It talks about the rapid adoption of auto steer due to payback, the big generational shift going on, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to survey crops, yield monitors and maps, variable-rate applications and much more.

It also mentions environmental challenges and talks some about sustainability, handling those topics in a fair manner.

Read it, and pass it along to your town and city friends. The more educating we do with the general public, the better!

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.

“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.”

Here are the research projects that the magazine chose:
1. Sahara Forest Project — Greenhouses using seawater and solar power to grow cash crops in the desert.
2. Soil sensors — Research at Iowa State University into wireless soil sensors that may help farmers use water, fertilizer and other inputs more efficiently.
3. Improved rice — Researchers hope to turn this staple crop into a super rice that grows faster in warmer and drier climates by transforming its photosynthesis process.
4. Replace fertilizer — Michigan State researchers attempt to replace/reduce commercial fertilizer use with microbes. They are currently field testing microbial cocktails (Bio-Soil Enhancers) that can simultaneously reduce the need for phosphorous and nitrogen, protect plants against pathogens and boost yields in virtually any type of crop.
5. HarvestChoice — The Gates Foundation is funding data compilation of Africa’s agricultural systems and land use to increase yields to feed the growing continent.
6. Satellite soil moisture — NASA and USDA are working to monitor soil moisture levels around the globe to hopefully improve crop forecasting.
7. Robot labor — The challenge of American specialty crop growers finding human labor is increasing difficult. Current research using robots with a variety of sensors will help machines scan for fungus, growth rate, soil moisture, humidity, light levels and more. But cost of such technology is the current challenge.
8. Rebuilding soil — Scientists hope to turn waste into a charcoal that, when applied to degraded unproductive soil, will attract microorganisms to help plants access nutrients, hold more water and lock in carbon. Companies are working on portable machines to produce biochar on-site.
9. Make supercrops — Research is bioenginering the African staple crop cassava root to turn it into the PowerBar of the vegetable world. They’re attempting to increase protein, add vitamins, increase shelf life, add virus resistance and eliminate cyanide-producing toxins in the root.

The images, referred to as the Cropland Data Layer (CDL), identify geospatial crop locations in three U.S. regions: the Mid-Atlantic and, for the first time, the Southwest and Southeast.

The CDL information is a useful tool for projects ranging from monitoring crop rotational patterns, land use change and environmental modeling, to water resource and carbon emission management. Agribusinesses and farmers, as well as government, researchers and academic institutions, use the CDLs to study pesticide risk, epidemiology, transportation, fertilizer usage and potential, market data analysis and carbon dioxide fluxes.

The Mid-Atlantic region is the largest CDL and covers Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. The Southwest region CDL includes Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming, while the Southeast region CDL is comprised of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee.

NASS produced the CDLs using satellite images observed at 56 meter (0.775 acre) resolution and collected from the Resourcesat-1 Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS), Landsat Thematic Mapper and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The collection of images was then categorized using on-the-ground information including field location, crop type, land cover, elevation, tree canopy and urban infrastructure.

The entire inventory of CDL products, including metadata and accuracy assessments, is available online at the USDA National Resource Conservation Service’s Geospatial Data Gateway and the NASS Website.

Nebraska Corn Kernels blog features a good post on the coverage, with links to the video and story.

He made many good points about farming and agriculture – and noted that many folks don’t know where their food comes from and Twitter and other social media tools are a great way to reach out and tell that story.

Plus, the technology gives him a way to have conversations all day long – with friends thousands of miles away. He also noted that farmers are doing a lot more today with less.

Since his story appeared on CNN, Tucker’s ‘followers’ on Twitter grew from about 470 to 830 – and it’s still growing. (The nearest town has a population of less than 200!)

“Technology has reduced the amount of herbicides and pesticides needed, requiring less energy per bushel produced, thus reducing our carbon footprint.”

That was one of many precision farming efficiency messages delivered by Rob Korff last week at a United Nations food security meeting. Korff, Missouri family farmer and chairman of the National Corn Growers Association Biotechnology Working Group, explained how technology has made corn production more efficient and stabilized yields.

