as ‘kick the tires’.

New products and technologies will be showcased during the January 13-15 trade show at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. You can also check out some of these products posted on the show’s Web site, where you can even rate the products.

Many educational sessions led by industry experts are scheduled every day. Topics range from top tech trends, top shops, trading machinery, crop marketing, robotics and more. And you can also register to attend smaller interactive educational breakout sessions on such topics as energy, technology, farm management, family business management, risk management, high yield and a plan for success workshop.

We’ll have reports from the show, so stay tuned. And if you’re into the social media tool Twitter, you can follow along with everyone who posts at #agconnect.

Post Update: Listen to a show preview with ZimmComm’s Chuck Zimmerman in his weekly podcast, the ZimmCast below:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

All agricultural technology enthusiasts are invited to attend the 10th Annual Nebraska Agricultural Technologies Association Conference (NEATA), January 27-28, 2010 at the Midtown Holiday Inn, Grand Island, NE.

Pre-conference programs will focus on Optimizing Pivot Irrigation Management (9:00 to 4:00) and Social Media Applications in Agriculture (1:00 – 4:00) will be offered the afternoon of January 27.

The conference opens Wednesday evening with Dr. Raj Khoslo, Precision Agriculture Specialists, Colorado State University, discussing Precision Nutrient Management on Site-specific Management Zones, followed by Bill Kranz, Irrigation Specialist, University of Nebraska-Lincoln addressing Monitoring Irrigation Water Application with Computerized Controllers.

Thursday morning opens with international guest and precision agriculture expert, Sam Tengrove, Australian farmer, sharing Adoption of Precision Agriculture by Australian Grain Growers. Additional general sessions offered include Broadband: Who Needs It?, Mapping Evapotranspiration with High Resolution and Internalized Calibration (METRIC), and Global Perspectives of Site-specific Weed Management.

Twelve concurrent sessions addressing a variety of emerging agricultural technology topics will also be offered on Thursday. The concurrent sessions in the Ambassador room will be hands-on workshops. See the conference brochure.

Up to 8 CCA credits are available for conference participants with an additional 6 CCA credits available to those who attend the Optimizing Pivot Irrigation Management pre-conference workshop.

More information is available at http://neata.org.

Arriving just ahead of a blizzard bearing down on Iowa yesterday, more than 200 key dealers got their first glimpse of the big, new Ag Leader Academy training facility in Ames. The group will get hands-on experience over the next several days, learning all about new products and the steering technology and services gained from the partnership with AutoFarm.

There was a lot of buzz about teaming up two new products in particular, which highlights the strengths of the new partnership between Ag Leader and AutoFarm. The ability to pair the new ‘flagship’ products—Ag Leader’s INTEGRA monitor with the high-accuracy automatic steering ParaDyme product from AutoFarm—will offer the most advanced and innovative precision ag system ever, say the companies.

The INTEGRA full-featured, year-around display, comprised of a 12-inch HD touchscreen, features a new hardware platform that can handle mapping, planter and application control, yield monitoring, real-time data logging and more—controlling virtually every operation from the cab.

And to make this a fully integrated system, a patented dual-antenna roof module called the ParaDyme, delivers a unique steering system that can handle any correction (from WAAS to RTK), plus it offers factory-activated and integrated wireless and cellular communications for remote diagnostics. It not only can provide sub-inch accuracy with RTK or the CORS Network, but it can track pitch, roll, yaw, vehicle position and heading.

ParaDyme System

“With ParaDyme, we’ve taken automatic steering to a whole new level,” says Michael O’Connor, Chief Technology Officer with Novariant, the parent company of AutoFarm. “This sets the standard in single-system solution to precision farming, when combined with the Ag Leader INTEGRA monitor system.”

