Precision Pays

As education coordinator for Precision Planting, Sean Arians has the opportunity to preach the message of how precision planting pays at farm shows like Farm Progress, demonstrating it live on-site.

“Everybody loves to see equipment moving,” Sean told Chuck Zimmerman during an interview at FPS. “We have a tractor running around on a sand track with eight different row units to compare performance of the meter and then we also have a 2020 Seed Sense monitor in the cab that allows us to communicate that information from the cab so everyone can see that around the track.”

Sean says help farmers maximize production and return on investment. “Technology is not a $5,000 investment anymore,” he said. “However, the end all benefit is usually a very quick pay back” in terms of input cost savings.

Sean is also an advocate for using technology for communications and was a beta tester for the new CropNAtion agricultural social network. “In today’s marketplace, it’s important to manage risk and part of that is having information at your fingertips,” he says. “CropNation allows farmers to get connected and find out what’s going on in various parts of the country. It provides a lot of opportunity for us to network and share ideas.”

Listen to or download Chuck’s interview with Sean here. Sean Arians with Precision Planting

2011 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

The new planted acreage report from USDA shows just how fast farmers can plant with the latest technology.

According to USDA, corn planted area for this year is now estimated at 92.3 million acres, up 5 percent from last year, and the second highest planted acreage in the United States since 1944, behind only the 93.5 million acres planted in 2007. Growers expect to harvest 84.9 million acres for grain, up 4 percent from last year.

“These numbers show that a spring delay in the northern hemisphere, even when severe, if producers get an opening they have the horsepower and technology to make up for it in a big way and on a very large scale,” said James Bower from Bower Trading during a market commentary conference call this morning from the Minneapolis Grain Exchange. “Particularly in Ohio and Indiana, we were really getting close to prevent plant, one or two more rains and that was it. But we had about a four day window in late May and with the horsepower and technology those farmers worked day and night – it was almost scary.”

Farmers in Ohio and Indiana planted 20-30 percent of their corn acreage the first week of June, and Ohio whipped through another 40% between June 5-12 so that essentially all of the corn nationwide was planted by June 12. Ohio had only 11% planted by May 23 compared to 87% the same time last year.

Wheat acres are also up five percent in the USDA report, but soybean acreage is down three percent.

More reliability, efficiency and control are what Raven Industries promises growers can get with the new OmniSeed Advanced Air Seeder Control System, just introduced this week.

“OmniSeed allows for variable rate technology, it’s a very scalable system with a lot of unique features on it that we think are going to be pretty popular in the air seeder market,” Raven’s Ryan Molitor said in an interview. The system consists of various components, including the Viper Pro Field Computer which Ryan says is the brains of the system, and Run Blockage powered by AgTron.

Ryan says the system is surprisingly simple to set up and easy to use. “And we have a vast dealer network throughout the world that is trained up and ready to service and support at point of sale and after,” he said.

Find out more about OmniSeed on the RavenPrecision.com website and listen to my interview with Ryan about the system here: Raven OmniSeed System

Raven Industries is a proud supporter of the Agwired app for iPhone and Droid. Don’t have it yet? Join the hundreds who do today and get Agwired, PrecisionPays, WorldDairyDiary and DomesticFuel news fast and easy on your smart phone! Click here.

Farmers know that planter skips and doubles are costly, especially given current grain prices. Fortunately some of today’s monitors can really help pinpoint when a specific row unit causes an error—and that information can lead to quicker and more efficient troubleshooting and repairs.

I spoke with Will Cannon today, SeedCommand product specialist with Ag Leader Technology, to learn about how their new Advanced Seed Monitoring technology can benefit farmers.

“There are two principle components above and beyond traditional seed monitoring—singulation detail and spacing quality—delivered by our Advanced Seed Monitoring capability. While the whole industry is headed towards advanced monitoring, what sets us apart is that our screens are visually simple and appealing, allowing growers to see problems with one quick glance at the screen.”