Advances in GPS, and precision agriculture also minimize overlap and over application of inputs, fertilizers and chemicals, reduces fuel usage and saves time.  These practices have helped us produce a more secure, abundant, affordable rood supply with less impact on the environment.

In fact, if you view trend line yield increases since biotechnology has been more widely implemented, you will notice famers have reduced the energy and inputs used in production.  Additionally, only 13 percent of our corn is irrigated and farming practices such as no and minimal till save large amounts of water and soil.  The U.S. relies on rain water for 87 percent of our corn production.  Long term trend lines also project harvesting at 10.74 tons/hectare by 2020 while the 12 year trend line projects 11.5 tons/hectare by 2020 – an increase of 24 million metric tons per year tied to yield enhancing biotech traits.

According to the National Center for Food and Agriculture Policy, the use of biotechnology reduced the use of pesticides by 110 million pounds in 2006.

By utilizing these advancements in technology, farmers are able to meet the growing demands of not just the U.S. but the world.  Despite adverse weather conditions last year, the U.S. had a 1.6 billion bushel carryout with ample supply for food, feed and fuel.

I believe biotech has been fully tested and is safe for consumption.  It is allowing farmers to produce a more secure, abundant and affordable food supply.

As education and awareness spread, technology, and more specifically, biotechnology will be the answer to feeding our rapidly expanding world population.

High returns: Collector T. Soundiah inspecting a field of brinjal, raised under precision farming at Mangalam in Tiruchi district. Photo by M. Moorthy, courtesy of The Hindu

Part of India’s National Agriculture Development Program (NADP) promotes a precision farming technique that is gaining popularity, according to a recent story in India’s national newspaper, The Hindu.

Over the past two years, precision farming techniques have been promoted in 900 hectares across the district in various crops including sugarcane, maize, brinjal, tomato, onion, tapioca, sunflower and groundnut.

With installation of drip irrigation system and fertigation (for application of soluble fertilizers) units being essential requirements, farmers could avail a 50 per cent subsidy for the equipment. A farmer could avail a maximum subsidy of Rs.65,000 a hectare, including the cent per cent subsidy of Rs.25,000 for soluble fertilizer, said Collector T. Soundiah, after inspecting some of the precision farming fields in the district on Tuesday.

The higher yield achieved through the drip irrigation systems and fertigation, under which the soluble fertilizer was applied through the drip irrigation system, has been an attraction for farmers.

“This is the first time we have taken up cultivation of brinjal and the results has been encouraging so far,” said A. Ramasamy, who along with his brother A. Easwaran, has raised the vegetable in two acres at Mangalam village in the drought-prone Thathaiyengarpet union. Mr. Ramasamy, who has grown two different hybrid varieties, even takes the longer variety to the Salem Uzhavar Sandhai where such brinjals find a better market.

A cluster-based approach was also being promoted under the scheme, so that small farmers in villages could come together to avail the subsidy given under the NADP in clusters of 20 hectares each. Farmers could achieve up to 50 per cent increase in yield by adopting precision farming techniques, according to S. Robert Vincent, Deputy Director of Horticulture.

Responding to the request of some farmers, Mr. Soundiah said the district administration would take steps to get subsidy for installing solar-powered fences around their fields. Farmers could come forward to avail the subsidy for purchase of refrigerated vehicles, under the National Horticulture Mission, for transporting their produce, he said.

While controversy surrounds this bill on several fronts–from lack of offset inclusion for agriculture to larger energy costs being pushed back to consumers–North Dakota farmer and National Farmers Union (NFU) president sees farmer benefits in cap and trade.

In a recent Wichita Eagle story, Johnson thinks farmers should be allowed to sell greenhouse-gas offsets to help pay for input costs that he says will be driven up by proposed climate change legislation.

We want farmers to have an income opportunity out of cap and trade,” said Johnson, whose group has approximately 250,000 members nationally, including about 7,500 in Kansas.

Johnson said farmers will need the additional income because more emission control devices will cause fuel and fertilizer prices to increase, which will push up ag input costs.

But Johnson is concerned about the Waxman-Markey bill, climate change legislation under review by House committees that would establish this country’s first mandatory cap-and-trade regulations.

As the bill stands now, there is no provision for agriculture to sell offsets.