What impressed me during the presentations was the simplicity behind the complex and all-encompassing capabilities of this system. For example:

• The ParaDyme platform fits both entry level users and the experienced RTK-intensive, variable-rate users, simply by swapping out monitors, steering systems and selecting the right correction signal—from sub-meter to sub-inch accuracy.
• No more complex steering calibration—you push a button and the computer automatically calibrates by turning and learning the tractor movements.
• No more need for a front-wheel sensor, due to the patented dual-antenna system configuration.
• There’s a seamless upgrade path for growers who want to start with an entry-level Edge monitor and assisted-steering, then move up later. The ParaDyme unit doesn’t change (only the signal), and the INTEGRA monitor uses the same cables and bolt-on hardware as the Edge monitor.
• With a decade of precision-steering experience, AutoFarm technology fits on more than 370 different vehicle brands.
• With ParaDyme, you are directly connected to your local dealer with a service plan (for a fee) to minimize downtime. If you have a problem, you push the help button on the monitor and it contacts them. Not only can they view your screen, they can actually make remote adjustments and troubleshoot it, without waiting for their truck to arrive.
• And for growers who live in states with good CORS networks coverage, the built-in cell phone system in the ParaDyme will automatically chose the best local carrier for your signal to run RTK—without you or your dealer worrying about another cell phone, and carrier, and service. Plus, you can activate it in 30-day increments, so no need for year-long contracts.

There are many more details, so contact your local dealer.

Precision farming techniques and practices are taking center stage at this year’s Beltwide Cotton Conference in New Orleans, January 4-7, 2010.

According to a report in Mid-South Farmer magazine, Bill Robertson of the National Cotton Council says Randy Taylor, Oklahoma State University will set the stage for the precision agriculture theme Tuesday morning at the general production conference with a look at current and future opportunities for cotton producers using precision agriculture technology in their fields.

“From there, the precision agriculture theme branches out in other Tuesday and Wednesday workshops in the New Orleans Marriott Hotel,” he explains. “The general production conference this year — where all attendees gather in one hall — is set in the nearby Sheraton Hotel.”

Workshops include:
1. A collaborative report on several years’ research from across the Cotton Belt concerning site-specific management of nematodes, Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 5.

2. Hands-on sampling for precision agriculture uses, by Jeffrey Willers, USDA ARS researcher in Mississippi, Wednesday morning, Jan. 6.

3. Sensor-based Nitrogen Application, by David Dunn, of the University of Missouri at the Delta Research Station in the Missouri Bootheel, Wednesday morning, Jan. 6.

4. Cotton Irrigation, by Dana Porter, Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Lubbock, Texas.

For more details, visit the Beltwide Cotton Conference website.

Southern growers get a chance to check out the latest precision farming technology at the annual Sunbelt Ag Expo farm show, set for October 20-22 in Moultrie, Georgia.

Now in it’s 32nd year, it features 1,200 exhibitors and 600 acres of field demonstrations. And this year the show will feature a new Technology Innovations and Solutions series of seminars, sponsored by Farm Press and hosted by Southern States Cooperative.

If you come Tuesday, October 20 at 11:00 a.m., you can hear an excellent presentation on the latest in precision agriculture featuring Harlan Little of AGCO, Russ Moorman of AgLeader Technology, Jared Hayes of John Deere AMS, Todd Smith of Outback Guidance Hemisphere GPS, Phil Howard of Southern States, Ron Cox and Jesse Chisholm of TopCon and Sid Siefken, Tim East and Brian Kelley with Trimble Navigation / Ag Technologies.

Check out Visitor Information for more news on the show, and a schedule of events.

Many of you corn growers using precision technology are very aware of the challenges we’ve had in the ethanol business, especially battling groups with an agenda to distort facts and misinform the public. Growth Energy is a group that was formed to battle that problem on Capitol Hill.

Here at the Farm Progress Show, Gen. Wesley Clark, Growth Energy, announced a new initiative. The organization is calling for country of origin labeling for fuel. I would call that the “COOL for fuel” initiative! Hey, we do it with food, why not fuel?

General Wesley Clark, Co-Chairman of Growth Energy, today called on the United States Congress and the White House to take action to dramatically enhance the market transparency of the nation’s fuel supply by requiring a national standard of country of origin labeling (COOL) for fuel.

