Precision Pays

MyWay RTK was launched in the Fall of 2010.  It’s a new RTK system engineered for the specific needs of agriculture – and designed so farmers can work with those most important in making their operation successful.   In this Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology we take a closer look at a technology neutral solution to help farmers receive their RTK corrections over the internet.  Sid Parks, is the precision agriculture manager for Growmark.  He says neither he nor Growmark has any ownership in MyWay RTK – they just think it’s a “good thing”. 

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Holiday season is rapidly approaching with just a few short weeks from Thanksgiving and only 55 days until Christmas.  We oftentimes forget about what it takes to get the food to our table.  In this Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology we sit down with Trenton Beemis, a Wisconsin cranberry farmer and recently the National FFA Organizations Proficiency Award winner in Fruit Production to examine just how that beautiful red fruit makes it from the bogs in Wisconsin (or any of the other bogs in the United States) to your holiday dinner table.

You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here.

How can we keep up with the technological advancements growers face in the field?  In this Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology we sit down with Katie Dierker, Division Marketing Manager with John Deere and find out what John Deere is doing to meet the increased demands of growers in the field.

This summer, John Deere had its biggest John Deere New Product Launch in its history.  One of their goals is to keep growers on the go in the field.  Dierker says they focused a lot on the front in of the combine.

You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here.

There are Android and iPhone apps for just about everything.  My friend, Jason Webster runs the Practical Farm Research for Beck‘s Hybrids in Downs, Ill.  In addition he farms, too.  Jason fully admits he doesn’t always practice what he used to preach about scouting fields during the growing season.  Because of that – he’s gone to a more sophisticated form of scouting.  One that he utilizes and with full conviction can explain to farmers why they should make the leap to incorporate that technology into their farming operations, too. 

In this month’s Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, Jason explains the future of finding problems in our fields. 

You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here. The Precision Pays Podcast is sponsored by Ag Leader Technology.

I love my TomTom.  I really am not sure what I would do without it.  I come from a small town in Central Illinois and I recently made a career move that took me to Indianapolis.  Tom is the best co-pilot a girl from small town USA that moved to the big city could hope to find.  He takes me turn by turn to my destination, coaxes me through wrong turns and rarely is he incorrect.  At this point, I can’t imagine my life without “him“. 

In this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we explore GPS technology.  If you’re like me – and rely on your GPS just to navigate the roadways – imagine how heavily some industries (like agriculture, airlines, railways and even the New York City Fire Department) rely on the accuracy and efficacy of GPS in their daily operations.  What would happen if we lost the ability to use it?  This month we sat down with Sid Parks, Manager of Precision Farming with GROWMARK, and learned about the Coalition to Save Our GPS, how we could potentially lose it and why this is something for us to monitor.

You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here. The Precision Pays Podcast is sponsored by Ag Leader Technology.

What problem cost growers the most during planting season?  In this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we’ll look at some of the challenges growers have faced this spring after Mother Nature’s temper tantrum and how the technological advancements in modern agriculture can benefit them.

I sat down with Sean Arians, Education Coordinator for Precision Planting, a company based in Tremont, Ill, about the wide variety of tools available to growers today.  One of the great things about today’s farming practices is the availability of these technologies.  Today’s technologies aren’t just for the big guys anymore.  Farmers can now choose their level of investment and can see their return on investment in a shorter period of time.

You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here.

In this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we’ll look at how some farmers are using their online time and the social media tools they’re using to make important purchases.

A recent survey by AgHaven showed that more farmers are spending more time online but are sometimes frustrated with the results. AgHaven President, Srik Soogoor says they’ve developed a website to help those producers who work on multi platforms. Soogoor says since they’re using these smart phones and iPads, farmers want access all the time.

Meanwhile, Paulsen Marketing looked at how people in rural areas were using the online community. Paulsen’s Alicia DeGeest says their white paper, entitled “Rural Lifestylers are Changing the Way They Research and Buy Products,” delved into what people in these areas were doing. She and her Paulsen colleague Sara Steever found that people identifying with the rural lifestyle were adopting new, online technologies at about the same rate as their non-rural counterparts. DeGeest says these rural consumers used online feedback to influence their buying decisions and even employed their connectivity right in the stores to help them decide what to purchase.

It’s a fascinating conversation, and you can hear more of it in the player below: Precision Pays Podcast

You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here.

