Precision Pays

Machine-vision cultivation is a commercial reality for vegetable growers, but is it improving integrated weed management in these crops? University of California-Davis research results, that appeared recently in Weed Technology, showed machines gained the upper hand over hand-weeding and cultivation of broccoli and lettuce during times of rainy weather.

Hand-harvested crops such as broccoli and lettuce are easily threatened by weeds. Uncontrolled weeds can result in lower yields, reduced quality, and decreased harvest efficiency.

The job of cultivating between delicate rows of vegetable plants can be done more precisely and faster with machine guidance. A computer processes 25 digital photos of a crop row to determine the centerline.Previous studies have shown higher rates of error in human-guided cultivation.

The current study timed how long it takes a laborer to hand-pick weeds versus machine cultivation. It also tested whether smaller amounts of herbicide or none at all could be applied to the crop with the use of machine cultivation. Reducing the use of herbicides would have economic and environmental benefits.

The many variables at play produced mixed results. Herbicides proved the most effective method against weeds. But with the heaviest use of herbicide tested, the lettuce yield was not improved—the herbicide also affected the crop’s growth. In rainy weather, when both hand weeding and machine weeding are difficult, herbicides again provided the best weed deterrent. In dryer seasons, machine cultivation was more effective than hand weeding.

In California and Arizona, lettuce and broccoli are grown year-round, and cultivation is an important part of the process. More accurate and timely cultivation may be the greatest benefit that machine-guided cultivation has to offer.

Weed Technology journal is a publication of the Weed Science Society of America. To learn more about the society, please visit: http://www.wssa.net/

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

In our final installment of looking back at the top stories of 2009, here’s a list of newsworthy stories that featured new or updated products. I list the stories starting with the most current from December, working back to January of 2009. No ranking of importance is included…but feel free to post your comments about these products.

Lindsay Adds Remote Irrigation Pump Control

Trimble Adds Harvest Capabilities to Monitor

Ag Leader Welcomes Dealers To New Facility

Leica Offers Cost-Effective Lightbar Guidance

New RTK Module Receives Tower or Cell Signals

Topcon Launches On-The-Go Crop Nutrient Sensor

Six New Products From Ag Leader Technology

Raven Buys Interest in SST Software

Trimble Adds Modem To Enhance RTK Signal

Take Command of Planting With SureStop

New SMS Software From Ag Leader Technology

Deere Adds New AutoTrac Guidance Products

Trimble Expands Capabilities of FmX Display

Trimble Buys Farm Works Software

Trimble Acquires NTech and Greenseeker Technology

Deere Dealers To Offer Raven Products

Smart Nozzles Aid Precision Application

Raven Adds Planter and Sprayer Control

New GreenSeeker Precision Products To Save Fertilizer

Trimble and Tru Count Increase ROI

Technology Makes 120-Foot Planter Possible

Growers Learn More About APEX Software

RowSense Makes Sense

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

All agricultural technology enthusiasts are invited to attend the 10th Annual Nebraska Agricultural Technologies Association Conference (NEATA), January 27-28, 2010 at the Midtown Holiday Inn, Grand Island, NE.

Pre-conference programs will focus on Optimizing Pivot Irrigation Management (9:00 to 4:00) and Social Media Applications in Agriculture (1:00 – 4:00) will be offered the afternoon of January 27.

The conference opens Wednesday evening with Dr. Raj Khoslo, Precision Agriculture Specialists, Colorado State University, discussing Precision Nutrient Management on Site-specific Management Zones, followed by Bill Kranz, Irrigation Specialist, University of Nebraska-Lincoln addressing Monitoring Irrigation Water Application with Computerized Controllers.

Thursday morning opens with international guest and precision agriculture expert, Sam Tengrove, Australian farmer, sharing Adoption of Precision Agriculture by Australian Grain Growers. Additional general sessions offered include Broadband: Who Needs It?, Mapping Evapotranspiration with High Resolution and Internalized Calibration (METRIC), and Global Perspectives of Site-specific Weed Management.

Twelve concurrent sessions addressing a variety of emerging agricultural technology topics will also be offered on Thursday. The concurrent sessions in the Ambassador room will be hands-on workshops. See the conference brochure.

Up to 8 CCA credits are available for conference participants with an additional 6 CCA credits available to those who attend the Optimizing Pivot Irrigation Management pre-conference workshop.

More information is available at http://neata.org.

Designing field terraces will soon become easier thanks to a new Internet-based terrace design tool under development at the University of Missouri.

Allen Thompson, Associate Professor of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, says his computer-assisted tool can upload GPS-based topographical data to facilitate design and installation on complex fields.

Another benefit, aside from cutting the terrace development process in half, is the ability to develop several designs to compare costs, conservation effectiveness and farmability based on boundaries, row spacing, equipment size, water flow and other considerations.

More details are in the September issue of Resources magazine, compiled and published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.

The benefits of precision farming to help capture carbon in farm fields is receiving press within the current debate of the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy & Security Act, a.k.a. (HR2454).

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.

Give credit to farmers and their creativity. Not only are they saving time, input dollars and the environment thanks to the tools of precision agriculture, some growers find ways to use it to enhance their personal lives.

Vega, Texas grower Braden Gruhlkey used his John Deere GreenStar GPS-based guidance system to accurately plow the letters of his marriage proposal to his girlfriend Lauren.

