Precision Pays

Earlier this year Ag Leader launched a new GPS guidance and steering technology called ParaDyme. While the product is still fairly new, growers are already raving about it. To learn more about its unique features and benefits, I spoke with Jeff Bentley, GPS Guidance and Steering Sales Manager for Ag Leader.

ParaDyme is a fully functional, fully integrated hydraulic steering system. It includes a cellular modem for correction by cell, wireless, as well as wifi that’s integrated for future uses and it can be installed into any hydraulic valve vehicle. Bentley explained that it is also scalable from WAAS to OmniStar all the way up to RTK. “So it’s fully scalable to several correction sources,” said Bentley.

A major advantage of using steering technologies is efficiency. “Efficiency is going to be your biggest advantage,” said Bentley. ParaDyme offers accuracy and ease of use and Bentley said when you come back to spray or come back to harvest, the straight rows are going to be a big advantage.

ParaDyme can be used with multiple brands of equipment going back 20 years. It can also be integrated with other Ag Leader products into two displays, Integra, which was launched this fall, and Edge, which was launched earlier this year. In addition, growers can use DirectCommand and SeedCommand as well as the Yield Monitor with ParaDyme.

Farmers have commented that some of their favorite product features include the display as well as the integrated modem. We have a lot of growers, especially those doing RTK connection through a cell modem like you have in Iowa through the DOE network, who really appreciate the integrated modem said Bentley. “The modem is already in ParaDyme. They don’t have to get their own cell plan – they just buy their cell plan through us and away they go.”

Bentley concluded that it’s been a great year and they’re looking forward to seeing how ParaDyme performs on the combine as well as in tillage applications.

You can listen to my interview with Jeff Bentley here. Jeff Bentley Talks ParaDyme

Farm Progress Photo Album

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

As the nights begin to cool, we know harvest is just around the corner. But before your mind gets totally wrapped around the culmination event of your hard work, take a break to visit and learn at one of the best outdoor farm shows, the Farm Progress Show, Aug. 31 through Sept. 2 near the central Iowa community of Boone.

If you’re going to the show, Ag Leader Technology has a special free t-shirt offer with a chance to win an EDGE display. Before you go, just visit the Ag Leader Facebook page and click on the invite under the tab ‘EDGE Giveaway.’ Then fill out the survey and bring it to the Ag Leader booth (Lot 517).

While at the booth, check out the live demonstration of the OptRx Crop Sensor. A Hagie sprayer, complete with the OptRx sensors, INTEGRA display and ParaDyme steering system, will be gathering crop condition data on live corn plants.

Also check out the new SMS Mobile PC software that will be available this fall for PC-based devices such as laptops, netbooks and tablets that run Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7.

And stop inside the tent to learn more about all the products from Ag Leader—from displays and guidance to planter/sprayer controls and software that handles all the data. Product experts will be on hand to help you learn what can best fit your operation.

Visit these links for more information.

Farm Progress Show Website http://www.farmprogressshow.com/

Ag Leader Precision Point Blog: Calling Farm Progress Show Attendees!
http://www.agleader.com/2010/08/23/calling-farm-progress-show-attendees/

Ag Leader Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/AgLeader?v=app_4949752878

Survey for Free t-shirt and EDGE drawing http://www.agleader.com/mirror/FB-EDGE-Survey.pdf

OptRx Crop Sensor http://www.agleader.com/products/directcommand/optrx/

Fall Release of SMS Mobile Software http://www.agleader.com/2010/07/19/ag-leader-announces-fall-release-of-sms-mobile-pc/

Research shows a lightbar can pay for itself in three years on only 300 acres. It can be done with a GPS receiver that receives the free WAAS correction signal that functions within 12-inch accuracy.

This was just one precision farming economic message presented by Matt Darr, Iowa State University ag engineer, during a field day at its Northern Research Farm field day, according to a story in AgriNews.