Clark also unveiled Growth Energy’s labelmyfuel.com, which showcases the costs of American dependence on foreign oil, and serves to rally grassroots support for Congressional action on COOL for fuel legislation.

So what do you think about this initiative? Good idea?

You can listen to the press conference here: fps-09-growth-press.mp3

Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Precision Pays coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by: .

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Since we know that many farmers are using social networking services like Twitter and Facebook I thought you’d be interested to learn about a couple of opportunities to learn more while you’re attending the Farm Progress Show next week.

To start with there’s a weekly Twitter conversation called AgChat. AgChat is for farmers, in fact for anyone involved in providing food, fuel, feed and fiber as well as consumers. The audience is growing and it’s providing some good interaction with people who want and need to understand agriculture today.

“AgChat gives farmers a stronger voice and leverages the power of the agricultural community,” notes Michele Payn-Knoper, Certified Speaking Professional and founder of #AgChat. “We see upwards of 1,000 “tweets” during our two hour discussion every Tuesday night, cementing this tool as an important venue for sharing views and ideas on current food and farm topics, from antibiotic use to mainstream media misinformation about agriculture.”

On Tuesday, September 1, Farm Progress attendees can learn more about this social media tool at two #AgChat events:

• Tweetup: A networking and #AgChat demonstration for those in agriculture who are a part of Twitter, or want to see it in action. From 3-5 p.m., in the Country Financial tent, booth 749 on 7th Street, join Payn-Knoper and others in the #AgChat community, who will answer any questions you have. Refreshments will be served.

• #AgChat live: Join other farmers and agribusiness to participate in this fast-paced streaming “convo” on Twitter. Tweet and talk with several of the chat regulars, or just watch the community in action. Payn-Knoper will be moderating live from Farm Progress, 7-9 p.m., in the Decatur Conference Center & Hotel Illini Room. Bioenergy is the topic for the Sept. 1 chat. Other #AgChat participants will be joining in the streaming conversation from locations around the world.

If you won’t be attending the Farm Progress Show then just get online Tuesday evening at the time listed above and go to www.tweetchat.com and enter the search term, #AgChat. Then you’ll be able to watch the conversation unfold one “tweet” at a time. You’ll need a Twitter account to do so but you don’t have to write if you don’t want. You can just watch. But we encourage you to participate!

Cindy and I will be attending the event and can often be found in the media tent. We’ll have stories as we find them for you here.

Check out this video from a field robot event at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, courtesy of Epoch Times online.

“We can reduce the amount of chemicals we use by the very precise application and by doing so, we will also reduce emissions and residuals of chemicals on food.”

Putting theory into practice, students and engineers held a Field Robot Event at the Wageningen University campus last month.
They tested small, driveable machines averaging between 50 to 80 centimeters in width and no more than 40 centimeters in height. Cameras, sonar, infrared and GPS sensors helped the machines steer in the right direction

The robots can distinguish between good and bad plants. They are designed to direct a detergent spray on weeds with such high precision that they avoid touching the crop itself.

The Field Robot Event tested the tiny machines’ ability to navigate and detect weeds.

[Professor Eldert Van Henten, Wageningen University]:
“What we see is that currently tractors are already using auto-steering and GPS so in a way we are supporting human labor with technology. The next step might be that the farmer is supervising one or two additional tractors, still having supervision and then further future might be that robots are truly autonomous on the field.”

Southern growers interested or already involved with the efficient tools of precision agriculture should take part in the upcoming January conference in Tunica, Mississippi.

The Southern Precision Agriculture Conference will be held January 12th and 13th, 2010, at Harrah’s Tunica Convention Center in Tunica. It will be part of a joint meeting with the National Conservation Cotton and Rice Conference, the Southern Corn and Soybean Conference and the newly formed Southern Field Crop Alliance (SFCA).

The SFCA conference will examine issues across crops and precision agriculture technologies. And it provides a chance to network with growers and industries from across the south. For more information on SFCA, contact Angus Catchot at acatchot@entomology.msstate.edu or B. Rogers Leonard at rleonard@agcenter.lsu.edu. Conference details are found at http://nctd.net/.