Precision Pays

In this Precision Pays Podcast we are going to visit the Iowa Power Farming Show, held January 31 through February 2 in Des Moines.

The 57th annual show, which is owned and managed by the Iowa-Nebraska Equipment Dealers Association, was the biggest ever and the event can now claim to be the second largest indoor farm show in the United States.

While the big equipment displays take up much of the floor space, technology is really front and center and Ag Leader Technology is one of the sponsors of the show. Iowa farm broadcast legend Ken Root took in some of the Ag Leader technology on display and shared those interviews with us – one with Chad Vick on the OptRx sensor and one with Mark Anderson talking about Integra with advanced seed monitoring.

Listen to or download the Precision Pays Podcast: Precision Pays Podcast from Iowa Power Farming

More photos of Ag Leader Technology at the Iowa Power Farming Show.

The Iowa Power Farming Show manager is Andy Goodman and he’s been happy with the weather. He’s also happy with the attendance and the 600 exhibitors! Technology is taking an ever bigger role in the industry and in the show.

The show is owned and operated by the Iowa-Nebraska Equipment Distributors Association. Andy says the show has a long history and just keeps growing.

Listen to Ken Root’s interview with Andy here: Interview with Andy Goodman

The 57th Iowa Power Farming Show kicked off today and we want to thank Iowa farm broadcast legend Ken Root for helping us out. Ken was on hand to take photos and conduct some interviews for us starting with David King, Ag Leader Technology.

David says that Ag Leader Technology has been sponsoring the show for seven years. It has been a great venue for them to see client and the weather has really cooperated this year. It will be interesting to see what the total attendance is by show end. He says Ag Leader guidance products have been very well received and farmers are looking for equipment that pays back to the bottom line.

Listen to Ken’s interview with David here: Interview with David King

Ag Leader Technology officially released the North American Wheat algorithm for OptRx during the Iowa Power Farming Show in Des Moines, Iowa this week. OptRx is a crop sensor used for mapping, data collection and real-time variable rate nitrogen application.

To learn more about how OptRx worked, I spent some time with Mike Olson, North American Sales Manager for Ag Leader, during the show. He said releasing this crop sensor was the next logical step for them because there is a huge demand in both North America as well as globally for nitrogen for wheat.

Applying the right amount of nitrogen at the right time is very important for wheat so you don’t have issues like lodging, and you get better crop stand. “So if we can monitor crop health as you go through the field and apply nitrogen based on it, we can use nitrogen more wisely across the field and give you a better overall stand,” explained Olson.

Last year, Ag Leader released OptRx crop sensor for corn. Olson said that in the past two years, the Midwest has seen very wet springs and crop variability has been very, very high. This has caused a lot of nitrogen leeching. Growers who used OptRx last year, on average, saw a $25 per acre improvement over not having the crop sensor and using a flat rate application.

Since real-time variable rate nitrogen applications in the field, such as OptRx are pretty new technologies, I asked Olson what the three most common questions were from growers, He said, “What’s the technology? What equipment do I need? and What are the benefits?” You can get detailed answers to these questions in the video below.

The 2011 season is fast approaching so now is the time to purchase your technology. Olson said that both the OptRx crop sensor for wheat and corn are now available and the has team members standing by to give growers the 411 on the technologies. In addition, his team members can help them get set up and ready to go so when the window of opportunity is available to apply nitrogen, they’re ready to go.

For more information on OptRx for wheat and corn, visit www.agleader.com.

Miss the show? Check it out in our Iowa Power Farming Show flickr photo album.

Precision Pays coverage of the Iowa Power Farming Show is sponsored by: .

The 56th Annual Iowa Power Farming Show is in full swing and there is a lot of activity. Some of the most popular areas are those featuring large farming equipment, which comes as no surprise since yesterday, Show Manager Tom Junge mentioned that 24 percent of the farmers attending the show plan on buying a tractor this year.

Other areas that are especially busy are those with precision ag technologies. Also not surprising since Junge also mentioned that 22 percent of farmers plan on expanding their precision ag technologies this year as well. The advent of these technologies have had great positive impacts on farmers’ operations – not only are they helping them save costs, but they are also helping them maximize planting in their fields which is rewarding them with more bushels per acre and, obviously, more income.

And let’s not forget about the seed companies. Without seeds, well, we have no food. Farmer’s are spending a lot of time learning about new seed products and traits and many are putting in last minute orders since despite all the recent snow, planting is right around the corner.

You can see more from the show in the Iowa Power Farming Show in our flickr photo album.

Precision Pays coverage of the Iowa Power Farming Show is sponsored by: .

Despite blizzard conditions throughout much of Iowa, the weather couldn’t keep thousands of growers from descending on Des Moines for the 56th annual Iowa Power Farming Show that kicked off today. This three day show, which ends on February 3, 2011, is expected to be one of the largest in the show’s history and I’m here courtesy of our sponsor, Ag Leader Technology. The show is conducted by the Iowa-Nebraska Equipment Dealers Association.