“This is suitable for non-critical guidance, including tillage, spraying and seeding/drilling,” Darr said. “They are also used for autoswath systems on sprayers, but accuracy will decline in larger fields.”

Investing in a $2,000 light bar for a sprayer can cut chemical costs by 4 to 8 percent per year, Darr said. In areas with rugged terrain, the savings have been as much as 17 percent.

Dual frequency correction offers advances over single frequency correction and provides pass-to-pass accuracy within 4-inches or better, Darr said. This works well for precise auto steering for planting and for planter section control. It requires a yearly subscription that can range from $800 to $1,500.

Real Time Kenematic, or RTK, correction is the most accurate GPS correction because it uses a privately-owned reference station located close to the GPS receiver. RTK can provide one-inch pass-to-pass accuracy and is the only GPS correction that provides year-to-year position stability. RTK allows controlled traffic, strip tillage/fertilization/planting and extremely precise autosteering. Darr said that although RTK receiver costs have come down, the investment is still high from a cost and complexity standpoint.

RTK networks maintained by groups of implement dealers are available for a subscription fee. The cost is similar to a dual frequency subscription.

Read the story to learn more about more network choices and their value.

AutoFarm has released a new video featuring its ParaDyme GPS Precision Farming system.

The new five and one half minute video highlights ParaDyme as the world’s first totally integrated precision farming system, with the capability of being installed on any “color” or brand of farm equipment from tractors, combines, sprayers and spreaders to swathers.

AutoFarm ParaDyme is the single system solution to all facets of precision farming: planter control, application control, yield monitoring, data logging and management, plus hands-free GPS steering via WAAS, EGNOS, OmniSTAR HP/XP, and RTK. It is also GLONASS ready. The ParaDyme System offers a choice of three displays: AutoFarm INTEGRA, AutoFarm EDGE and AutoFarm Viper Pro. It is also compatible with the AutoFarm OnTrac2 GPS Assisted Steering System running with ParaDyme/INTEGRA or ParaDyme/EDGE.

With its unique factory-integrated wireless, ParaDyme offers a Remote Real-Time Service connection to the dealer in addition to optional RTK ReadyConnect that provides RTK correction without a base station. A newly enabled WiFi function is another expansion of an already feature-packed solution to virtually everything precision ag.

For farmers who deal with the planting and spraying challenges of farming on contours, terraces and hills, there’s a new guidance pattern from Ag Leader Technology that offers help.

Called SmartPath, this new ‘drive and guide’ pattern is designed for fields beyond the straight and flat, and it doesn’t require the traditional set-up using beginning and end points.

“If you have farmed contoured fields, you know there is no sequential pattern that is followed; it’s much more random. With SmartPath, once you drive the first pass, all subsequent passes are GPS-guided to follow the previous path,” says Matt Leinen, product manager with Ag Leader. “This pattern will make planter row shutoff or sprayer boom shutoff technology very effective, especially when dealing with the convergence of many point rows.”

While this type of pattern isn’t unique in the industry, Leinen says their technology is designed to follow the best path. “The challenge with this type of pattern is the convergence of numerous paths which come together that are unevenly spaced. We designed the SmartPath to select the right path.”

This pattern is available with any of Ag Leader’s manual guidance, assisted steering or automated steering products, including the INTEGRA and EDGE displays, as well as the OnTrac2 and ParaDyme steering systems.

SmartPath is joining a family of guidance patterns available with Ag Leader’s guidance and steering, including Straight AB, A+, Identical Curve, Adaptive Curve and Pivot. It is available in the following firmware releases: Version 1.5 of the INTEGRA display and Version 3.5 of the EDGE display. Updates can be downloaded from www.agleader.com, under ‘Customer Support’. http://www.agleader.com/customer-support/

Visit these links for more information.
SmartPath http://www.agleader.com/media-center/
Steering products http://www.agleader.com/products/steering/

TeeJet launched its Matrix Guidance System with RealView Guidance Over Video earlier this year, and now it offers a software update, v1.04. The features being released are fully tested and bring significant improvement to the performance of this product.