He said it’s important that the U.S. Department of Agriculture — and not the Environmental Protection Agency — regulate ag offsets because the USDA has done the most scientific research on ag greenhouse emissions.

As proposed in the bill, companies that emit more than 25,000 tons of greenhouse gases per year would fall under cap-and-trade regulations. Very large manufacturers and energy companies most often fall into that category.

Johnson said it has been estimated that 30 to 50 percent of the nation’s economy will come from industries that will fall under the cap regulations.

With perhaps the exception of about 30 very large feedlots, agriculture is not part of that group, said Chuck Rice, a Kansas State University soil microbiologist and an expert on cap and trade.

The first of these solutions combines fertilizer and seed section control from Raven with patent-pending seeder technology from Seed Hawk. Known as Sectional Control Technology(TM), this system will virtually eliminate costly seed and fertilizer overlaps automatically for the customer.

“By working together, our two companies can provide seeding solutions faster and more effectively,” says Pat Beaujot, President of Seed Hawk. “We can take advantage of expertise and existing products from both companies and offer better products that deliver significant value to our customers.”

Matt Burkhart, General Manager of Applied Technology Division at Raven Industries, adds, “This new collaboration further demonstrates Raven’s commitment to expand its product line into seeding and planting applications.”

This system will be offered through Seed Hawk dealers starting this fall, and both companies plan to offer more solutions in the future. “With a good working agreement in place, our companies can share ideas freely, which will lead to faster solutions,” Beaujot explains.

Farmer of the year is Robert Blair, who is not your typical dryland Idaho farmer. While his passions rank family and farming first, he is also staunchly dedicated to promoting precision ag for the betterment of all farmers.

In addition to farming 1,500 acres of wheat, peas, lentils, garbanzos, alfalfa and cows, he taught the precision ag lab at the University of Idaho during the 2008 fall semester and has also started a precision ag business called PineCreek Precision. The company is centered on Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) – small, autopilot-controlled planes (less than 20 pounds) that can be used to gather imagery. Blair, the first farmer in the United States to own and fly a UAS on his own farmland, decided to make a prototype airframe in 2008. Today he is a national leader in the promotion of UAS for agriculture, and is the first person in the U.S. to file a petition to the FAA for commercial use. Not even Boeing, Lockheed, or other aircraft businesses or organizations had done that. He has traveled on his own dime to Washington, D.C. to try to make commercial UAS rules that are sensible for end users. He has spoken around the country at different venues on UAS use in ag.

Robert is a board member of the Idaho Grain Producers Association, Lewiston Chamber Ag Committee, U of I/WSU Legume Virus Project, Idaho Farm Bureau LASR Committee, Nez Perce County Farm Bureau President, CEO Coalition on Transportation member, Governor Otter’s Kitchen Cabinet (Advisory Group), IGPA Alliance for Rail Competition National Representative, and taught the precision ag lab at the University of Idaho.

He is helping the University of Idaho to expand its precision ag program and is also promoting agriculture by doing TV interviews for a new farm program in our area. His leadership and ability to bring things together are excellent and promotion of ag and precision ag is at the front of everything he does.

Robert hosts a precision ag field day each year and 2009 will be the third. His on-farm experiments with fertilizer, varieties, and different equipment has opened the eyes of many farmers in the area to the benefits of precision ag. Besides the economic benefits, he emphasizes the environmental stewardship aspects precision ag brings. He touts the benefits of precision ag records for proving environmentally safe tillage, application, and record keeping.

Check out the other recipients of 2009 PrecisionAg Awards of Excellence.

Trimble expands its precision agriculture solutions offering by acquiring NTech, a leading provider of crop-sensing technology GreenSeeker and WeedSeeker.

NTech products use optical sensing and variable rate application to apply only the inputs needed to maximize crop yield. The GreenSeeker nitrogen application system determines the health of a plant in real time and delivers the optimum amount of nitrogen. The WeedSeeker automatic spot-spray system senses the presence of living plants, allowing targeted and controlled herbicide application.

The systems are typically utilized with Global Positioning System (GPS) solutions and flow and application control products, both of which are supported by Trimble’s precision agricultural portfolio of products.