The first screen, planter performance, shows a large bar graph representing all planter rows. “Farmers can quickly assess population, seed singulation and seed spacing quality,” Cannon says. The second screen, row performance, shows a virtual seed trench. “This is an awesome diagnostic tool for a row that is giving you trouble. You can slow or pause, and zoom in or out, to help pick up on a pattern to help pinpoint issues,” he adds.

Issues with singulation that occur on a row unit usually indicate problems with the seed meter. If seed spacing quality is the problem, that could be caused by driving too fast or improper drop due to seed tube issues, Cannon says. “This technology really helps isolate different issues on a planter so a farmer can quickly determine the problem and the location.”

Current INTEGRA customers with SeedCommand and the Seed Tube Monitor Module can get this valuable update with no unlocking fees. And check out the video link below to actually view the technology.

Visit these links for more information:

Video Interview about Advanced Seed Monitoring
http://precisionpays.com/2011/02/ag-leader-releases-advanced-seed-monitoring/

Advanced Seed Monitoring
http://www.agleader.com/media-center/

Ag Leader dealer locator http://www.agleader.com/dealer-search/

You think it would be hard to make a great thing better, but Ag Leader Technology has done just that. This week, during the Iowa Power Farming Show, they announced a new update to their SeedCommand system – Advanced Seed Monitoring. This new monitoring system was designed to help growers eliminate yield robbing planter problems by monitoring key factors including seed meter singulation, skips and/or doubles, spacing quality, and population information.

The new technology was on demonstration during the show, and Mark Anderson, Territory Manager for Ag Leader talked to me about the product. It was a little cold and the concrete was a little hard to do any corn planting during the show, but I was still able to get a virtual tour of how the Advanced Seed Monitoring tool worked.

The technology was designed specifically for corn farmers to use on Ag Leader’s INTEGRA displays and when integrated with SeedCommand, is another precision ag technology that will help farmers increase yields and increase profits.

Anderson mentioned some additional features along with the ones mentioned above. These include:

• Virtual Seed Trench for a seed-by-seed view to assist in diagnosing problematic rows.

• Automatically determines and displays the rows operating at the lowest and highest levels for singulation and population.

• The new Advanced Seed Monitoring incorporates seed meter and placement details into SeedCommand’s row shutoff and planter-drive modules on one, easy to read and navigate screen.

Anderson said that growers were already really excited about the product at the show and once the word gets out, he expects high demand for the product. So, to ensure that all their growers get the update in time for planting, he encouraged them to order their Advanced Seed Monitoring tool as soon as possible. You can do just that by giving them a call at 515- 232-5363 or visiting their website at www.agleader.com.

And before you’re ready to apply nitrogen this growing season, check out their OptRx technology. Growers who used the technology last growing season, on average, improved their bushel per acre costs of $25.

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: .

Trimble offers a new Field-IQ system that controls and monitors seed and fertilizer delivery capabilities to enhance variable-rate functionality.

The Field-IQ system pairs seamlessly with the guidance capabilities of the Trimble FmX integrated display or CFX 750 touch screen display, which both run Trimble’s unique overlap detection technology. Farmers using the Field-IQ crop input control system for seed placement have reported average savings of 5-10 percent from reduced seed input costs and less waste.

Trimble’s Field-IQ system is compatible with a wide variety of crop and application equipment, providing monitoring for planters, air seeders for small grains, or granular strip till systems. Seed monitoring on row crop planting systems allows operators to obtain information related to how their seeding system is performing. This includes factors such as singulation, skips and multiples, and quality of spacing for an entire planter average or detail by individual row. For fertilizer, variable rate application capabilities can be driven by a prescription map or real-time with Trimble GreenSeeker sensors.

The Field-IQ system is easy to install on application equipment from a broad range of manufacturers, allowing farmers and custom applicators to use and enhance the performance capabilities of their existing equipment without having to start from scratch.

“The new Field-IQ enhancements optimize planter operation by delivering more accurate seed placement, giving the operators more confidence in their planting applications,” said Erik Arvesen, vice president and general manager of Trimble’s Agriculture Division. “With the addition of rate and application control for up to six different materials, the system now manages functions that span the entire growing season.”

The new seeding and multi-rate capabilities for the Field-IQ system are expected to be available in March 2011. Contact a local Trimble dealer at www.trimble.com/locator for more information.

