Auxins Could Help Crops Beat Heat and High Salinity

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Talia

The plant hormones called auxins are well-known for stimulating development of roots and other structures, and now University of Florida scientists have shown that auxins help plants cope with environmental stresses.

“Our findings show there’s a possibility of manipulating plant stress tolerance with auxins,” Rathinasabapathi said. “It may be possible to administer auxins to crops at critical stages of growth or possibly engineer new varieties that respond to auxins more efficiently.”

The study compared wild-type Arabidopsis thaliana plants with mutant specimens that weren’t able to transport auxins through their tissues effectively. When subjected to oxidative stress, salt and high temperatures, the wild-type plants fared better than the mutants.

Next, the team will investigate whether auxins could improve stress tolerance in rice plants. Rice is one of the world’s most widely consumed staple crops and is subject to heat and drought damage.

Farmers Field Test Monsanto FieldScripts

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Cindy

We first told you about Monsanto’s FieldScripts last fall at Farm Progress Show. Now we will be hearing much more from farmers using it on a trial basis in the field.

This planting season, more than 150 farmers in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Minnesota are trialing the first offering from Monsanto’s Integrated Farming SystemsSM (IFS) research platform – FieldScriptsSM. With FieldScripts planted on more than 8,300 acres in Illinois, Ground Breakers® farmers there are impressed with how FieldScripts revolutionizes variable rate planting.

FieldScripts integrates Monsanto’s understanding of hybrid performance with the data farmers provide about their individual fields to identify the best hybrids and provide a variable rate planting prescription for each field. The process is led by FieldScripts Certified Dealers, delivered through the FieldView® Plus app on the farmer’s iPad®, and executed with precision equipment on the planter.

Ground Breakers farmer Mark Sturtevant in Carroll County, Ill. has planted several fields with FieldScripts and is excited about bringing together Monsanto’s knowledge of hybrid performance in multiple yield environments with the latest planter technologies, “If we can harness this technology, we’ll be able to increase our yield and profit potential. We’re working to put the right seed, at the right amount, on every acre. FieldScripts is a step in the right direction for the industry.”

While many farmers own variable rate planters, there has not been a simple and accurate way to utilize them. Traditionally, variable rate seeding has been based on soil type or normalized yield, but these methods fall short of revealing the true picture of what is happening in the field or providing a means to plant accurately using that information.

FieldScripts allows the farmer to accurately plant a lower seeding rate in lower-yielding areas of the field, and a higher seeding rate at higher yielding areas of the field, maximizing the yield potential of every seed. Monsanto research has shown that FieldScripts delivers a 5-10 bushel per acre yield advantage across the field as a whole, as compared with fields not planted with FieldScripts. In 2014, Monsanto plans to launch FieldScripts that will be delivered to farmers through FieldScripts Certified DEKALB® seed dealers.

WineHawk Labs Becomes Precision Hawk

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Talia

Unmanned aerial systems and remote sensing company Winehawk Labs announced they will release a new model of their successful UAV platform in May of 2013 to coincide with company re-branding. The change in company name, from WineHawk Labs to Precision Hawk, reflects a change in focus from specifically viticulture to broader agriculture where there is a great need for precise data collection and cost-effective platforms for farmers and surveyors.

The new UAV model, the HawkEye Lancaster Mark III, has a fully integrated sensor suite that provides more flexibility in data collection than the previous model. The small and lightweight fixed-wing platform, weighing only three pounds and measuring three feet nose to tail, is completely autonomous, running on the ‘fly and forget’ method. The user-friendly platform allows users to walk out of their back door, toss the platform, wait for it to come back and instantly have the data transfer to a preferred software location. The hyper-intelligent sensors allow for the collection of data on anything from plant research to crop production and protection and account for the current weather conditions to ensure reliable and complete data.

Farm Safety App Could Save Lives

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Cindy

Save lives in a rollover? There’s an app for that.

Researchers at the University of Missouri have developed an application for smartphones that uses GPS systems to locate farmers who have rolled their tractors.

The app, called VRPETERS (Vehicle Rollover Prevention Education Training Emergency Reporting System), uses sensors and GPS capability built into smartphones that can detect rollovers. Once the app detects a rollover, it sends an automatic emergency e-mail and phone message with the coordinates of the accident location to family or emergency responders.