“Trimble’s focus is to provide complete agriculture solutions – from machine guidance and automated steering to application control. The acquisition of NTech gives Trimble customers even more ways to save on fertilizer and herbicide costs while reducing their impact on the environment,” said Erik Arvesen, vice president and general manager for Trimble’s Agriculture Division. “By applying the right amount of inputs for optimum plant growth, farmers can manage for maximum efficiency and avoid over-applying fertilizer or herbicide.”

“GreenSeeker and WeedSeeker solutions are breakthroughs for variable rate application. Our technology offers farmers innovative solutions to help control fertilizer and crop protection products, which ultimately drive costs,” said Ted Mayfield, NTech’s chief operating officer. “We are excited to join Trimble and believe that our combined technologies will provide farmers with enhanced solutions to more efficiently manage control applications in the field.”

Chuck Pope uses global positioning software in the cab of his tractor as a guide as he plants thousands of acres of corn in Walworth, Rock and Jefferson counties in Wisconsin.

The equipment isn’t new, but it’s becoming more common as farmers look for ways to cut costs.

As Pope rounds the corner in a field, a little image of a tractor lines up with a pre-programmed line on a computer monitor in the cab of his John Deere.

He hits a switch and lowers the 90-foot-wide planter. He flips a switch on the back of the steering column, and the tractor takes over, steering itself and following the GPS line up the field.

It’s not a brand new concept to use data tracking software and Global Positioning Systems to maximize crop yields. Pope’s been doing it for 10 years.

Precision planting shaves 2 to 3 percent off Pope’s seed costs. That adds up to savings of $8,000 to $15,000 per year, he said.

If you’ve heard news about potential failure of satellites in the GPS constellation by 2010…the sky is not falling and it’s not time to panic.

Is there concern? Yes. A study just released by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) shows that the Air Force (which maintains the system) and suppliers have not lived up to their promises of replacing satellites—which have an operational life of about 7.5 years.

If new satellites are not deployed on a more timely basis, there is an increased likelihood that the overall GPS constellation could fall below the number of satellites required (24) for proper function.

What does that mean for agricultural uses? Precision Pays talked to sources at Trimble who stated that there is concern, but it will likely cause only potential degradation of the free WAAS signal.

Trimble expressed confidence in the GPS satellites, and stated they are preparing for the future by incorporating signals from other systems. Their AgGPS 442 receiver (with the new AgGPS FmX Integrated display) can receive signals from the Russian version of the US GPS, known as GLONASS. This system isn’t as developed yet as the US system–currently containing 18 satellites–but it is predicted to increase to 30 satellites by 2011, according to the Russian space agency Roscosmos. While the current 18 satellites are not enough to be an effective system by itself yet (minimum of 24 needed), adding those extra satellites can make a significant difference in uptime for anyone who can reference both the US and Russian systems with one receiver, according to Trimble.

As more countries add their own navigational systems (like the Compass system being developed by the Chinese Aerospace Industry—which Trimble is a 50-50 partner), Trimble predicts there will be a shift in thinking. It will shift from exclusively US GPS to thinking GNSS (global Navigation Satellite System), which includes GPS, GLONASS, Compass and several additional satellite constellations being developed in the EU (Galileo) and Japan (QZSS).

BREAKING NEWS…
If you are a Twitter member, the Air Force (who tweets at AFSpace) conducted a tweet forum Q&A session on this issue yesterday (May 20) and just posted a transcript this morning. Bottom line from the conversation is that the Air Force “has plans to mitigate risk and prevent a gap in coverage,” and it’s very unlikely that a user will notice any difference in GPS accuracy. Currently there are 30+ satellites in orbit, and they plan to launch another in August and one in early 2010. “Going below 24 (satellites) won’t happen,” stated Col. Dave Buckman, AFSPC command lead for Position, Navigation and Timing.

What could happen if the GPS falls below the needed 24 satellites? Check out this piece by GPS World magazine.

“It takes a lot of the stress out of planting,” Verell told Monsanto Today. “We can cover more ground and work at night a lot easier because we don’t have to worry about seeing our markers.”

Since GPS-derived agriculture products were introduced in the late-1990’s many farmers have been adopting the technology because of the benefits—improved efficiency, higher yields and better environmental stewardship.