Updates include:

• Improved touch screen response
• Split Screen option is available in RealView Guidance mode on the Matrix 570G
• Improved touch screen calibration for the Matrix 570G
• Up to eight cameras can be used on the Matrix 570G (with the 8-Channel VSM)
• Updated translations to all languages except Swedish & Italian

Matrix v1.04 Software Update – software and instructions for updating your product.

TeeJet Technologies introduced the only system available offering guidance and live video to be displayed simultaneously, which helps improve accuracy and efficiency in field operations. Matrix Guidance System with RealView Guidance Over Video is an affordable system that allows growers to monitor what’s ahead or difficult to see machine parts or operations while at the same time viewing guidance information.

“The Matrix Guidance System offers growers exclusive features at an unbeatable price,” said Rich Gould, vice president and guidance business manager at TeeJet Technologies. “By combining guidance with live video instead of a virtual image, the operator now has access to more and better information to help make GPS guidance more intuitive to use.”

Matrix not only has the benefit of guidance over video, it can also be economically upgraded with automatic boom section control for use with sprayers and spreaders. Automatic boom section control helps minimize costly chemical consumption by automatically switching off sprayer boom sections when they enter a previously applied area.

Matrix is the interface for the FieldPilot® Assisted Steering System from TeeJet Technologies. Assisted steering helps improve accuracy, decrease input costs and reduce driver fatigue and stress. All of these benefits can improve operation productivity.

FieldPilot with Matrix Guidance can also easily be installed on older tractors. “There is a perception out there that you have to have a newer tractor to take advantage of precision ag benefits,” Gould said. “We have more than 65 custom installation kits for 275 different vehicles, new and old. It’s a great way for growers to add assisted steering capabilities without a costly investment.”

Northern Illinois corn and soybean grower Todd Glendenning says he saved an estimated $1,200 per day during spring planting with his Trimble guidance and row control system, according to a story in the June issue of Trimble’s StraightTalk newsletter.

“After planting with RTK and implement guidance, I would
never want to plant any other way,” says Glendenning. “I used
to spend a lot of time looking back, and trying to compensate for the planter sliding down sidehills, but now I don’t have to.”

Glendenning also added Tru Count air clutches to all 24 planter row units. “We have countless acres of point rows and waterways, so we used to have a lot of overlap and wasted seed. With all the multiple-trait seed we plant, seed costs are around $125 per acre. I’d estimate we saved $1,200 in seed costs per day this spring. And since we aren’t overlapping in the headlands, the plants won’t be overcrowded and lodging. That should improve yield.”

Tillage is another benefit Glendenning sees from his Trimble
equipment. “We’ve found WAAS is just not accurate enough
for doing skip rows on 200-acre fields; by the end of the field
you can end up being off by six to seven feet. But if we pair an
EZ-Guide® 500 system with the Ag3000 modem in our tillage
tractor, we can till very efficiently.”

To learn more, check out the June issue.

WiFi in your tractor cab? The AutoFarm ParaDyme GPS system is the first to offer remote loading of software. And it can remotely connect to your dealer for help.

“AutoFarm is the only GPS steering provider currently offering this capability,” says John Bressler, Sr. Marketing Manager, AutoFarm. “The ParaDyme looks like a WiFi ‘hotspot’ to the user’s PC and once connected the software is quickly and easily uploaded.”

The WiFi connectivity to upload software, now enabled on version 1.2 of the ParaDyme Software allows users to remotely load software without the customary auxiliary cables or USB devices.

The ParaDyme System is the industry’s first single system solution to all facets of precision farming: planter control, application control, yield monitoring, data logging and management, plus hands-free GPS steering via WAAS, EGNOS, OmniSTAR HP/XP, and RTK. It is also GLONASS ready. With its unique factory-integrated wireless, ParaDyme offers a Remote Real-Time Service connection to the dealer in addition to optional RTK ReadyConnect that provides RTK correction without a base station. The newly enabled WiFi function is another expansion of an already feature-packed solution to virtually everything precision ag.