“I just used an A+heading line for the top and bottom  of the letters. I used this as a guide to see how big to make my letters.  Then I just made ab and a+ heading lines to make the letters. And it worked nice because when I got one letter finished I could use the same lines and  just shift track them. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, and I did it all in the field. I thought it turned out pretty neat.”

Then, on April 18th, Braden took girlfriend Lauren for an airplane ride and popped the question. 

With the help of GreenStar, Braden’s creativity was a huge hit…she became his fiance.

The cost of fertilizer has more growers looking for increased efficiency. And growers I talk to who use soil sampling, fertility maps and the variable-rate technology of precision farming are very pleased with the results.

One tool that growers are excited about is the new high-speed anhydrous toolbar that John Deere introduced last summer. The 2510 Series of nutrient applicators is designed for high-speed application (10 mph) with minimal soil disturbance. And growers can achieve variable-rate control with the GreenStar 2 (GS2) Rate Controller.

“We’ve designed these tools for different applications and are introducing the following new model configurations,” says Dave Wendt, product manager, John Deere Des Moines Works. “The 2510H is for high-speed application with low soil disturbance, the 2510C is for conventional application, and the 2510S is for strip-till/conservation tillage applications.

Leading the pack, is the highly productive 2510H Nutrient Applicator which features a revolutionary new design that allows operators to cover more acres in less time, at field speeds of ten miles per hour. Equipped with precision-injection technology, it’s capable of applying anhydrous ammonia at high speeds with minimal soil disturbance.

“These field speeds enable productivity rates approaching 40 acres per hour,” explains Wendt. “This level of productivity translates to 20 to 50 percent more revenue generated per hour than a similarly sized conventional applicator.”

The 2510H delivers three-season capability–from fall-applied anhydrous, to preplant applications, to sidedress season. “Sidedress season is when the “big bar” productivity in a compact row-crop package really pays off,” says Wendt. “Due to the low-disturbance design of the applicator, it’s able to apply anhydrous soon after planting and triples the typical sidedress application window. This allows the operator more time and flexibility in the field to complete sidedress applications.”

Studies have also proven that producers can reduce their nitrogen rates when sidedressing compared to fall application. At today’s fertilizer and corn prices, this adds up to considerable savings for the producer.

Nebraska Farmer magazine took a look at the technology last fall. 

A group of leading and innovative companies have joined together to recommend national legislation to slow, stop and reverse the growth of greenhouse gas emissions. And a national cap-and-trade carbon reduction system using precision technology is at the heart of the program.

Robert W. Lane, chairman and chief executive officer of Deere & Company, joined other business leaders in Washington D.C. recently to unveil the U.S. Climate Action Partnership’s “Blueprint for Legislative Action.” The blueprint is a comprehensive and detailed set of integrated policy recommendations for developing legislation that would create an environmentally effective and economically sustainable national climate protection program.

“We are pleased that USCAP has reached consensus on a comprehensive Blueprint for Legislative Action which reinforces our commitment to slow, stop and reverse the growth of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.  In order to effectively address climate change internationally, the U.S. must play a leading role.  Significant cost savings to the overall cap- and-trade system can be realized by utilizing robust levels of offsets, both domestically and internationally, as this Blueprint reflects.  

“The agriculture, forestry, and land use sectors have the potential to reduce and sequester a significant portion of the nation’s total greenhouse gas emissions, as well as generate renewable energy and produce low-carbon fuels.  A robust emissions offset program established from the outset of cap-and-trade will create opportunities to reduce emissions or increase sequestration practices that can generate revenue for rural communities, provide multiple environmental and social benefits, improve air quality, and ensure cost-efficient emissions reductions.” 

This effort includes 26 companies and five environment groups as members. Business leaders from these committed companies participated in Congressional briefings and a public press conference to announce the blueprint.

For more information, visit www.us-cap.org.

The buzz is all about precision…steering, strip-till, fertilizer placement.

During Successful Farming magazine’s annual Crop Tech Tour, editors asked growers what technology worked in the field this year–given weather extremes that ranged from severe droughts to floods. 

Tom Loitz of Geneseo, Illinois, says his new strip-till system combined with row shut-offs on his planter showed strong payback when he entered the field to begin harvest recently.

“As I got out there this fall and opened up some fields, could really tell the difference with the row shutoffs versus last year when didn’t have them. The overlap wasn’t there, and you could really tell the difference. I think it’s a nice benefit,” he says, adding that the auto-steer system he’s used for the last four years is possibly “the greatest thing ever” in how it reduces his fatigue while running in the field.

Other farmers cited fertilizer costs, and found that moving to strip-till not only saved input dollars but helped the plants use fertilizer more efficiently. And one grower cited John Deere’s RowSense technology that helped him pick up down corn.

Steve Clementz, a precision ag adviser and farmer near Geneseo, Illinois, says things like precise sprayer swath control and auto-steer have helped farmers make up time that was lost because of poor early-season conditions that delayed planting. Also, tools like Deere’s RowSense will help farmers pick downed corn, which became an issue after a severe wind storm hit Clementz’ area earlier this summer.

“RowSense takes the stress out of combining leaned-over corn,” he says. 

Watch videos of two growers who describe their technology successes during their 2009 cropping season.