Precision Pays

Precision agriculture is playing a much larger role in helping potato growers become more sustainable, according to a recent story in Spudman.

Bruce Crapo, a grower of 6,000 acres of commercial potatoes and 2,000 acres of seed potatoes in Idaho, is a good example of how the average potato farmer looks at precision agriculture – he uses technology to reduce costs, increase output and improve profits.

Crapo isn’t thrilled at the cost of high-tech equipment such as GPS-guided tractors, but he knows it’s saving him money and there’s no way he can turn back now.

“There is a substantial initial cost involved,” Crapo said. “But I also know it is saving me money. What do you do? Go back to what you were doing before? That’s not an option.”

Crapo, who uses Global Positioning System (GPS) technology on all his planters and harvesters, said the latest precision ag technology has taken farming to a different level.

“It’s light years ahead of what it was when we were doing it by hand,” he said. “We’re not going to go back to not using it, but we are wincing a little at the cost.”

Precision agriculture can loosely be defined as using new technologies such as GPS, sensors, variable rate application equipment and aerial or satellite images to make farming easier and more profitable.

Simply put, precision agriculture can help farmers improve their margins by decreasing their operating costs.

Idaho farmer Robert Blair, owner of PineCreek Precision, says the biggest benefit of precision farming is that it gives producers the ability to manage their farm on a production zone basis rather than a whole field basis. This shift, he said, allows farmers to save time and money and helps them offset the rising cost of chemicals, nutrients, fuel and fertilizer.

Blair uses a wide array of precision agriculture techniques on his 1,500-acre farm and said the technology is saving him tens of thousands of dollars every year.

Read on to learn more…

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.

Set sail for Tampa, Fla., March 3-5, 2011 to attend the annual gathering of soybean, corn, wheat and sorghum growers at the 2011 Commodity Classic. Sign up before January 20 and save bushels of value on your registration fees.

This year’s Commodity Classic will feature high-energy discussions at more than 30 educational sessions. Explore a trade show floor packed with the latest products and technology. Hear views on the state of the industry, as well as spend an entertaining evening with the music of Little River Band.

Check out the brochure for all the details and visit the website for registration and more.

Who has time to read the Owner’s Manual anymore? Well, there are the winter months for some who care to take on that light and fun reading task. If not, check out this information that Auburn University has compiled — some good info sources on their Precision Ag Blog.

German company RapidEye, the only geospatial solutions provider to own and operate a constellation of five identical Earth Observation satellites, announced today that over a period of just three months, 95% of the contiguous United States has been imaged. Almost 80% of this imagery was captured by the RapidEye satellites with less than ten percent cloud cover.

The campaign, which began May 1 and was completed on July 31, produced an abundance of imagery with many areas covered multiple times. Not only the United States was covered; 97% of Mexico was collected and almost 60% of Canada. Many areas were imaged more than once over this three month span and totaled 17 Million square kilometers of North America. All of this imagery is currently available for purchase in the RapidEye Library.

The company also has released a success story with the French precision farming company S2Bvisio about how RapidEye has delivered nitrogen fertilization maps for canola and wheat fields for the customer. You will find details about this project at http://www.rapideye.de/upload/documents/References/Customer_Reference_S2B_08_06_2009_ENG.pdf.

RapidEye images the Earth in unparalleled quantities and will continue to make its satellite imagery available through its Library, which can be searched either through a local distributor or directly through its Customer Service department. To find a distributor visit the RapidEye website at www.rapideye.de/distributors. Additionally, a selection of RapidEye products can be searched for, purchased and immediately downloaded through the RapidEye Geodata Kiosk at www.geodatakiosk.com.

Are you navigating your precision agriculture technologies and using data to their fullest extent? A new three-day program offered by University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension, Precision Agriculture Practicum, is designed to help participants gain practical experience using their own field data in hands-on exercises. And you’ll have the opportunity to network with each other while collaborating on team projects.

Who should attend?
- Farmer operators wishing to get more return on their precision ag dollar investment.
- Crop consultants and industry agronomists who desire to provide more accurate information and better service to their customers.
- Corporate industry and government agency personnel needing to know and understand the technology being used in today’s production agriculture.
- Precision ag instructors.

The inaugural Late Season Session is scheduled for August 31 through September 2 at the UNL Ag Research & Development Center near Mead, Neb. Curriculum includes:
• Introduction to equipment used at UNL’s Agricultural
Research and Development Center and site-specific
management capacity; introduction to case study
fields
• Entry points to GPS auto-guidance, yield monitoring
progressing to yield mapping, Google Earth, aerial
imagery, county soil survey, Web Soil Survey, recordkeeping
• GPS principles
• Yield monitoring/mapping principles; data filtering
• Variable rate technology and control systems
optimizing autosteer and swath control.
• On-the-go soil sensing
• Collection of active crop canopy sensor data
• Develop N recommendations
• Aerial and satellite imagery
• Group exercises

Winter Session is scheduled for December 2010, with date and location yet to be determined.