For more information on the AutoFarm ParaDyme system and WiFi capability, Remote Service, etc., visit www.gpsfarm.com.

60-inch corn

Ag Leader’s Paul Rose blogs about his trip to South Africa, where the company installed its first ParaDyme system in that country. The 5,000 acre farmer featured in the story plants 60-inch corn that, moisture permitting, averages 80 bushels per acre.

For more details, check out the story.

When discussion centers around all the data that fields can generate these days, crop consultants and savvy growers truly love powerful software programs. Especially when data can transfer easily between desktop and a mobile device to take to the field.

I spoke with Greg Kneubuhler the other day, who is a certified crop consultant, agronomist and owner of G&K Concepts in Harlan, Ind. Greg has been a true pioneering consultant in the NE Indiana/NW Ohio area—starting growers down the precision farming/yield gathering path back in the late 1990s. Today, his clients’ business has evolved into intensive precision management that includes precise zone management and applying the right variable-rates—all driven by on-farm research on every farm. To help accomplish such research, Greg works on numerous projects in cooperation with Joe Nester of Nester Ag, Bryan, Ohio.

“We’ve always used a zone management philosophy in fields—which started with soil types. Then we added yield and soil test data layers to begin developing variable-rate applications of nitrogen, lime, and even seed by management zones. But an accurate yield map is critical,” he says.

Kneubuhler, who has used various software over the years, now relies on SMS Advanced software from Ag Leader. Its data layering and management zone capabilities, along with its smooth data transfer between the SMS Mobile software on a handheld computer.

“I’m a daily SMS Advanced user, and I have yet to find a software that is better. If there was one, I’d be using it. I can manage all clients zones, all research trials, and easily sync data to SMS Mobile so I can use it to walk corn fields to exact locations for stalk nitrate tests or to check on potential issues that show up on aerial imagery,” he says.

These valuable information tools help Kneubuhler take all the geo-referenced data his clients collect, which he layers into his ‘sandwich.’ “As an agronomist, we use this tool to build a sandwich of every type of information we can gather—and that really helps us make very good management decisions today, and down the road.”

For more information, visit

SMS Advanced Software http://www.agleader.com/products/sms-advanced/

SMS Mobile http://www.agleader.com/products/sms-mobile/

Ag Leader Precision Point blog – “Scouting the Crop” http://www.agleader.com/2010/05/25/scouting-the-crop/

G&K Concepts http://gkconcepts.com/Contact-Us.html

Nester Ag http://www.nesterag.com/

Certified Crop Advisors https://www.certifiedcropadviser.org/

Tomorrow, May 21, the first of 12 ‘next generation’ GPS satellites will head into space.

Boeing announced that the first of 12 Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF navigation spacecraft that the company is building for the U.S. Air Force has successfully completed prelaunch testing. The satellite, GPS IIF-1, is scheduled for a May 20 launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

GPS is a space-based, worldwide navigation system providing users with highly accurate, three-dimensional position, navigation and timing information 24 hours a day in all weather conditions. The 12 GPS IIF satellites feature stronger and more precise signals that will enhance the services that support U.S. warfighters, their allies, and civilian GPS users around the world.

“These next-generation satellites provide improved accuracy through advanced atomic clocks; a more jam-resistant military signal and a longer design life than earlier GPS satellites; and a new civil signal that benefits aviation safety and search-and-rescue efforts,” said Craig Cooning, vice president and general manager, Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems. “GPS IIF is the culmination of our deep experience with 39 successful satellites from previous missions, representing more than 30 years of teamwork with the Air Force.”

“GPS is used by nearly a billion people worldwide for everything from farming and aviation to public safety, disaster relief and recreation, not to mention its military purpose of providing precision navigation and timing to combat forces,” said Air Force Col. David Madden, GPS Wing Commander. “GPS IIF will increase the signal power, precision and capacity of the system, and form the core of the GPS constellation for years to come.”