Improved Efficiency

In the past, farmers would have to overlap their rows to prevent missing parts of their field. Now, with GPS-enabled auto-steer, growers don’t have to worry about human error in applications.

“Ten years ago we used a 20-foot planter,” Verell said. “Now we’re using 40-foot planters, farming the same 20-acre fields that we did 10 years ago. We used to have to overlap at least five feet with the 20-foot planter. Now, with the 40-foot planter, we are able to reduce overlap to a matter of inches. That really helps us be more efficient.”

GPS also allows farmers to apply fertilizers at variable rates based on soil test data collected from the fields in previous years. The data is loaded into an onboard computer that maps out the field and automatically drops fertilizer only where it is needed. With this technology, farmers can manage their fields spatially rather than on a whole-field basis.

“Variable-rating is a big cost saver for us,” Verell said. “Since we started variable-rating our fertilizer, we’re saving anywhere from $20 to $30 an acre just on our [potassium and phosphate]. And with nitrogen we just try to level out the field and make everything uniform.”

The technology is also available to allow farmers to fine-tune application rates on seed and chemicals in the same way. “We take a few years of yield data and then write a prescription for each field,” Verell said. “We’ll place higher seed rates where the water holding capacity is higher. Once you start increasing seed in those areas you’ll start pulling out extra bushel per seed. The numbers start adding up really quick. That’s when the technology starts paying for itself.”

Environmental Stewardship

Precision farming has significant impacts well beyond the individual farm. For example, more efficient use of chemicals and fertilizers means less runoff.

“With auto-steer on the sprayer we’re minimizing the amount we’re spraying on our field borders,” Verell said. “The new technology makes it easy for us to keep track of what chemicals we’re spraying. We’re able to see what we sprayed and on what day. If we are ever asked for our records, we can just print it off.”

Check out this story, some planting updates and other pieces on agriculture at Monsanto Today.

Dakota Micro partnered together with AGCO to sell AgCam, the most comprehensive, user friendly and versatile rear view and monitoring system available. AgCam offers a complete camera system, which consists of a camera, monitor, remote, and cables. Each product may also be ordered separately.

AgCam is commonly used on larger machines such as combines, sprayers, and hay balers. The Massey Ferguson 9005 series, Gleaner A and R series, and Challenger 600B series now have the ability to plug the AgCam camera and cables directly into the factory installed monitor – now achieving a reliable monitoring system is that much easier, just plug and go.

Easy-to-install, built to withstand an ag environment, the ability to be easily moved from one application to another, and can be used day or night, AgCam’s possibilities are endless. AgCam products can be ordered through any AGCO Parts dealer. To locate a dealer nearest you, visit www.AGCOCorpDealers.com.

And if you want to learn about other uses for this system, check out these grower and producer testimonials.

As traditional advertisers continue to move more media dollars to the web to improve customer targeting and ROI, they’re also using social media—such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter—to reach innovators and early technology adopters.

While social media is still in its infancy, more and more people and companies are experimenting with various tools to capture customer conversations and conversions to gain information, sales, interaction and more.

I did a quick search on Twitter to see if I could find some precision agriculture companies, and I found Raven Industries and Topcon (Please send me your link if you know of other companies on Twitter).

Raven is using Twitter to direct ‘followers’ to view videos on their website, to talk about product benefits, to listen to interviews from company personnel, and more. Topcon is doing similar product and company news and promos.

Who knew 140 character messages could help people educate, promote, interact among many groups of people from across the globe. And for the curious, stop by AgChat every Tuesday from 8-10pm EDT to read ‘tweets’ from a broad cross section of agriculture, and consumers, too, who wants to voice their opinions. It’s fascinating and fun.

“We’re targeting this August to combine technologies from John Deere and Raven. We’ll be able to offer an expanded line of universal solutions to customers through our John Deere dealer network,” says Nick Block, business development manager for John Deere Ag Management Solutions.

Now customers in the U.S., Canada, and Australia will be able to purchase select Raven application control products at John Deere dealerships.

Matt Burkhart, general manager for Raven’s Applied Technology Division, says customers will ultimately be the biggest beneficiaries of the agreement.