“The tractor is the main power source for field operations, and tractor rollover accidents have been killing people since the beginning of their use in agricultural production,” said Bulent Koc, assistant professor of agricultural systems management at MU and developer of the app. “More and more farmers are using their smartphones to monitor weather or calculate production inputs while operating machinery. Since they already have their phones with them, installing VRPETERS could help save lives.”

Data from the NIOSH show that one out of every 10 tractor operators will roll a tractor at least once. NIOSH also notes that only half of the 4.7 million tractors on U.S. farms have rollover protection. In order to minimize false alarm rollovers on the app, Koc and his research assistant Bo Liu designed a device that must be attached to the tractor. This device helps calculate the stability characteristics of the tractor and will provide a warning to the driver when the tractor approaches its rollover point.

Precision Pays Podcast: Adaptive nitrogen management

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Meghan

What if there was a way to know if too much nitrogen is applied one year or not enough the next year – before the application is ever made?

Cornell University professor of soil science Harold van Es says by utilizing adaptive nitrogen management they’re trying to account for the many factors that influence how much nitrogen a corn crop will actually need.

In this Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we’ll talk to Harold van Es of Cornell University about Adapt-N.

Precision Pays Podcast

You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here.

The Precision Pays Podcast is sponsored by Ag Leader Technology.

Opening up Global Ag Data Sharing

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Cindy

At the kickoff of the G8 Open Data for Agriculture conference this week, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a new virtual community to give increased public access to food, agriculture, and rural data.

“This new online community is a big step toward opening information for agriculture, making it public in useable formats,” said Vilsack. “This will increase the value of the investments U.S. taxpayers make in agricultural research, it will create a data ecosystem that will fuel economic growth, it will help drive that innovation to meet our global food challenge we all face.”

Vilsack explained that the virtual community for Food, Agriculture and Rural issue is located on the pre-existing data-sharing web site – www.data.gov – and it will now include data sets on topics such as agricultural research, or food and nutrition. Other G8 countries represented at the conference are also expected to make their ag data similarly available.

“Our hope is that the example that we set will encourage the nations that have been not as forthcoming to recognize it is in their best interest … to be part of this process,” Vilsack said.

While some countries like China are reluctant to share their data, World Bank Vice President Dr. Rachel Kyte noted that others suffer from data deficiencies. “Serious weaknesses in agricultural statistics persist,” said Kyte. “Only one in four African countries report basic crop production data.”

Vilsack pointed out that data “is among the most important commodities in agriculture” and sharing it openly increases its value. The Open Data Conference will continue through Tuesday, April 30.

Backup Today and Don’t Become an April Fool

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Chuck

Happy Easter which is falling on World Backup Day. Have you taken the pledge to back up your data?

The World Backup Day Pledge

I solemnly swear to backup my important documents and precious memories on March 31st. I will also tell my friends and family about World Backup Day – friends don’t let friends go without a backup.

It is very important that you should not only do this today but very regularly. With all the talk we’re hearing about “big data” keep in mind that is only useful if you have it. Catastrophes happen. Don’t let it happen to your data. Here at ZimmComm New Media, we are backup fanatics and archive the masters of all our photos, audio and video files.

I get asked about this quite a bit and have been meaning to write about it. World Backup Day reminded me to get it done.

Here’s our work flow for backing things up.

1. Local computer backups

Each of our computers has a local backup of all data. For our PC’s I have them automatically backup to our shared server. The server is a computer itself that resides on our office network system. We’re currently using an HP Home Server unit that has a capacity of about 4TB of data. Each computer is backed up weekly or in the case of a laptop, whenever it is connected to the network after being on a long road trip. The server has built in syncing software which allows us to create custom settings for each machine’s backup. You can use other software on your computer to sync straight to an external hard drive. I use a program called SyncBack for this.

For our Macs I use Time Machine, which is part of the Mac OSX operating system. Time Machine backs up to a small local hard drive. I have tried many of them and the most reliable seem to be Seagate external hard drives. I travel with one that holds up to 500GB of data. This small hard drive also serves as a great place to temporarily store photos/audio/video until I archive them which I’ll go into later.