As the first spacecraft in the GPS IIF series, GPS IIF-1 underwent stringent and comprehensive testing following shipment to the launch site in February. Tests included verification of key satellite functions as well as end-to-end system testing to verify operations between the satellite and the Boeing-built ground control segment at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado. Commands were sent from Schriever to GPS IIF-1 at Cape Canaveral to turn on payloads, reprogram processors, and verify interoperability with user receivers and equipment, both civil and military.

In April, the Air Force and Boeing team completed a comprehensive series of prelaunch exercises. These included a mission dress rehearsal and two integrated crew exercises that involved all GPS IIF launch and missions operations crews, from controllers at Schriever to space vehicle engineers and range radar operators at Cape Canaveral to tracking stations around the world.

Long narrow fields can enhance field operation efficiency

While driving back and forth across field after field planting seed, spraying or spreading fertilizer, have you thought much about ways to make that task more efficient?

Obviously, if you have auto steering, you’re saving passes due to reduced overlap. But have you thought about turning time, wheel traffic pattern, shallow secondary tillage, harvest efficiencies and other uses of precision agriculture? Check out these ideas from a recent story by university extension specialists.

Turning time
To reduce turning time, farmers should strive to make fields large, long, and narrow by eliminating fence rows, ditches, or other barriers. Larger implements, if matched to tractor size, can be more field efficient because bigger implements cover larger areas and require a smaller number of turns.

Tillage direction
The concept of going “catty corner” or “tilling off the corners” of the field when tilling diagonally can also save fuel by having the turning result in a tillage operation.

Wheel traffic pattern
Controlled wheel traffic patterns can save fuel and reduce total soil compaction in a field. The tractor and other machinery operate in the same tracks for all operations, improving tractive efficiency with compaction occurring only in a narrow area.

Crop growth in the uncompacted areas of the field is considerably better than if some compaction occurred all over; however, poor drainage or other problems may occur near the compacted zone.

Shallow tillage
Deeper tillage results in greater fuel use. With every inch of increase in moldboard plowing depth, approximately 0.15 more gallons of diesel fuel per acre is used. There is a proportionate increase for other tillage operations at increased depths. Secondary tillage should seldom be performed deeper than one-half the depth of primary tillage.

For example, if a field is plowed 8 inches deep, disking should be no deeper than 4 inches. Shallower secondary tillage has the added benefits of not only saving fuel, but reducing compaction and lessening the amount of wet soil and weed seeds brought to the soil surface. Water loss is also often reduced with shallower tillage, resulting in a longer period before first irrigation is necessary and/or better overall early plant growth.

Harvesting efficiency
Crop conditions can affect the amount of fuel used in harvesting operations. A crop which is too wet, lodged, or harvested under wet soil conditions can increase fuel consumption. Where possible, under optimum crop and field conditions, proper machine adjustment and harvest can result in fuel efficiency. Harvesting less straw and stalks during grain combining by increasing height of cut can reduce fuel consumption as well.

Use of precision agriculture
Global positioning system (GPS) guidance systems and auto-steer technology make use of the most efficient routes around a field, eliminating overlaps and skips.

We’ve written before about economic savings derived from auto steering and auto planter row shut-off off. But many growers often favor the aspects of increased productivity with less fatigue at the end of the day.

We spoke with Adam Gittins, Precision Ag Sales Manager for HTS Precision Ag Solutions in Harlan, Iowa, about the current planting season and local farmer philosophy on this subject.

“Farmers, and I’m one of them, often apply two schools of thought regarding productivity and planting season—auto steer and auto shut-off,” Gittins says. “First, adding auto steering allows growers to run later at night with less fatigue and still be every bit as accurate as planting during the day. Second, by adding auto row shut-off to the planter, guys are saving time with quicker turn time at the headlands.”

