Precision Pays

Trimble debuted a couple of new innovations at the recent National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, which they were also showcasing at the Commodity Classic last week.

EZ-Sync™ is a wireless data transfer capability that provides enhanced information management for growers and agribusinesses, and the EZ Surface Software provides surface drainage analysis and design for farmers and drainage contractors.

Brian Stark, who does information management for Trimble, is the company’s EZ-Sync expert. “EZ-Sync allows you to take data wirelessly from a mobile computer or from the Trimble FMX display and send that data from the field to the office,” Brian explained in an interview. “Or, if I’m in the office, I can send my data from the office, [such as] prescription maps or target points, to the field.”

Brian says the software is compatible with several different computers offered by Trimble and it lets producers and managers exchange information in real time. Plus, it decreases the amount of data that is lost simply because workers don’t have time to manually enter information gained in the field when they come back to the office. And, managers are able to better communicate with their workers still in the field.

Trimble retailer Joey Schlatter of Schlatter Inc. of Francesville, Indiana explained EZ Surface. “This software helps contractors define watersheds and flow patterns so they know how to properly drain their fields, whether using surface or sub-surface drainage methods,” Joey said.

With this system, elevation data is gathered through using some GPS-based tools from Trimble. “Once we’ve collected all that elevation data, we bring that data into the office, into our EZ Surface program and generate a 3-D elevation map. Then, with a click of a few buttons, we can see the flow lines, watesheds and all the tools we need to properly design that [drainage] system,” he added.

More information on both EZ Sync and EZ Surface are available from www.Trimble.com.

Here’s the next installment of our coverage from AG CONNECT Expo which was held last week in Orlando, FL. ZimmComm’s Joanna Schroeder was on the floor talking to precision ag companies and we’ll be featuring stories throughout the week. Here’s her story from visiting with Trimble.

When Trimble launches a new product it’s available worldwide and this week Trimble will be launching several new products. I tried to coerce Guillermo Perez-Iturbe, the regional manager for Latin America, to give me a scoop during the AG CONNECT Expo, but he held out. Good for Trimble – bad for me.

Today, the company has a suite of precision ag products available including GPS guidance systems. One of their new products is the EZ-Steer assisted steering system which takes over the steering while the farmer focuses on steering, spraying and more. There are three versions of the EZ-Steer system including the AgGPS FmX Integrated Display. This display has 3D land leveling capabilities and the technologies in the pipeline will add even more options to the current products.

In the past year, Trimble has acquired several key companies in order to, “close the cycle of the ag precision space,” said Iturbe. The company has a worldwide presence and Iturbe noted that other countries are in very different places in their adoption of precision ag technologies.

The Trimble Team: Sergio Lucas, Vilson Hansen, Guillermo Perez-Iturbe and Rafeal Bull

For example, Argentina started precision farming 14 years ago with lightbars and has yet to adopt the higher levels of precision technology while Mexico has adopted the most advanced precision ag technology available but doesn’t use something as simple as a lightbar.

Today, Trimble is working with its customers to better help them identify the best precision ag technologies for their farms, and this is important to the company because they understand that no farmers’ operations are the same.

Listen to my Precision Pays exclusive interview with Guillermo Perez-Iturbe here.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

It’s not very often that the investment media or advisors mention much about main street agriculture companies, outside of the industry titans. Well, Trimble (also in engineering and construction markets) got a mention yesterday from a writer with the popular “The Motley Fool” investment advisory folks.

The writer did call precision agriculture “a budding field” which raises my eyebrows about his agriculture savvy. But irregardless, he recommends to investors they “should monitor Trimble (Nasdaq: TRMB) with great interest.”

I first became aware of Trimble when I started researching precision agriculture. This budding field involves the application of positioning technologies like GPS to farming. Trimble’s positioning solutions — which extend to construction, transportation, and other industries — are backed by over 900 patents. That intellectual property portfolio should support the company’s competitive position relative to other precision ag players likeRaven Industries (Nasdaq: RAVN) and privately held Ag Leader.

Demand for Trimble’s wares got socked this year along with other agricultural equipment suppliers like Lindsay(NYSE: LNN) and AGCO (NYSE: AGCO). The long-term outlook for this sector, especially in emerging markets like China, is nevertheless very strong.