Had the pleasure this week of talking to a great guy, George Ropp of RCMS Consulting, who is 74 years young and still helping farmers—use computer software, no less.

Ropp, of Van Wert, Ohio, decided to get into GPS work after retiring from the county extension service in the early 1990s. “I started grid soil sampling fields for the local elevator, and using the simple software we had back then,” he says. “As the years went on, seeing huge changes in software, I was unsure I would find the capabilities I needed, until I found Ag Leader’s SMS software about six or seven years ago.”

Not only did Ropp become a fan, he actually built a good consulting business by selling and training growers and retailers on using SMS Advanced, Basic and Mobile software. “I’ve probably sold 50 to 60 copies of the software, and some mobile devices and other equipment, too.”

Ropp takes great pride in helping his clients, often spending a half-day or more with software set up and initial training. “I want to make sure it is set up right, and that the customer is happy,” he says. Now he holds about 4 or 5 training session during winter to keep his customers updated and answer questions.

“More farmers and retailers are getting into variable-rate fertilizer applications and want a software that can handle the necessary equations and building prescription maps. SMS is really easy to use for such operations, and it is really driving software buying” he adds.

Other popular tasks that Ropp is training customers to do are adding layers of soil test data as well as adding soil type maps from NRCS. “I’ve actually created ‘cheat sheets’ on many of these topics, so I don’t have to repeat myself so often,” he laughs.

What’s next? “Well a vacation right now,” he says. But seriously, he sees growing interest in farmers thinking about adding aerial imagery to their field data layers. “I suspect in another year this will greatly increase in popularity.”

His clients greatly value his training expertise on SMS software. “Well, they must, because they keep calling me for advice,” he chuckles. “And I really appreciate the service I get from the software support team at Ag Leader, as even I get stuck every now and then. They are really helpful.”

Visit these links for more information:

SMS Basic http://www.agleader.com/products/sms-basic/

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

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

Ag Leader dealer locator http://www.agleader.com/dealer-search/

Don’t miss the upcoming February 9-10 NeATA conference in Grand Island, Neb., as it promises a technology extravaganza, along with other valuable topics such as precision Nitrogen management, social media, building consumer trust and much more.

The Nebraska Agricultural Technologies Association (NeATA), founded in 2001 by innovative Nebraska farmers, ranchers, agribusiness representatives and the University of Nebraska Extension, has compiled another great conference.

Need a technology makeover? How about using Nitrogen more wisely? Do you want to learn how to tell your story and share your values with consumers? How about learning a better way to select crop genetics? Check out the upcoming program, and book your trip now.

For Facebook users, find NeATA here and add them as a favorite.

The Alabama Precision Ag team has compiled three good publications on automatic section control (ASC) for sprayers, planters and spreaders.

Automatic section control (ASC) has been one of the most adopted precision ag technologies in recent years. This technology has the ability to save producers on input costs by minimizing application overlap at headlands, point rows, or other odd-shaped areas of fields. Our research suggests a 2% to nearly 30% savings in fields when using ASC and guidance technology. Further, ASC can improve on-farm environmental stewardship by eliminating application in environmentally sensitive areas (e.g. grassed waterways, buffer strips, etc) or outside field boundaries. Frequent comments by those who have adopted ASC is that they want to implement on all their application technology (sprayer, planter, side-dress unit, etc.) and it reduces fatigue over long work days by automating the on and off of sections.

To help producers and others interested in ASC, the Alabama Precision Ag Team has put together 3 publications providing a general overview of ASC, needed components, and company information for planters, sprayers and spinner spreaders. Many times the expense to purchase ASC for a machine is relatively small compared to the savings it provides on crop inputs. We hope this information can help those looking to purchase ASC during this off season. Please let us know if you have any questions or we can assist in anyway.

The following provides direct links to each of these publications.

ASC for Sprayers
ASC for Planters
ASC for Spreaders

For more information, please visit www.alabamaprecisionagonline.com.

Get a ‘virtual seed trench view’ with the new Advanced Seed Monitoring through Ag Leader’s SeedCommand system, run through their INTEGRA monitor.

