Precision Pays

GM crops and precision farming benefits are being pushed back onto the national agenda in the UK, with the focus to help beat climate change, according to a report in The Guardian newspaper.

Former cabinet  minister Chris Smith, now chair of the Environment Agency, addressed farmers at the annual conference of National Farmers’ Union, saying that “climate change will create new demands on land and environmental resources–and could provide opportunities for novel crops and systems.”

Intense lobbying by food companies, the growing significance of climate change, recent international food crises and shortages and a major independent Royal Society report have all helped to give the government the authority to put GM back on the national agenda. The controversial technology was the focus of intense campaigns including destruction of GM crop trials by environmentalists in the 1990s, and last month came under renewed attack from academics and organic food campaigners at the Oxford Real Farming Conference.

Lord Smith will say: “We can already see wildlife following climate change – the mayfly is now found some 40 miles further north than before and warmer winters and wetter summers are thought to be a major factor in the rapid decline of pollinating insects with UK bee populations, in particular, falling by 10-15% over the last two years.

“The reliance on seasonal weather patterns means that farming will follow climate change too. My own personal view is that we probably need to be readier to explore GM options, coupled of course with proper environmental safeguards, in adapting to the changes that the climate will bring.”

The GM industry now involves 14 million farmers in 25 countries who are growing 134m hectares of GM crops around the world. This is a 7% increase compared with last year.

Sara Lee is taking a unique approach to market its 100% Natural line of EarthGrain brand bread. They are promoting wheat, known as Eco-Grain, grown by precision farming growers who use variable rate fertilizer driven by satellite imagery. And they’re calling it a movement, “Helping to preserve the earth, one field at a time.”

Horizon Milling (a joint venture between Cargill and CHS) plays the supply chain role of preserving the identity of the wheat from farmer’s fields to the bakery.

You can even meet a farmer who talks about growing Eco-Grain, as well as learn how to become an Eco-Grain grower.

Anti-agriculture activists, and I include foodies who view family farmers as ‘factory farms’ should take note how Sara Lee defines organic and sustainable farming. This is taken from the EarthGrains Website…

While Eco-Grain wheat is not organically grown, the more sustainable farming methods used to grow it have some advantages over organic farming.

• Organic farming requires about twice the acreage to produce the same amount of food, resulting in the destruction of undeveloped land.
• Consumers pay a premium for organic grain, since it costs more to grow it.

Sustainable agriculture practices use less fertilizer, conserve land, help protect ground and surface water, and result in a high-yield, lower-cost crop.

Wow, a voice of reason. This is truly agriculture’s view of sustainable farming, and organic is not sustainable.

And here are location where you can buy these breads.

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

It’s not very often that the investment media or advisors mention much about main street agriculture companies, outside of the industry titans. Well, Trimble (also in engineering and construction markets) got a mention yesterday from a writer with the popular “The Motley Fool” investment advisory folks.

The writer did call precision agriculture “a budding field” which raises my eyebrows about his agriculture savvy. But irregardless, he recommends to investors they “should monitor Trimble (Nasdaq: TRMB) with great interest.”

I first became aware of Trimble when I started researching precision agriculture. This budding field involves the application of positioning technologies like GPS to farming. Trimble’s positioning solutions — which extend to construction, transportation, and other industries — are backed by over 900 patents. That intellectual property portfolio should support the company’s competitive position relative to other precision ag players likeRaven Industries (Nasdaq: RAVN) and privately held Ag Leader.

Demand for Trimble’s wares got socked this year along with other agricultural equipment suppliers like Lindsay(NYSE: LNN) and AGCO (NYSE: AGCO). The long-term outlook for this sector, especially in emerging markets like China, is nevertheless very strong.

And here’s the rest of the story.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

In our final installment of looking back at the top stories of 2009, here’s a list of newsworthy stories that featured new or updated products. I list the stories starting with the most current from December, working back to January of 2009. No ranking of importance is included…but feel free to post your comments about these products.

Lindsay Adds Remote Irrigation Pump Control

Trimble Adds Harvest Capabilities to Monitor

Ag Leader Welcomes Dealers To New Facility

Leica Offers Cost-Effective Lightbar Guidance

New RTK Module Receives Tower or Cell Signals

Topcon Launches On-The-Go Crop Nutrient Sensor

Six New Products From Ag Leader Technology

Raven Buys Interest in SST Software

Trimble Adds Modem To Enhance RTK Signal

Take Command of Planting With SureStop

New SMS Software From Ag Leader Technology

Deere Adds New AutoTrac Guidance Products

Trimble Expands Capabilities of FmX Display

Trimble Buys Farm Works Software

Trimble Acquires NTech and Greenseeker Technology

Deere Dealers To Offer Raven Products

Smart Nozzles Aid Precision Application

Raven Adds Planter and Sprayer Control

New GreenSeeker Precision Products To Save Fertilizer

Trimble and Tru Count Increase ROI

Technology Makes 120-Foot Planter Possible

Growers Learn More About APEX Software

RowSense Makes Sense

TeeJet Technologies has committed its corporate and financial support to the PrecisionAg Institute, the industry’s independent global forum dedicated to the sharing of precision agriculture practices, ideas, research, products, services and success stories. The PrecisionAg Institute is managed by the CropLife Media Group of Meister Media Worldwide.