Learn more at http://ardc.unl.edu/precisionagpracticum/

Enrollment is limited so act soon!

Making your farm more efficient, more profitable, more sustainable are all critical precision goals. But what about your ultimate customer, the consumer? Do they believe you are as precise with your fertilizer, manure, herbicides, animal care as you believe you are? In this age of rural and consumer disconnect, isn’t communications with your ultimate customers just as important on your chore list as precise variable-rate crop feeding? If you don’t, will they be more inclined to push more regulation, or reduce subsidies?

To this end, I’m sharing a story written by Michele Payn-Knoper, who is building and training a wonderful coalition of farmers who want to speak out and help their cause. To help reconnect rural and consumer. I hope her words stir you to join a most worthwhile effort… for your livelihood.

Mindset Matters: How will you agvocate?

Are you adept at adapting? Are your reacting or reaching out? Are you living in 2010 or 1990? Being adept at reaching out in 2010 looks very different than it did in 1990 (the pre-internet era) . As is the case in any revolution, this means exciting opportunities exist. I believe the 460 million people on Facebook and 50 million tweets per day translate to agriculture’s chance to engage.

Many people reference their birthdate when opportunities around social media are brought up. Let me share a bit of a reality check; thought leadership doesn’t come with a birthyear – nor does the proper mindset to leverage tools that just make sense for farms and ranches.

If you are a person who’s adept at adapting and have reached out to build a community to be an “agvocate”, it may be time to move your skillsets to the next level. Perhaps you have a Facebook, but you’re not sure how to fully use it to share your farm story. Or, you’re on Twitter and have found it interesting, but don’t really “get it.” There’s been a conference designed just for farmers and ranchers who are ready to move up the technology mindset ladder. The AgChat Foundation just announced an”Agvocacy 2.0 Training Conference in Chicago on August 30-31. The program includes agriculture’s best and brightest in social media, with the training set in a variety of learning formats for 50 selected people. Core areas of interest include:

• Bridging basic communications with social media
• Community Building for Twitter and Facebook
• Extending your community beyond ag
• Creating effective content for YouTube and blogs

Read the rest of this post…

UC Davis has prepared a great all-day workshop on Site-Specific Management to help increase widespread adoption of this valuable tool. It will be held July 14 in the UC Davis conference center (the day before Weed Day). Here’s a look at the program:

Workshop Goal: Present and discuss SSM concepts and applied research in order to provide the audience with a comprehensive understanding of how to identify and manage within-field variability to improve crop management.

Target Audience: Soils and crop management professionals, including UCCE Farm Advisors and Specialists, Pest Control Advisors, Certified Crop Advisers, Growers and others having an interest in improving their knowledge of SSM techniques.

Session I (8:30 AM to Noon) - Theory of SSM: Overview of concepts and techniques used to identify and manage within-field variability, Jose P. Molin, Biosystems Engineering, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Integrating geospatial technology with agronomic practices, GPS/GIS overview, methods for detecting soil and crop variability, use of sensors and yield monitors, creation of maps and variable rate input recommendations.

Noon to 1:00 PM – Lunch break

Session II (1:00 to 5:00 PM) - Applied research findings and examples illustrating the practical benefits of this technology

• Use of Precision Agriculture in the West - Rob Mikkelsen, Director, Western North America IPNI

• Site-specific methods for reclaiming salt-affected soil using electrical conductivity; and Use of Remote sensing on cotton fields for irrigation management, planning defoliation and its relationship with cotton growth and yield. Richard E. Plant, Department of Plant Sciences, UC Davis

• Site-specific nutrient management in California orchards – identifying almond yield and fertility variability and its implication on fertility management. Patrick Brown, Department of Plant Sciences, UC Davis

3:00 to 3:15 PM – Break

• Site-specific herbicide applications based on weed maps provide effective control. Tom Lanini, Department of Plant Sciences, UC Davis

• Site-specific management at Bowles Farming Company – Cannon Michael, Vice President Bowles Farming Company

• Knowledge Acquired, Intelligence Applied: Tomorrow’s Technology for Today’s Crops – Jason Ellsworth, Regional Technology Specialist, Wilbur-Ellis Company