And here’s the rest of the story.

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

At the recent National Association of Farm Broadcasting convention Trimble had a booth in their Trade Talk session. I interviewed George Huber and asked him my standard opening question which was, “What’s new from Trimble?’ In his answer he talks about virtual reference stations and “the connected farm.” He says this allows you to get data to and from your vehicle while it’s working in the field.

Listen to all of my interview with George below:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In general, the past year in the world of precision agriculture has been one of consolidation among industry players. “We’ve really streamlined into 4 or 5 major players in precision ag,” says Matt Darr, Iowa State University Ag Engineer.

“Rather than a lot of companies that offer a segment of products, we’re getting down to a core set of companies offering full-service solutions—products for every type of ag operation,” he says

For example, Darr cites the recent Ag Leader and AutoFarm partnership. “And Trimble purchased numerous smaller precision ag companies to fill out their portfolio of products (like Farm Works software, NTech GreenSeeker and Tru Count).”

From a technology introduction standpoint, there haven’t been a whole lot of truly new products in 2009, according to Darr. “The largest growth segment of products has probably been in the area of CORS-compatible GPS equipment. Trimble, Topcon, AutoFarm—they all have CORS-based capabilities,” he adds.

Impact of CORS? There’s more and more grower interest. “I always tell growers that CORS isn’t going to provide a better RTK solution, as the accuracy of a single base solution is still governed by the distance to the base station, just like traditional RTK. What it does is bring coverage to every farmer in the state Iowa (and in other states that have CORS network),” Darr says.

It wasn’t but a couple years ago that it cost $50,000 for an RTK system—not even including the cost of auto-steer. Today, you can get a complete CORS auto-steer system in the tractor for $15,000 to $17,000.

Coming in 2010. Darr says we’ll continue to see expanded interest in CORS network products. “Auto-steer will continue its rapid adoption, because the efficiency, the savings and intrinsic benefits of less stress and greater productivity in the cab will drive sales.”

As the price of agricultural fertilizers begins to increase again, he sees an increased interest in nutrient management and variable-rate products. “There continues to be a need for real-time sensing of nutrients. These products—GreenSeeker (Trimble), OptRx (Ag Leader) and Crop Spec (Topcon)—are still very young in their developmental stages. These technologies have huge potential to make an impact on both the economic and environmental aspects of agriculture,” Darr says.

“The perpetual rising price of seed will continue rapid adoption of the DirectCommand AutoSwath-type products that provide pretty immediate payback on seed and chemical savings. A $300 bag of seed equals $120 per acre seed costs. An auto-steer system and planter unit control will save a minimum of 2 percent (not including possible variable-rate seeding savings), which equates to $2,400 per year over 1,000 acres,” he adds.

Yield and moisture monitoring as well as mapping capabilities are being added to Trimble’s AgGPS FmX integrated display–to go along with it’s AutoPilot or EZ-Steer systems that steer the combine.

Farmers can use the recorded yield data to analyze performance and create variable rate prescription maps using Trimble AgGPS EZ-Office software. Yield data stored on the FmX display can easily be transferred to the office using a USB storage device. EZ-Office software can help farmers evaluate field performance and identify problem areas.

The yield monitoring functionality allows growers to perform accurate area calculations using the auto cut width feature when the header is not full. This is an advantage for harvesting odd-shaped fields, point rows or areas already harvested. It relieves the farmer from having to manually adjust actual cut width when not harvesting a full swath.

“Yield monitoring is beneficial for farmers who want to analyze how well their fields perform. They can record and monitor results, and then adjust their seed and fertilizer application rate to generate higher yields,” said Erik Arvesen, vice president and general manager for Trimble’s Agriculture Division. “In addition, growers can now perform yield monitoring with the same display that steers their vehicle, reducing cab clutter.”

The yield monitoring and mapping functionality upgrade is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2010 and is priced at US$995 MSRP. For more information, call 1-800-874-6253 or visit www.trimble.com/agriculture to find a Trimble reseller.

New Field-IQ from Trimble is a modular system designed to work with its AgGPS FmX integrated display or EZ-Guide 500 lightbar system to help growers precisely control a variety of inputs, saving costs and applying prescription amounts.