“We joined the Institute to demonstrate our commitment to precision ag and contribute to its advancement,” said Rich Gould, Vice President of TeeJet Technologies. “In an environment of steadily rising input costs, growers are under great pressure to maximize efficiency and manage costs.  We feel that TeeJet Technologies can help growers meet these challenges. Our unique, rapidly expanding line of precision ag products is designed to help growers optimize productivity and minimize waste. It’s important that growers understand and embrace precision ag technology and capitalize on the many benefits it offers,” continued Gould.

TeeJet Technologies joins members AGCO Global Technologies, Ag Leader Technology, Dickey-john, Micro-Trak Systems, Inc., OmniStar, Raven Industries, Terra, SST Software, and Trimble Navigation in the Institute. In addition to financial support, TeeJet Technologies will be providing guidance and counsel as activities and initiatives move forward in the months ahead.

“By signing on as a Precision Partner, each one of these organizations has expressed a belief in and commitment to agriculture, and the critical importance that technology provides for improving yield, efficiency, and the bottom line for the crop production channel,” says K. Elliott Nowels, Institute Director. “We are excited and honored to have each company’s leadership and support as we move forward.”

In general, the past year in the world of precision agriculture has been one of consolidation among industry players. “We’ve really streamlined into 4 or 5 major players in precision ag,” says Matt Darr, Iowa State University Ag Engineer.

“Rather than a lot of companies that offer a segment of products, we’re getting down to a core set of companies offering full-service solutions—products for every type of ag operation,” he says

For example, Darr cites the recent Ag Leader and AutoFarm partnership. “And Trimble purchased numerous smaller precision ag companies to fill out their portfolio of products (like Farm Works software, NTech GreenSeeker and Tru Count).”

From a technology introduction standpoint, there haven’t been a whole lot of truly new products in 2009, according to Darr. “The largest growth segment of products has probably been in the area of CORS-compatible GPS equipment. Trimble, Topcon, AutoFarm—they all have CORS-based capabilities,” he adds.

Impact of CORS? There’s more and more grower interest. “I always tell growers that CORS isn’t going to provide a better RTK solution, as the accuracy of a single base solution is still governed by the distance to the base station, just like traditional RTK. What it does is bring coverage to every farmer in the state Iowa (and in other states that have CORS network),” Darr says.

It wasn’t but a couple years ago that it cost $50,000 for an RTK system—not even including the cost of auto-steer. Today, you can get a complete CORS auto-steer system in the tractor for $15,000 to $17,000.

Coming in 2010. Darr says we’ll continue to see expanded interest in CORS network products. “Auto-steer will continue its rapid adoption, because the efficiency, the savings and intrinsic benefits of less stress and greater productivity in the cab will drive sales.”

As the price of agricultural fertilizers begins to increase again, he sees an increased interest in nutrient management and variable-rate products. “There continues to be a need for real-time sensing of nutrients. These products—GreenSeeker (Trimble), OptRx (Ag Leader) and Crop Spec (Topcon)—are still very young in their developmental stages. These technologies have huge potential to make an impact on both the economic and environmental aspects of agriculture,” Darr says.

“The perpetual rising price of seed will continue rapid adoption of the DirectCommand AutoSwath-type products that provide pretty immediate payback on seed and chemical savings. A $300 bag of seed equals $120 per acre seed costs. An auto-steer system and planter unit control will save a minimum of 2 percent (not including possible variable-rate seeding savings), which equates to $2,400 per year over 1,000 acres,” he adds.

Big news this week in the world of precision agriculture. Ag Leader Technology not only launched new products, it announced a new alliance with AutoFarm.

This new collaboration brings together popular and successful precision farming products from Ag Leader with the latest embedded and integrated steering solutions from AutoFarm.

Yesterday, I caught up with company founder and President Al Myers to learn more about this partnership, and the continued innovation of products coming from Ag Leader…and from the combined collaboration strength with AutoFarm.

“Ag Leader has built its success over the years by being very innovative with leading-edge products that continue to make growers more efficient, productive and profitable,” Myers says. “By joining forces with AutoFarm, we see this as a win-win for the industry, and more importantly for our combined customers. Each company brings specific strengths, which will allow us to develop better product solutions quicker, to benefit the farmer.”