5:00 PM – Adjourn

Please contact Andre Biscaro for details: asbiscaro@ucdavis.edu  (661) 974-8825

Click here to register: http://ucanr.org/sites/paica/Registration/

Click here for flier: http://ucanr.org/sites/paica/files/13632.pdf

Good precision agriculture information can be found at the Auburn University Cooperative Extension System Precision Ag website. A current publication deals with GPS/GNSS related terminology. From their Precision Ag Blog…

Ever wonder what GNSS, CMR or CORS stands for? Or what a datum or repeater really is? The world of GPS and Precision Agriculture often abounds with confusing terminology and acronyms, especially for those who don’t live there. A new publication is available on the Alabama Precision Ag website defining common GPS/GNSS (see what I mean?) terms, acronyms and components. Check out the new publication GPS/GNSS Related Terminology at http://www.aces.edu/anr/precisionag/GPS.php.

Written by Amy Winstead, Regional Extension Agent for Precision Agriculture, Alabama Cooperative Extension System. For more information visit www.alabamaprecisionagonline.com

I have not met a grower involved in precision agriculture that doesn’t love, no crave, more information on the subject. To this end, check out the very good Precision Ag Blog, compiled and written by various extension pros in the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

Recent blog posts talk about variable rate (VR) seeding, VR calibration, data management, data collection with cellular modems, the value of on-the-go nitrogen sensors, firmware upgrades and much more.

The blog site also categorizes posts into topics to help you sort for exactly the info you seek.

More and more innovative agricultural companies are expanding their communications efforts into social media — from Facebook fan pages and YouTube video pages to Twitter accounts and company blogs — in an effort to further improve dialogue between customers and prospects.

Ag Leader Technology kicked off a company blog this past week called Precision Point. And within the first post, the company also provides links to their Twitter, Facebook and YouTube pages.

“The reality is social media is the way people are communicating today. These platforms allow us not only to inform and educate, but to have a conversation with those interested in precision farming technology,” says Dave King, Marketing Manager. “We can connect with Ag Leader customers around the globe, but also others in the ag industry as well as those who know nothing about precision agriculture.”

Precision Point, found at www.agleader.com/blog, will offer readers a wide variety of topics and precision ag information. The company will share insights into popular questions on getting started in precision technology, trends in the industry as well as international precision ag use.

“Social media adoption can be compared to the adoption of automated steering technology – warp speed. We felt this step was necessary to stay close to our customers as well as continue the precision ag education and innovation process,” continues King. “Not only will the precision ag user benefit from this, but so will Ag Leader. We hope to learn from social media interaction, ultimately furthering the precision ag industry.”

If you are in the market for geospatial data, check out USDA’s Geospatial Data Gateway that “provides One Stop Shopping for natural resources or environmental data at anytime, from anywhere, to anyone.”

The latest must-have product in the geospatial shop is new satellite images depicting agricultural land cover across most of the nation for the 2009 crop year from the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).

The images, referred to as cropland data layers (CDL), are a useful tool for monitoring crop rotation patterns, land use changes, water resources and carbon emissions.

NASS produced the CDLs using satellite images observed at 56-meter (0.775 acres per pixel) 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 farm information including field location, crop type, land cover, elevation, tree canopy and urban infrastructure.

The images are currently available for 47 of the 48 contiguous states, all except Florida, which is still in process. Get them on either the Geospatial Data Gateway website or from the NASS Research and Development division.

Yesterday, I provided my list of the “Best of Precision Pays 2009″ for  January through June. Today’s list of stories runs from July through December. And tomorrow, look for the top product-related stories of the year.

I hope you continue to find value in the information provided. And, as always, we appreciate any and all comments from our readers.

Enjoy. And have a fun, safe and happy New Year’s Eve tonight.

July
Planter and Sprayer Controls Make Precision Farming Pay
InfoAg Speaker Promotes Fertilizer BMP Needs
Virtual Weather Technology Helps Agronomic Decisions
InfoAg Talk: Soil Management Zones Increase N Efficiency
InfoAg Talk: Understanding Nutrient Variability

August
Precision Farmers Cut Pesticide Use With Seed
Add Precision Farming Promotion To Your Chore List
Yield Monitors: Extreme Value in Precision Farming

September
Precision Farming: How To Grow Your Technology
Free Satellite Images Help Spot Field Problems
Variable Rate Precision Farming – The Next Big Thing
Precision Farming And Water Quality Efforts

October
The Power Of Harvest Data
Researchers Using GPS To Cut Erosion With Waterways
Precision Soil Sampling Made Easier
Harvest Data That Keeps On Giving
Talk Precision Farming With Your Seed Dealer
Can Precision Farming Cure World Hunger
GPS Accuracy – How Accurate Is Accurate

November
Think About Saving Seed Input Dollars In 2010

December
Precision Farming Adoption And Payback
Precision Agriculture Starts At The Soil Level
Precision Farming 2009 – What We Learned
Technology Helps Farmers Plant And Fertilize More Precisely

Case IH and Ritchie Implement teamed up with University of Wisconsin-Platteville (UWP) to benefit agricultural students and their studies of precision agriculture.