In this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we hear about a new app that can help producers more precisely mix crop protection products.

Precision Laboratories, an agricultural chemical company, has developed, Mix Tank, an iPhone-based app that allows you to save custom tank mixes and share them via email, Twitter and Facebook.

You can hear more about how Precision Labs developed and continue to work on Mix Tank from the company’s Vice President Jim Reiss and Marketing Director Daniel Ori in this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast in the player below below. Precision Pays Podcast

You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here.

You can find out more about Mix Tank through the Precision Laboratories website.

In this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we hear from a panel that discussed how to maximize yields using precision ag techniques. David Waits, President and CEO, SST Software, was joined by Terry Griffin, Professor of Production Economics and Row-Crop Farm Management at the University of Arkansas and Bruce Erickson, Director of Cropping Systems Management at Purdue University at the recent GROWMARK FS GreenPlan Maximizing Yields seminar.

Waits says the biggest issue is the standardization of data.

“Until we do that, we’re all on a different basis, and we’re going to have trouble bringing very much of it together.”

Erickson, says precision agriculture is much different than when it started in the mid-1990s, with the biggest jump in technology in the guidance field. In fact, he says precision is really now the conventional way of farming.

“I can’t think of a full-time, commercial farmer who I work with right now who doesn’t use some type of precision farming.”

He adds that most of the benefit from precision ag has been in the form of lowering input costs and maximizing yields. But Griffin says we’re also seeing a benefit to farmers’ and their families’ overall qualities of life.

“Even if we ignore the economics, people are happier.” He says less stress and less fatigue that precision agriculture helps bring to the table are making real differences in people’s lives.

You can hear more of what the three had to say in this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast in the player below below. Precision Pays Podcast

You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here.

In this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we hear from three real farmers who have implemented precision agriculture techniques and equipment.

During the recent AGCONNECT Expo in Atlanta, farmers Doug Applegate, Bill Darrington and William Masteller talked about how each of them got involved in precision agriculture and why it is so important to them. Their comments came during the Successful Farming Innovations session entitled “Vision for 2020: Does Precision Farming Pay?”

Applegate, who farms near Oakland, Iowa, was a fairly early adopter of precision agriculture, putting the technology to work for him in 1996.

“It gave us a tool to keep track of where everything was planted, compare yields. Variety selection is very big on helping the cost effectiveness of using this equipment. That was our original payoff,” says Applegate.

Darrington, who didn’t come to the precision ag game until 2006, says he was waiting for the right system to come along that would help him farm the hilly terrain of Western Iowa.

“We end up with a lot of overlaps. You all know what it’s like when you’re planting 34,000 seeds, and you double that, you don’t have much yield in those areas.” Darrington says precision ag helps him prevent those types of duplications in seeding and fertilizing that don’t really help the overall yields.

South Dakota farmer Bill Masteller told the group that precision agriculture was a business decision for him to get the most out of his 1,500 acres of wheat, corn and soybeans.

“Farming is a business, of course. And they don’t exactly give land away or make more of it. So, since I have such a limited amount to work with, I have to be efficient as possible.”

All three farmers agree that good technical support is extremely valuable for them to get the most out of their precision agriculture operations.

You can hear more of what the three had to say in this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast in the player below below. Precision Pays Podcast

You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here.

In this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we talk to this podcast’s sponsor, Ag Leader and review what the company did in 2010 and what’s to come in 2011.

Ag Leader’s marketing manager Dave King says 2010 was a busy year for his company with the introduction of lots of new products, including the Integra displays, the ParaDyme and OnTrac2 steering systems, the OptRx crop sensor system, and the SMS software line.

While new gadgets and software are good, King says Ag Leader has not forgotten that customer service is key. That’s why they have the Blue Delta dealer program.

And coming in 2011, King says we’ll see improvements to the Integra display systems and expansions of the dealer and customer training programs, as well as some new features for Ag Leader’s SeedCommand and DirectCommand product lines and the expansion of the OptRx line for wheat growers.

He says if you’d like to find out more, just check out the company’s website, www.AgLeader.com, or go see a dealer in person or at one of the many farm trade shows Ag Leader will be attending in the coming year. A complete list of shows and dates is available on the Ag Leader website.