Herb Satterlee, CEO, Novariant-AutoFarm is also excited about this collaboration. “Ag Leader has a great reputation for innovative, high-quality precision agriculture hardware and software. We are known for our high-accuracy steering systems. Between our two companies, we plan to leverage our strengths and experience to offer the world’s most advanced and complete precision farming solutions to our dealers and customers.”

Here is a quick glimpse into the new products. More to come next week.

New Products.
1. New INTEGRA Display – This 12-inch, high-definition color touch-screen display is Ag Leader’s most complete, fourth generation system that combines year-around guidance, steering and operation controls. It’s touted as the ideal investment because it can handle the most basic manual lightbar tasks, to the most sophisticated variable-rate control tasks.

2. ParaDyme Advanced Automated Steering – This full-featured steering system, developed by AutoFarm, uses a dual-antenna roof module to track roll, pitch and yaw to deliver repeatable sub-inch accuracy. ParaDyme supports WAAS, OmniSTAR HP/XP and RTK differential correction signals for over 350 vehicle platforms.

3. OptRx Crop Sensor – Working with Holland Scientific, Ag Leader launches their on-to-go optical nitrogen sensor that works with their display to map and apply variable amounts to avoid excessive rates.

In addition to the recently released INTEGRA display and ParaDyme steering system, the two companies plan to collaborate on future projects.

“We’re definitely excited about the possibilities of future projects with the strength this cooperation brings,” Myers says.

Satterlee concurs, “This is the beginning of a new era in precision agriculture that will bring our end user customers more ways to reduce input costs, increase efficiency, improve their decision making and increase farm profitability.”

Stay tuned for more new product details next week.

Precision agriculture is more than just right source, right rate, right time and right place. It’s also about responsible conservation measures to help reduce nutrient and soil loss.

It’s anyones guess if the EPA will try to regulate farm field runoff. But irregardless of that, there are good programs in place now to help farmers pay for sound conservation practices that help reduce potential runoff.

The latest such initiative announced recently by the USDA-NRCS is a 12-state voluntary, incentive-based program to improve water quality in the Mississippi River Basin — heartily endorsed by the American Society of Agronomy (ASA).

“Clean water and profitable crop production are possible with deployment of crop production practices that have been developed by ASA members. The initiative will enable growers to put conservation practices into place on more acres. Our Certified Crop Advisers look forward to being able to work with producers to put the most appropriate practices into place for each field. Cleaner water and more sustainable production programs will result from this initiative,” says ASA President Mark Alley, Virginia Tech.

The USDA’s Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative provides a $320 million investment over four years to support programs in 12 states: Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin to help farmers voluntarily implement conservation practices which avoid, control, and trap nutrient runoff, improve wildlife habitat, and maintain agricultural productivity.

According to Alley, agricultural researchers are committed to developing sustainable conservation practices to decrease soil erosion and nutrient runoff. ASA’s Certified Crop Advisers are uniquely qualified to provide nutrient management recommendations to farmers.

The goal of the USDA initiative is to target resources in those watersheds that could have the largest impact on improving water quality in the basin and the Gulf of Mexico. The program will be implemented by USDA-NRCS using funding from the Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative and other Farm Bill Conservation Title programs.

The causes of and solutions to the Gulf of Mexico’s hypoxia zone/dead zone in the Mississippi River basin will be discussed at the ASA Annual Meeting, Nov. 1-5 in Pittsburgh. Events include a presentation by Clifford Snyder, International Plant Nutrition Institute on Nov. 2, and a lecture by Duke University’s Curtis Richardson on Nov. 3. For more information on these lectures or other presentations about hypoxia, please visit www.acsmeetings.org or call 608-268-4948 or email suttech@agronomy.org

For information about the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative, please visit: www.nrcs.usda.gov.

Check out this step-by-step guide to learn how this program works, and how you can implement it on your farm.

Top technology innovation awards were recently announced by an expert commission of the German Agricultural Society that organizes the largest international farm show, Agritechnica. Of the 300 innovations submitted, the committee selected five Gold Medals and 28 innovations for Silver Medals.

Gold Medal winners include forage harvesting auto fill from Claas and New Holland, a Claas interactive combine-setting assistant for different crops and harvest conditions, the world’s first cross-manufacturer (German companies) concepts for ISOBUS-compatible ag machinery to develop a terminal that is similar across machinery brands, and the John Deere Steer-by-Wire steering system that intervenes to improve driving safety and comfort.

Check out all the Gold and Silver Medal winners. This equipment will be on display during the Agritechnica show, November 10-14 in Hanover, Germany. Approximately 2,200 exhibitors from 45 countries will present their products at the show.