“Both companies share a common focus to provide customers with market-leading, innovative products, plus offer exceptional support for those products,” Burkhart says. “By offering Raven products through John Deere dealerships, we can reach more customers with compatible solutions that help them improve their farming operations,” he adds.

“These complementary products will enhance both of our companies’ positions in providing precision ag solutions,” Deere’s Block explains.

The risks of over-applying and under-yielding combine to put pressure on the manager to make better decisions. Through precision farming, growers can leverage their knowledge of their fields to maximize return on inputs.

Using soil test data to decide where the fertilizer dollar offers the highest return and using row-control planting equipment to minimize seed waste are just two of the benefits of the technologies available to today’s farmer.

Precision ag is making progress onto more and more crop production acres because its ease of use has progressed along with the technology.

More farmers can afford it. Not just in terms of dollars for the system, but the changes make the time investment to learn the systems and put them to work much more affordable.

The payoff from precision ag comes from making the right decisions on all acres of your farm, maximizing economic return. Today’s precision ag software and hardware work harder than ever allowing you to work smarter.

Check out The Foundation for Agronomic Research. And if you haven’t started making that investment in precision farming, it’s never too late to start, because precision pays for a lifetime.

Hats off to PrecisionAg magazine and its owner, Meister Media Worldwide, for giving away precision farming equipment to growers for the past 14 years!

The following lucky growers will soon be putting these new precision tools to work–which they won at the recent Commodity Classic in Grapevine, TX.

• David Farmer, D.F. Ranches, El Nido, CA – InSight Display from Ag Leader.
• Jeff Tate, Tate Farms, Meridiaville, AL – UC4+ Spray Height Controller from NORAC.
• Heather Mohr, Mohr Farms, Burnside, IL – DGPS Subscription from OmniStar.
• Brenton Peters, L & S Peters Farms, Bringhurst, IN – DGPS Subscription from OmniStar.
• Ray Becker, T-R Farms, Lancaster, KS – DGPS Subscription from OmniStar.
• Keith Fuller, Fuller Fertilizer, Sutter, IL – The ACCU-RATE Controller from Rawson Control Systems.
• Jeff Filinger, Cuba, KS – Centerline 230BP from TeeJet.
• Rod Gillen, Muller Farms, Boswell, IN – EZ-Guide 250 from Trimble.

“It’s certainly a thrill to bring the PrecisionAg Giveaway program to agriculture, and it really fits our mission to make precision technology understandable and accessible,” says Paul Schrimpf, group editor of the CropLife Media Group’s PrecisionAg branded media, including PrecisionAg Special Reports, the PrecisionAg Buyer’s Guide and PrecisionAg.com. “For 14 years, leading precision technology companies have participated in the Giveaway program, giving the winners an opportunity to discover the benefits of precision agriculture products and practices. We congratulate the winners and wish them the best as they integrate these products into their operations.”

As Van Wagner was quoted…“Agriculture is big business,” he said. “We sometimes read about agriculture and how (farmers) are polluting and causing all these problems. But farmers are stewards of the soil. They have to be concerned about erosion and water quality.”

Local grower Blain Baker made the same statement that I’ve been saying for years about investing in technology…“Prices (for commodities) were up last year, so we thought it’d be a good time to get some new technology,” he said. Blain also talked about efficiencies with their planter and fertilizer application.

One of the devices he uses is a GPS-based automatic shutoff system that turns the planter on and off depending on where the field has already been planted. Avoiding double-planting saves on seed costs, which is important at the best of times and especially critical given the way the price of corn seed has shot up. “It‘s gone from $100 a bag to $300 a bag in three years,” Baker said. Plus, by making sure there aren’t too many plants in one place, yield is improved.

The Bakers also use an automatic clutch system that uses grid sampling to improve fertilizer application. The field is sampled in 2.5-acre grids, the soil is tested in each grid, and the “prescription” for fertilizer is input into a computer. The rate of application varies according to what’s needed in each location.

“Say on a 40-acre field, you put 6,000 pounds (of fertilizer) on,” Baker said. “But when you grid-sample, you might have put 2,000 pounds on.”

And how did Baker respond when asked about the investment in all these tools of precision agriculture. “We feel pretty comfortable we’re getting our money back. The payback is pretty quick,” he said.