Advanced Seed Monitoring provides planter performance monitoring of seed meter singulation, skips/doubles and spacing quality, along with population and spacing information for all rows when corn planting.

The INTEGRA display features a full-screen planter performance view that includes display items and bar graphs for population, singulation, skips/doubles and spacing quality. All of these features are available while the display is simultaneously performing guidance, mapping and autosteer functions.

“Growers looking to eliminate yield robbing planter problems such as poor seed spacing and singulation will find this system extremely valuable and easy to use. The INTEGRA display’s 12.1” screen provides the industry’s largest view of the performance of all rows. Problematic rows stand out with one glance at the screen,” says Roger Zielke, SeedCommand Product Manager. “A virtual seed trench view shows the placement of each seed of a problematic row to help determine if the problem is in the seed meter or seed tube.”

In addition, Advanced Seed Monitoring automatically determines and displays the rows operating at the highest and lowest levels for singulation and population. All of this functionality is joined with Ag Leader’s popular SeedCommand row shutoff and planter-drive modules on one screen. Existing INTEGRA and SeedCommand Seed Tube Monitor module owners can take advantage of Advanced Seed Monitoring with the February 2011 INTEGRA firmware update.

Take a look at a story in Indiana Prairie Farmer that selected ten different agricultural technologies of interest this year.

They listed:
- Raven Sling Shot system
- Connected Farm concept
- GSI Binspector
- Grain entrapment rescue tubes
- Votivo nematicide seed treatment
- SmartStax corn
- Agrisure Viptera trait
- Surveillance sunglasses
- Vertical till revolution
- Kixor herbicide technology

Read on to learn why.

GPS/GNSS drift, or how accurate your guidance system is over time, is explained in a new piece on www.AlabamaPrecisionAgOnline.com.

The Alabama Precision Agriculture Team discovered that some users of GPS/GNSS-based technologies were not optimizing the GPS/GNSS correction services for their particular field operations (e.g. using the WAAS correction service for planting). It is imperative to understand the different accuracies associated with GPS/GNSS correction services so one can maximize benefits of their precision ag technologies.

GPS/GNSS Drift
Upon returning to the field, a producer may notice discrepancy between what he/she knows to be the crop row where an AB line was previously established, and where the guidance device is suggesting the AB line is located. WAAS and sub-meter correction services may seem accurate during one field operation but be off-track when the operator returns to the field. This result is because there is typically large ambiguity between pass-to-pass accuracy and year-to-year accuracy or GPS drift.

 GPS/GNSS Drift / Year-To-Year Accuracy (Y2Y) / Long-term Accuracy: Drift can be defined as GPS/GNSS receiver (guidance system) accuracy over time. Causes of drift are changes in satellite configuration, operating near trees or other obstacles, and satellite data errors.

 Pass-to-Pass Accuracy (P2P): Represents the short-term (<15 min.) relative accuracy of a GPS/GNSS receiver but does not necessarily reflect long-term accuracy (which includes drift). One can think of this as the accuracy between adjacent, parallel passes made within 15 minutes of one another.

Since manufacturers typically report pass-to-pass accuracy, it is generally used for equipment purchasing decisions. However, this accuracy may not reveal how the guidance or GPS/GNSS-based system will perform relative to the last operation or over the course of time if previously established AB lines are re-used. This result is especially true when AB lines are established for planting and re-used for harvesting.

As mentioned above, GPS/GNSS drift is largely due to the changing GPS/GNSS satellite constellation patterns used by the guidance device to derive positional information. GPS/GNSS satellites are in continuous motion orbiting the earth twice per day in a repeated pattern. It is assumed that the GPS/GNSS satellite constellation and environmental conditions will not drastically change within a given 15 minute time span, thus derived positions using the same satellite constellation and environmental conditions will be closely correlated relative to each other. However, the GPS/GNSS satellite constellation and atmospheric conditions change over just short time periods resulting in different satellites in varying geometric configurations. Therefore, the magnitude of drift expressed by your device is dependent on the correction service used. Using WAAS, potential range of drift is plus or minus 4.7 feet. With sub-meter accuracy, it’s 2.3 ft.; with decimeter it’s 1.7 ft.; and with RTK it’s 1 inch.

