Precision Pays

If your neck, shoulders and back ache from constantly turning around to view what you’re pulling through the field, check out this farmer-developed AgCam system.

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.

Come August, John Deere Ag Management Solutions (AMS) and Raven plan to combine technologies and offer a broader suite of precision application control solutions to growers.

“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 technology of precision agriculture is becoming more affordable (precision pays!), easier to use, less cumbersome in the tractor cab and physically easier on the farmer (thanks to auto steer). That’s the message delivered by ag industry veteran Harold Reetz, president of the Foundation for Agronomic Research, in a recent story he penned for AgriNews.

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.”

Hats off to Adrian, Michigan Daily Telegram for helping the general public grasp how satellite-based GPS systems help farmers. And kudos to Tom Van Wagner, the local district USDA-NRCS conservationist, and to local growers for highlighting results from precision farming.

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?

A new tool to measure sustainability shows how precision technology and practices have helped improve the efficiency of U.S. farmers.

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

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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.

The latest in precision technology is on display at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, for both newbies and more seasoned users.

“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

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John Deere unveiled the largest planter in the industry at the 2009 National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville this week.

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

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With tighter margins and higher input costs, now is the time to implement the best management practices (BMPs) for fertilizer use, says Bill Herz, VP of Scientific Programs for The Fertilizer Institute.

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.”

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in Alabama has announced a new Precision Farming Incentive for farmers in that state.

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

Spraying orchards is a messy but necessary job. And if Cornell researchers succeed, a driverless tractor and sprayer could simplify the task.

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.

Readers of Meister Media’s PrecisionAg eNews chose John Deere RowSense combine guidance system as a top story in 2008.

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.

News of Missouri high-yield precision guru, Kip Cullers, hit the mainstream technology scene when featured in a recent story in Wired magazine.

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.