Have you thought about educating the local media at your farm to help them and their consumer readers grasp the value of technology and stewardship on today’s farm?

The Fieldprint Calculator was introduced last week at the Commodity Classic by Field to Market, The Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture.

“I do have to say that I like this tool for many reasons,” said Doug Goehring, who grows corn, soybeans and wheat in North Dakota. “First and foremost, it demonstrates how U.S. ag production measures up when it comes to sustainability. In some respects, we’re probably at the top of the game globally.”

“It’s amazing,” Goehring says. “Just looking at technology – we have variable rate seeding, variable rate fertilizer application, variable rate chemical application, we have GPS, new tools and equipment being designed that are much more efficient in the field.”

“When you look at our industry overall in the United States, for what we produce and the amount of energy that we consume to do that, we are very responsible,” said Goehring.

The Fieldprint Calculator was developed with input from a diverse group of grower organizations, agribusinesses, food companies, economists and conservation groups, to help farmers evaluate natural resource use on their operation compared to industry averages. These measures could help improve production efficiencies and profit potential.

The calculator will be available at www.fieldtomarket.org beginning March 15 for grower testing and feedback.

Listen to Doug’s comments at Commodity Classic here: cc09-goehring.mp3

from USDA-NRCS

It’s great to see more federal research, especially in the often neglected crop of wheat, to help growers understand why yields can vary greatly across 80 acres.

As precision farming tools continue to tell us, such in-field yield variation has to do with the soil–its physical, chemical and biological characteristics. Thanks to cooperation between USDA-NRCS and M&M Cooperative in Sterling, Colo., dryland wheat growers will gain further understanding into the best ways to apply precision agriculture.

The Sterling Journal Advocate reports how technologies can improve over-application. The high cost of fertilizer and environmental concerns, stemming from fertilizer over-application, are prompting many farmers to look for ways to maximize return on their fertilizer dollars. Today, new technologies are available that allow us to identify and respond to spatial variations in soil: Global Positioning Systems, Geographic Information Systems and variable rate applicators. Unfortunately, our knowledge of the best ways to apply these technologies is lacking.

M & M Cooperative has been instrumental in planning, funding, and implementing research to investigate soil electrical conductivity (EC) as a basis foridentifying management zones — areas within a field that are similar in soil characteristics and production potential. Field maps of EC can be made easily and economically by integrating GPS and GIS technologies with commercially-available EC sensors, such as the Veris Sensor Cart (Veris Technologies, Salina, Kan.).

Farmers in the central great plains will benefit from learning optimal N-rates for different EC management zones with regard to yields, conservation and grain quality.

“On one hand we have new products for operators who have yet to get into precision ag,” says Kim Fletcher with John Deere Ag Management Solutions told me. “We came out with an entry level manual guidance system for parallel tracking. We came out with the StarFire 300 receiver, which is a WAAS only GPS receiver that can provide 13 inch pass-to-pass accuracy. And to pair that, we came out with a GreenStar Lightbar.”

For more advanced system users, Kim says they have new products for them as well. “We came out with a GS2 Rate Controller Multi-Product, which can control multiple products or multiple operations at once.”

Another product is Auto-Trac Row Sense. “We fused together data from mechanical row feelers on the corn head along with Auto-Trac GPS guidance to create one of the most accurate, most responsive corn harvesting guidance systems in the industry today,” Kim said.

Kim says they are getting more and more converts to precision every year because it really does save growers time and money. Check out some of the John Deere new products on-line here.

Listen to an interview with Kim here nfms09-jd-kim.mp3

See more photos here: NFMS 09 Photo Album

Rob Rippchen, division marketing manager at John Deere seed in Moline, IL says the DB120 “next generation” 120 foot planter is generating a lot of interest at the show. “There’s kind of a ‘wow’ factor,” said Rob. “It’s so wide it can’t even unfold all the way in our booth.” But he says the outer four row units fold over on each end so it is still the same transport width as the DB90 and just about six foot longer in transport length.