Tom Junge, Show Manager, said that this year there are 100 new exhibitors out of more than 680 total exhibitors. There are more than 1680 booths spread out between three major convention centers and 50 companies were still on a waiting list. Next year, the show will expand to Vet’s Auditorium and that should accommodate another 100 exhibitors.

I asked Junge what some of this year’s trends were. He said that in one of the surveys that they sent out to growers prior to the show, 24 percent of them indicated that they are planning on purchasing a tractor this year. Another 22 percent plan on expanding their precision ag applications. As a result, Junge said a majority of precision ag exhibitors expanded their booths this year.

I also asked Junge what one of the coolest things on the trade show floor was. He said that farmers are very interested in being more self sufficient on the farm for their own energy. This year there are six energy companies at the show and they are getting a lot of traffic.

To learn more about the this year’s Iowa Power Farming Show, listen to my interview with Tom Junge. Tom Junge Interview

You can also see pictures from the show in my Iowa Power Farming Show flickr album.

Precision Pays coverage of the Iowa Power Farming Show is sponsored by: .

While I was in the Ag Leader Technology booth at the Iowa Power Farming Show last week I spoke with Michael Vos, SMS Sales Manager. Our topic was using SMS software to create and move guidance lines for different types of precision farming equipment.

He says that growers ask a lot of questions about creating guidance lines in one display and moving them to another w/out having to recreate them. This can be a challenge in precision ag equipment that is all the same brand, or many different displays/brands. He says SMS has the ability to store these guidance lines and import them to many brands of precision farming equipment.

You can watch my interview with Michael or listen to it below:

Iowa Power Farming Show Photo Album

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Just in case you weren’t able to attend the Iowa Power Farming Show, here’s what you missed in the Ag Leader Technology booth. Jess Ahrens was my tour guide and walked me around the displays of the displays. Your next chance to catch up with Ag Leader Technology will be at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, KY. Cindy will be there providing coverage.

Iowa Power Farming Show Photo Album

Earlier this week Ag Leader Technology added the patent-pending SureVac electric row shutoff to their lineup of planter section shutoff devices. Since I was at the Iowa Power Farming Show I stopped in and learned all about it from Chad Huedepohl. You can watch the interview or just listen to it below. Here’s the details:

SureVac provides today’s precision farming operation with an easily- installed, zero-maintenance solution to reduce seed costs and increase yield potential.

SureVac is designed for John Deere Pro-SeriesTM XP row units, but is also compatible with any John Deere vacuum seed meter manufactured in the last 20 years. In addition to John Deere corn and soybean seed disks, SureVac supports the eSet® vacuum disk from Precision Planting.

Chad says SureVac is an electric row shutoff made to shut off the seed placement per row on a row by row basis. He says this benefits the farmer user by saving on seed and avoiding “doubles” such as on point rows.

Iowa Power Farming Show Photo Album

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

There are booths on the floor of three different buildings at the Iowa Power Farming Show. They’re also in the hallways. I stopped at this one to learn about the Monsanto sponsored America’s Farmers Grow Communities Project. Lots of farmers were stopping by to sign up their favorite local charity. To tell us all about it I interviewed Gayla Daugherty, Monsanto Communications Manager.

She says it’s a new project for farmers to sign up a local non-profit of their choice to win via a random drawing. There are 179 counties involved in Iowa/Missouri/Arkansas and you can see them listed on the official rules page.

Plant $2,500 in your community and watch it grow.

Together we can grow rural America…one community at a time. Apply now.

You can listen to my interview with Gayla below.

Iowa Power Farming Show Photo Album

Thanks to Ag Leader Technology for sponsoring our coverage of the Iowa Power Farming Show.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Ag Leader Technology has announced the Blue Delta Dealer Network. At the Iowa Power Farming Show I spoke with Mike Olson to learn more about it. He’s pictured working in the booth here at the show.

Basically, Ag Leader Technology has developed a new elite precision farming distribution network in an effort to bring more structure to a growing precision agriculture community.

The network is designed to help precision farming dealers become well-rounded precision farming experts, as well as help farmers locate and identify elite precision farming dealerships throughout North America.

“Our goal is to provide these dealers with a number of tools to help them better educate and sup- port their precision farming customers,” continues Olson. “We’ve learned that the more educated growers are about precision farming, the more they embrace it. We believe this will have a significant impact on the industry.”

You can listen to my interview with Mike below.

Iowa Power Farming Show Photo Album

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

I’m attending my first ever Iowa Power Farming Show courtesy of our sponsor Ag Leader Technology. The first person I met this morning was show manager, Tom Junge. The show is conducted by the Iowa-Nebraska Equipment Dealers Association.

Tom says they represent about 400 dealers and have been doing the show for 55 years. They have a show in December in Nebraska now too. Here at the Iowa show they use 3 different buildings with 6 acres of exhibits. They’re hoping for another record attendance this year like they had last year. There’s a lot of precision technology on display here and Tom says it has become an integral part of farming and the show.

You can listen to my interview with Tom below. I also uploaded a short video clip from above the show floor with my iPhone so you can see what it’s like.

And of course I’ve got photos for you in the Iowa Power Farming Show Photo Album.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download