“Access to new Case IH agriculture equipment will be a tremendous asset to Pioneer Farm – the precision farming solutions will greatly increase the productivity of our operations,” says Phil Wyse, director of Pioneer Farm. “But more so than that, this partnership advances the mission of Pioneer Farm – to enhance the agricultural education experience for students on campus and for agriculturists throughout the surrounding communities. That’s what we’re really excited about.”

Pioneer Farm, the university’s 430-acre working farm, boasts some of the best soil in southwest Wisconsin. The gently rolling fields, managed with conservation in mind, rotate between corn, oats and alfalfa, and those crops help support the farm’s dairy, beef and swine enterprises. A combination of new Case IH tractors, hay tools, skid steers, tillage implements, a planter and a combine, delivered in early 2010 and each year thereafter, will be used in the farm’s day-to-day operations. The equipment allows students and farm visitors to see the productivity-enhancing benefits of Case IH equipment in real-world applications.

“With the support of Ritchie’s and Case IH, the UWP Pioneer Farm is able to make use of cutting-edge farming technology,” Wyse adds. “We applaud Ritchie Implement and Case IH for this valuable partnership.”

“Students and university researchers will get to see, run, test and learn all about the newest innovations in production agriculture first-hand,” explains Ron Ritchie, president of Ritchie Implement Inc., a Case IH dealer with locations in Barneveld, Cobb and Darlington, Wis. “Our goal is not only to broaden ag students’ educational experience and better prepare them for their farming careers, but also to enhance educational opportunities for active producers locally, regionally and across the state. We’re excited to be part of that important effort.”

As part of the agreement, Case IH product specialists will be available to support classroom instruction and participate in student clinics and shared community activities such as University Field Days with hands-on field demonstrations.

USDA crop analysts add another tool to their crop monitoring capability by approving DMCii as a remote sensing solutions provider.

DMCii was invited to supply satellite imagery to the Office of Global Analysis, USDA, Foreign Agricultural Service (OGA USDA FAS) because it provides a unique combination of technical advantages for agricultural monitoring. Firstly, its satellites provide 22m and 32m Ground Sample Distance (GSD) multi-spectral imagery with a large 650km swath width that is capable of monitoring large areas rapidly. Secondly, the company is able to acquire daily images of a given location by coordinating the multi-satellite DMC constellation. Finally, multispectral image data is ideal for monitoring crop growth and is delivered in a highly calibrated Landsat-compatible format for immediate use in crop monitoring applications. DMC data has long been in regular use by precision agriculture services in Europe, where the speed of acquisition, accuracy and very large image size are exactly what is needed for successful monitoring of critical crop growth stages across entire countries.

Bob Tetrault, USDA Satellite Imagery Archive Manager, commented, “The use of DMC satellite data allows the crop analysts to receive broad area, multi-temporal monitoring coverage which is critical in our operational global food security analysis.”

Dave Hodgson, Managing Director DMCii, added, “Our multi-satellite imaging service is ideal for frequent coverage and crop monitoring as the data is collected as large images and delivered in a highly calibrated Landsat-compatible format so applications don’t need to be reinvented.”

DMCii delivers highly calibrated ortho-rectified imagery that can be imported directly into GIS applications. It has delivered 32metre GSD multispectral imagery since the first DMC satellite launched in 2002. The recent launch of two new 22metre GSD satellites, UK-DMC2 and Deimos-1 has greatly increased the imaging capacity of the constellation and has also doubled the number of image pixels per hectare to boost the effectiveness of the system for monitoring agriculture.

By coordinating the constellation of satellites, DMCii covers vast areas within a very short space of time so that data shows the state of vegetation for a very specific period. For example, DMCii coordinated the imaging of 38 countries in Europe within tight time windows specified by each country. DMCii will provide a rapid delivery of data to OGA USDA FAS so that it can be used for rapid decision making during growth seasons.

Cross compatibility is another important consideration when using different satellite imagery. The multi-spectral imagers used on the DMC satellites provide exactly the same spectral bands as the Landsat bands 2, 3 and 4 (R, G, NIR). They are also specially designed to provide highly calibrated imagery, with negligible differences in radiometry between DMC satellites so that data can be combined seamlessly. The large size of DMC images saves considerable time and expense for end users, because they cover huge areas and reduce the need to process large numbers of datasets.