You can hear more about what Ag Leader did in the past year and what the company will be offering in 2011 in this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast in the player below below. Precision Pays Podcast

You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here.

In this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we look at the issue of being able to share data between different precision ag manufacturers’ equipment and software. It’s an issue recognized by the precision agriculture industry as a whole. Members of AgGateway, a consortium of ag businesses that helps the industry share information electronically in the agricultural and food supply chains, are taking the lead on how to solve the problem.

Kelby Kleinsasser, who is the director of Ag Information for Raven Industries and the chairman of the new Precision Agriculture Council at AgGateway, says that starting earlier this year, they wanted to find a way to share data in field operations and data transfer, while protecting the proprietary information each company brings to the table. The new council he chairs is now working on the issue and hopes to have a solution that will allow data to be shared between various companies’ programs and hardware, while keeping proprietary information protected.

“We’re not talking about open source. We’re talking about open standards,” Kleinsasser says. Intellectual property will be maintained.

Kleinsasser adds that they’re looking for input from other members of AgGateway so that the standards will best help producers farm and ranch most efficiently. You can follow updates on this subject on the AgGateway website.

You can hear you can hear more about what he has to say about setting the precision ag data standards in this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast in the player below below. Precision Pays Podcast

You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here.

In this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we take a look at a piece of software and iPhone and iPad application that is helping at least one manager of a herd of cattle be more precise.

Everyone wants to be more efficient in how they handle data. Whether you’re multi-national corporation or just a single podcaster, you need to have a way to manage the information you collect on your business, so you can apply the data that you’ve gathered to how you operate. Paul Nehring, the owner of NewGrass Farm near Wausau, Wisconsin found FileMaker, which is helping him manage his 40-head-a-year operation of grass-fed cattle and market that beef.

“There’s just a tremendous amount of data that we all like to keep, whether you’re doing crops or pasture or cattle,” Nehring says. He says the beauty of FileMaker is that it has applications for the iPhone that allow him to put in his information, right out there in the field. That saves him anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes of work at the end of each very long day, and over the course of a year, that could add up to a couple of weeks worth of work.

FileMaker’s Vice President of Marketing and Services Ryan Rosenberg describes as the “world’s easiest to use database for individuals and work groups,” and points out that while the software wasn’t specifically designed for agricultural purposes, it’s ability to handle data makes it ideally suited for those purposes.

“If you’re running a farm, how different are you really than someone manufacturing ice cream?” He says you have to keep track of raw materials, customers, workflow and products, as well as finances. All of that can be managed with FileMaker.

Rosenberg adds that since most folks in the world are not I-T experts, they’ve designed Filemaker to be easy for anyone to use.

More information is available at www.FileMaker.com.

You can hear you can hear more about what they both have to say about this precision tool in this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast it in the player below below. Precision Pays Podcast

You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here.

In this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we take a look at some of the precision technology on display at this year’s Farm Progress Show.

Show manager Matt Jungmann characterized as a bit soggy (four inches of rain on one night of the shows!) but overall successful demonstration of what America’s farmers are doing today. One of those exhibitors that was still able to make an impression on the crowds was our sponsor Ag Leader. Jeff Bentley, GPS Guidance and Steering Sales Manager for Ag Leader , showed off the company’s new GPS guidance and steering technology called ParaDyme, while Ag Leader’s Lucas James demonstrated the company’s SMS Technologies software.

You can hear what they have to say about their precision technologies and what it was like to be at this year’s Farm Progress Show in this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast it in the player below below. Precision Pays Podcast

You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here.

In this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we listen to an explanation of how precision agriculture sometimes actually misses the mark.

The whole idea of precision agriculture is being able to precisely place seeds, fertilizer, pesticides and any other applications in the exact right place at the exact right time in the exact right portion, right? Well, it’s not always that easy. And attendees at the recent International Conference on Precision Agriculture heard that sometimes you just have to realize that precision agriculture is not that precise.

Auburn University associate professor and extension specialist John Fulton held a session where he explained some of the limiting factors you have to consider when using precision practices. He explained you have to consider the actual physics involved to get the molecules of chemicals to the nozzle tip and how the speed the tractor is moving can affect the actual application.

His biggest advice to the audience was to slow down.

You can hear more of my conversation with Fulton in this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast it in the player below below. Precision Pays Podcast

You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here.