Regardless which type of smart phone or tablet you’re using today, this local backup can play an important role with them, not just your computer itself. If you’re using an iPhone or iPad then make sure you sync with iTunes often to keep your device backed up. I can just about guarantee you’ll be glad you did. The same goes with your Android device or whatever you may be using.

2. Cloud computer backups

Besides this local backup we use BackBlaze to back up computer data regardless of being PC or Mac. It is less expensive than other options and very simple to use. Some of those other options include Apple’s iCloud, which I use for syncing all my Mac/iPhone/iPad data, Google Cloud Storage, Dropbox, which we use for sharing all kinds of files easily, and of course services like Carbonite. There are lots of choices for cloud backups today. Their benefits include the fact that your data can be available from anywhere, anytime, if you need it. Continue reading →

The ROI of Smart Machine Technology

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Chuck

Dr. Terry Kastens is an Emeritus Professor from Kansas State University. He’s back to farming now and spoke during a Learning Center Session at Commodity Classic sponsored by John Deere. The session topic was “Better Data, Better Decisions: the ROI of Smart Machine Technology.

One of the first points Dr. Karstens makes is that every new technology requires an investment. That provides an opportunity for larger farms who can spread their investment out over more acres, or units of production. This is why you would expect larger farms to adopt new technology quicker than smaller farms. He says that we can expect to see more consolidation in row crop farms analogous to what we’ve seen in the livestock industry.

Another point made in the presentation was that some technologies are adopted at a rapid rate and others at a much slower rate. In the precision ag sector an example of quick adoption is the use of yield monitors. But he says that making sense out of yield monitor data and actually varying rates of fertilizer as one example are being adopted much slower.

Listen to my interview with Dr. Kastens to hear more of his comments on this: Interview with Dr. Terry Kastens

Announcing the Winner of iPad mini Giveaway

Posted on March 16, 2013 by Melissa

The winner of our iPad mini Giveaway Contest has been picked via random selection and he is Nick Leibold of New Hampton, IA. Nick farms about 600 acres of corn and 400 acres of soybeans.

Cindy visited with Nick by phone to let him know about his winning and to learn a little bit about how precision pays for his family farming operation. He says he’s been using precision ag in his farming operation for about ten years now including auto steer, yield monitor and row shutoffs on his planter. He says, “On the planter I’ll do a split variety and that way when I harvest I know which variety is which and I can compare strips across the field. I use it a lot for variety selection.” He uses it to farm more efficiently.

When it comes to his new iPad mini he says his dealer says he can hook up an iPad to help him record the different varieties he’s planting and then take it out to the field later when he’s scouting and find spots where he has been.

Nick is also very involved with the Iowa Corn Growers serving on the Iowa Corn Promotion Board. It’s important to him to see that those corn checkoff dollars are being put to good use.

Listen to Cindy visit with Nick here: Interview with Nick Leibold

Thank you to everyone who has entered our contest. The iPad has become an increasingly useful tool for precision farming today. More and more apps are being developed to utilize this mobile technology and we hope Nick will find the iPad mini a great addition to his toolbox!

What do you think of our first contest? Want to see more product giveaways? Chime in using comments and let us know.

Be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more precision ag information.

Trimble Connects Farms, Regardless of Brand

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Jamie Johansen

Technology allows farmers to do what they do and do it well. Commodity Classic is the place to share what’s new in the technology world and Trimble was there to do just that.

During the event I spoke with Southern Region Distribution Manager for Trimble, Brad Rouse. He pointed out that Trimble’s early technology was in steering, but has evolved into much more. The message they still share with growers is they can interface with any vehicle, regardless of brand and make them more efficient.

“Connected Farm is our big push right now to allow the grower to move data to machine, back to the office. Whether it be from any kind of field application, such as variable rate planting or prescription maps. So, to be able to wirelessly move that data around from machine to office is our focus right now.”

Many growers who passed through the Trimble booth wanted to know how their software would work with equipment they currently had on their farms and what the biggest advantage would be.

“The big advantage is to reduce the inputs, which is very expensive today and impacts the bottom line in a positive way.”

Listen to my interview with Brad here: Interview with Brad Rouse

2013 Commodity Classic Photo Album

See How Propane Pays on the Farm

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Cindy

The Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) is revving up the 2013 Commodity Classic trade show in Orlando this week with powerful irrigation engines that can help producers save money, meet their emissions reduction goals, and become less dependent on imported oil.