Read on to learn solutions…

In the North Dakota Farm Business Management Program, coordinator Steve Metzger says producers are telling him they are using far less chemicals, saving money and the environment thanks to the tools of precision agriculture, according to a recent story in Farm & Ranch Guide.

“We talk to each producer that we work with, and they are the ones telling us that they sure use less chemicals on a field than they used to because of the (precision farming) technology they have,” he said. “I think from those discussions, most are figuring they are saving between 5 to 10 percent on a field with GPS technology.”

Metzger likes to mention the story of a farmer who has been enrolled in the Farm Business Management Program for several years. When ordering herbicide for his total crop acreage he always added five percent to what he had figured and ended up using the entire amount each year. However, the year he added a sprayer with GPS and boom control to his operation he took the entire extra five percent that he always ordered back to the chemical dealer because he didn’t need it.

With the average chemical cost for wheat today at $31.23 per acre, Metzger said there is the potential for great savings.

“If you start looking at saving $2 to $3 an acre on chemical on a couple thousand acres of wheat, it doesn’t take very long before the savings can add up to $5-, $10- or $20,000 on an average farm,” he said.

“And as the costs increase, there is even more of a desire to save all the time,” he continued. “If we didn’t have the GPS units we might still be over-applying by going around sloughs twice, doing the headlands twice – those types of things. But with the GPS and the automatic shutoff, those areas of over-application are taken care of.”

And the savings doesn’t end with chemicals. The five major costs associated with crop production–chemicals, fuel, repairs, seed and fertilizer–can all be trimmed back. Read on for more details.

Grower who want precision control of their air carts will soon be available from Ag Leader Technology to control seeding and granular fertilizer application.

This new functionality enables control of up to three channels of granular product or a combination of one channel of seed and two channels of granular product. The new Air Cart support provides the benefits of SeedCommand and DirectCommand to broad-acre seeding.

“Support for air carts for seeding and fertilizer application is something our growers have requested, and Ag Leader now provides a valuable precision farming tool for broad-acre operations,” says John Howard, Product Manager. “The calibration enhancements, meter prime feature and support for meter circuit clutches provide benefits such as AutoSwath, data logging and mapping and variable-rate seeding or fertilizer application for these operations.”

Additional features of the air cart support include tables for referencing stored meter calibration values to reduce the chance of error; variable rate control by product for more efficient use of inputs; support for bin level and fan speed sensors; and an automatic meter shut off option if fan speed falls below a minimum setting. The air cart support is available with Ag Leader’s INTEGRA display.

If your farm operation needs precision farming equipment that can help manage water, check out the new Trimble AG GCS200 system.

Specifically designed for land leveling and drainage applications, it works in conjunction with a laser transmitter to provide automatic machine control of implements such as scrapers and drainage machines, helping farmers to manage water on their fields regardless of crop type or water requirements.

The system is ideal for implements with PT valves, and can use either dual rigid mast control, or single electric mast control. Key components include the LR410 laser receiver and the new CB60 control box, providing a digital elevation display that can be used in both survey and control modes.

The CB60 control box delivers greater flexibility than its predecessors with configuration options for both surveying and grading. Owners of existing control systems can use the CB60 box as a drop-in replacement product, so customers with existing P.A. Laser Grade Control systems do not need any new cables or components.

The AG GCS200 system and the CB60 control box are compatible with English or Metric units and can be used with several types of laser controlled water management and field-leveling products.

“Drainage and leveling professionals have experienced that through the use of laser-guided leveling and drainage equipment, they can substantially improve productivity and accuracy as well as provide the grower with increased crop yields,” said Erik Arvesen, vice president and general manager for Trimble’s Agriculture Division. “Now, the AG GCS200 makes it easier to keep laser-leveling equipment operational and productive on scraper and drainage type implements in the field.”

The AG GCS200 system and the CB60 control box are available now. Contact a local Trimble dealer at: www.trimble.com/locator for more information.