“Not only is the planter wide, it’s high-tech,” Rob explains. “You’ll notice that there are no markers on it, most growers are using auto-steer or auto-trac to guide their planters so that allowed us to eliminate the need for markers. But, in addition to that, Row Command – our individual row unit clutch on-off system – is standard on this planter. So, as you come to a point row or do an area of field that you’ve already planted, it shuts the row unit off so that you don’t over-populate in that area of the field.”

The planter will plant somewhere between 90 and 100 acres an hour. John Deere will have a limited number of the new planters running in the fields this spring and will start taking orders for the big boy this summer.

Listen to an interview with Rob here nfms09-jd-rob.mp3

Watch Rob explain some of the DB120 features here:

See more photos here: NFMS 09 Photo Album

Herz, who spoke at the recent Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association convention, promoted technology adoption–as reported by Farmweek. He urged farmers and fertilizer applicators to use available tools — such as precision agriculture, variable rate technology, soil testing, and on-farm strip trials — to ensure optimal fertilizer application rates.

An advisory board to the Environmental Protection Agency recently called for a 25 percent increase in nitrogen efficiency in row-crop systems, Herz reported.

He called on members of the fertilizer industry and farmers to act now before regulations are implemented later.

“We need to show we’re willing to do the right thing voluntarily or mandatory systems will be imposed on us,” Herz said. “We need to promote BMPs to make sure we’re using nutrients as efficiently as possible.”

The Precision Farming Incentive is designed to encourage the adoption of variable-rate application of nutrients and pesticides and promote the use of GPS-enabled precision agricultural technology and equipment. The goals of the Precision Farming Incentive include improving water quality by targeting areas for reduced nutrient and pesticide application, reducing runoff and leaching of pesticides, enhancing soil quality through reduced erosion and soil compaction and energy conservation through accurate and efficient application of crop inputs.

A poster promotion for the incentive reads: “Want to save money? Want to reduce input costs for nutrient and pesticide management? Want to reduce the risks of these entering streams? New precision farming technology is proving that it can be done.”

The program is available this year to producers in 22 Alabama counties. Read more about it here.

Listen to a story about the program here from Julie McPeak with Southeast Agnet:
02-05-09 Precision Farming Incentive.mp3

This fruit tree sprayer, fitted with sensors to determine location and height of trees, is part of a $3.9 million USDA-funded project at Cornell–in collaboration with the National Robotics Engineering Center at Carnegie Mellon University. The objective is to develop, test and evaluate a fleet of autonomous tractors designed for precision agriculture applications–and John Deere is delivering four tractors for testing at Southern Gardens Citrus in Florida.

Goals for the project include developing tree-level precision agriculture applications that leverage, at very low cost, autonomous mobile platforms and supporting infrastructure; reducing the cost for wide-scale adoption; and soliciting feedback from growers, regulators and technology suppliers. The researchers will also study such questions as how disease detection, yield estimation and precision spraying can be most effectively deployed from the mobile platform; how many platforms one operator can safely monitor and what the installation, setup and support issues are associated with the system.

Stay turned to Precision Pays as we explore more robotics work, being undertaken at John Deere, with an eye toward the future of automation.

Now is a good time to analyze your planting and harvesting operation to understand how precision technology can pay over the long haul. We have covered numerous stories on RowSense, a precision combine guidance tool that is helping farmers harvest every bushel using auto guidance, even in down corn. And for auto guidance in planting, RowCommand is definitely worth checking out, as more and more growers are saving seed input costs by not overplanting on headlands, point rows and into waterways. Don’t forget to check into sprayer efficiency while you’re at it, as Swath Control Pro technology is saving valuable herbicide dollars by reducing overlap.

Check out these other Top 10 stories from 2008. And make sure you come back regularly to Precision Pays, as we continue to provide you with precision technology news that pays.

Wired, known for covering everything techie (but rarely agriculture) in an off-the-wall style, offered an interesting look at Kip, calling him a “genius in the science of yield, and some argue a frontline warrior in the burgeoning global food crisis.”

The piece cited his 155 bushel soybean and 329 bushel corn yields as evidence–along with his “open-source” penchant for sharing knowledge with peers during field days.

And while you’re at it, check out the magazine’s November 2008 issue with its cover story on “The Future of Food: How Science Will Solve the Next Global Crisis.” Very interesting piece.