Farm more acres. Running longer hours combined with quicker turns can help growers farm more acres with the same equipment. “We’ve seen operations add farm land, and instead of buying another tractor and planter, they’ll instead buy auto steering and planter shut-off to increase productivity—and be able to farm 20 percent more ground with the same equipment,” he says.

“It so much less stress when you don’t have to stare at a marker furrow all day. And I feel I’m doing a much better planting job because I can swivel my seat part way around and watch row units and planter attachments, and can make quick adjustments as needed—instead of focusing mostly on driving. And I feel so much better physically at the end of the day,” he adds.

Becoming standard equipment. Gittins cited one extreme example from this past winter where a farmer saved money by buying an auto steer unit instead of paying for markers on a new 90-ft. planter. “Another trend we’re seeing is that guys who purchase new tractors won’t wait and add auto steer later, they put it in now.”

While good weather is really helping a lot of farmers get crops in the ground quicker this spring, any grower with auto steer and auto planter shut-off will tell you how this technology has truly helped them improve their entire planting operation.

For more information, visit
Tips for using AutoSwath http://www.agleader.com/2010/04/08/tips-for-using-autoswath/

Ag Leader Steering Products http://www.agleader.com/products/steering/

Ag Leader Products http://www.agleader.com/products/

HTS Precision Ag Solutions, Harlan, Iowa
http://www.htsag.com/

HTS on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Harlan-IA/HTS-Precision-Ag/222272725264?ref=ts

HTS Precision Ag’s blog
http://htsag.blogspot.com/

Cutting input costs are driving more growers to invest in precision agriculture and guidance systems. And once they have auto steer available, they are finding ways to use it they had not considered, such as mowing hay, says Amy Winstead, Auburn University, in a recent Southeast Farm Press story.

“In the last year or two, we’ve seen large increases in first-time buyers of precision agriculture technology. These have included livestock producers, forage producers and row-crop producers.

“The increasing cost of inputs has caused everyone to think about how they can save money, and precision agriculture figures into that.”

The benefits of using guidance systems are numerous, she says.

“It decreases skips and overlaps — that’s one of the biggest advantages. It also minimizes driver error and eliminates guess rows. In row crop situations, we’ve seen up to an 8.5 percent decrease in overlapping. In a pasture situation, we would expect that to be much higher because you obviously would have no rows to go by.”

A guidance system increases efficiency, allowing the grower to operate at faster field speeds. “You can cover more area with fewer hours of operation, and you’re able to reduce per-acre fuel consumption because you reduce overlaps in the field,” says Winstead.

To learn more about non-cash benefits, ease of use and costs, read the story.

Added features to existing precision farming monitors can truly benefit owners and prospective buyers alike. Such is the case with Ag Leader’s dual product application upgrade for its mid-range, economical EDGE display.

Owners of granular spinner-spreader fertilizer rigs and anyone with a sprayer will benefit thanks to new dual product control. “Fertilizer applicators can now variable-rate apply both P and K, or apply a fertilizer blend along with micronutrients at the same time,” says John Howard, DirectCommand Product Manager with Ag Leader Technology. “The EDGE has the ability to precisely control the speed of the spinners to deliver spread pattern accuracy.”

For sprayers, dual control means you can control both a liquid carrier and a direct-injection pump. “With our DirectCommand system’s AutoSwath control, and the interface to the Raven Sidekick chemical injection pump, growers and retailers gain complete control of both products,” he says.

Howard says that fertilizer retailers who seek an economical monitor with just the right functionality for their needs will be pleased with this new addition to the EDGE display—especially with the auto steering guidance control features added last December. “We continually strive to provide practical and economical solutions, while helping users upgrade as seamlessly as possible.”

Current EGDE display owners can download this firmware upgrade to their monitor. http://www.agleader.com/customer-support/downloads/

For more information, visit
http://www.agleader.com/2010/04/28/ag-leader-adds-dual-product-application-control-to-edge™-display/

EDGE Monitor:
http://www.agleader.com/products/edge/

Difference between EDGE and INTEGRA monitors:
http://www.agleader.com/products/displays/