PERC will display new propane-fueled engines for irrigation and register producers for more than $4,000 in propane equipment incentives through the Propane Farm Incentive Program. Producers visiting PERC at booth 938 during the trade show can also participate in PERC’s “Land the Grand” promotion for a chance to win $1,000 or a new propane gas grill.

New research shows that propane-fueled irrigation engines cost up to 14 percent less to purchase and operate than diesel models. Propane fuel burns cleaner and more efficiently than traditional fuels, decreasing deposits on engine components and reducing toxic greenhouse gas emissions by up to 24 percent compared with diesel.

Farmers interested in powerful and efficient new propane-fueled irrigation engines can check out the Ford 6.8-liter industrial propane engine from Engine Distributors Inc. at the booth and apply for an incentive to purchase one.

The Propane Farm Incentive Program, sponsored by PERC, lowers the initial cost of purchasing a new EPA-certified propane-fueled irrigation engine, offering producers a $400 incentive per liter of engine displacement up to 10.3 liters, or $4,120. As part of the research and demonstration initiative, eligible farmers report on performance data for at least one season. Feedback from the program helps inform future product development.

Precision Planting Introduces the vDrive

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Talia

Precision Planting introduces the vDrive, a new electric drive system for use with 20/20 SeedSense and vSet meters.

According to Stoller, the vDrive replaces existing clutches, hydraulic motors and chains or cable drives. Instead, an electric drive controls each row individually, as needed, for more precise planting. Chain or cable maintenance is eliminated.

SeedSense draws on GPS, radar and gyro inputs to accurately calculate each row’s velocity. The vDrive Module (VDM) in the dust and moisture sealed motor assembly includes an encoder and closed loop control to maintain accurate population for each row in each foot of the field.

Sync Data with New FieldView Plus

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Talia

The new FieldView™ Plus service from Precision Planting allows producers to sync data between multiple planters, combines, computers and additional iPads. In addition, it provides safe and secure file back-up.

According to Doug Sauder, Product Manager, “Using Amazon Web Services (AWS), we built the PrecisionCloud that connects all of your iPads, SeedSense displays and planters to the cloud. This makes it simple for users to sync their information across multiple iPads, to share it with their partners, to store it securely, and to see and understand its implications across their entire operation.”

FieldView Plus makes it easy to share coverage files between tractors. It transfers FieldScripts and allows fast downloads of 20/20 files to a desktop computer or to share with partners. FieldView Plus also automatically backs up the user’s 20/20 and FieldView data. FieldView Plus automatically syncs field pins, field map data and client farm field lists so that data is the same on every device.

Introducing FarmLogs

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Cindy

The minds behind the development of Farmlogs received word that they were getting a financial boost of seed money for the start-up company the week before the recent Iowa Power Farming Show, so they were enthusiastically getting folks to sign up for a one month free trial.

We talked to Co-Founder & CEO Jesse Vollmar (left in photo) at the show, and he said the additional capital is helping expand the company.

“[It will] help build out the team, pick up the pace. We want to reach as many farmers as we can, so the seed funding helps us do that,” Jesse explained.

The rural Michigan native grew up farming, and he said they are finding a way to merge information farmers get in their fields with the public information about other factors that affect their operations. “Pricing data, weather data and how that’s impacting their farm is something we pull all together in one place. A dashboard for farmers to manage all that information online.”

Jesse concludes telling us that you need to farm smart, and that includes smart apps from Farmlogs available to be sent straight to your smartphone. “There’s a lot of decisions that go into being a profitable farmer, and you need to make sure you’re making the right decisions.”

Find out more in this interview with Jesse: Interview with Jesse Vollmar

2013 Iowa Power Farming Show Photo Album

Precision Pays Podcast: The need for high speed

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Meghan

I live in suburbia. High speed internet is an after thought for me and sadly it is something I take for granted. For those that live in rural America – it is a struggle. In some places – dial-up is still the only option available. As the technologies that we use on the farm continue to advance - dial-up doesn’t cut it anymore and our need for high-speed internet increases.

In this Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, Brian McIntyre, VP Broadband for dishNET talks about how they are working to provide rural America with broadband internet.