The Field-IQ system combines input control capabilities into one comprehensive, modular system, including map-based planter row unit shutoff for seed and liquid fertilizer, variable rate seeding, variable rate liquid fertilizer, variable rate spreading and real-time variable rate nitrogen application. The Field-IQ system reduces the need for complex calibrations—farmers can simply purchase the components they need, set up, test and begin operations.

The modular functionality of the Field-IQ system allows growers to:

Automate Individual Row Control for Seed
Reduces overlap and overcrowding, helping growers use less seed while improving yields. Use the new, easy-to-install Tru Count Meter Mount air clutch to shut off seed row units.

Automate Individual Row Control for Liquid
Easily shut off liquid fertilizer for individual rows with new Tru Count LiquiBlock valves. These valves connect to Tru Count air clutches, sharing the same air source, allowing growers to simultaneously shut off seed and liquid.

Perform Variable Rate Application
Vary the rate of seed, granular material or liquid fertilizer application using Rawson variable rate drives to provide precise control. No lag at the beginning of a pass so seed, granular material or liquid fertilizer is applied at a steady rate at the start of each row.

Control up to 48 Sections
Automatically control planting and precise seed placement for up to 48 individual rows with the Field-IQ system.

Record Coverage and Mapping Automatically
The FmX integrated display or the EZ-Guide system records where the grower has been and what activities have been performed, eliminating the need to manually turn on and off application and logging.

Perform Real-Time Variable Rate Nitrogen Application
The Trimble GreenSeeker optical sensing system registers the amount of nitrogen needed by the plant, then automatically prescribes the right amount of nitrogen for the sprayer to deliver it on-the-go.

“Precisely controlling inputs allows farmers to save on seed and material inputs while enhancing yield. Field-IQ puts automatic shutoff and variable rate application capability within reach of farmers who previously thought the technology was too complex or expensive,” said Erik Arvesen, vice president and general manager for Trimble’s Agriculture Division. “Designed to combine a broad range of capabilities into one flexible, modular system, Field-IQ allows farmers to choose the capabilities they need now and add new input controls as their operations grow.”

Field-IQ is expected to be available in January 2010 through Trimble’s Agriculture reseller network. For more information, call 1-800-874-6253 or visit www.trimble.com/agriculture to find a Trimble reseller.

If you’re looking to easily map and manage your field data, Trimble offers their new 2010 AgGPS EZ-Office software suite of products, designed and developed by FarmWorks, a division of Trimble.

EZ-View, EZ-Office and EZ-Office Pro focus on data management in the office while EZ-Office Mobile software runs on the Trimble Nomad or Juno SB handheld Global Positioning System (GPS) computers in the field.

“The new EZ-Office software products help take the stress out of the vital, but often tedious record keeping and data management tasks for crop growers,” said Erik Arvesen, vice president and general manager for Trimble’s Agriculture Division. “These records are not just the foundation data for making precision farming practical and more productive—for some operators, they can be the legal records required by government agencies, landlords and farm management firms.”

Trimble EZ-View software is a free application that allows farmers to easily view and print basic reports from data collected by the Trimble EZ-Guide® 250, EZ-Guide 500 and FmX™ integrated display.

Trimble EZ-Office 2010 combines powerful mapping with ease-of-use and enhanced importing and exporting functionality.

Examples of crop and field management data that can be collected and stored by EZ-Office software include:

• Guidance line data from Trimble displays
• Precise areas tilled, planted or sprayed
• Specific “as-applied” data showing how much seed, fertilizer, and crop protection chemical has been applied
• Yield data can be imported from the FmX display as well as many other popular systems
• Google Maps™ background images and support for other imagery

Trimble EZ-Office Pro 2010 includes all the features of EZ-Office plus additional tools for information analysis:

• Flexible formula-based prescription map generation
• Automated multi-year yield map averaging for discovering consistently high and low yielding areas of a field
• Integration of financial data with precision farming operations for profit map analysis

Trimble EZ-Office Mobile 2010 enables farmers to map field operations data, such as field boundaries, farm drainage tile lines, field obstacles and weed infestations, while on foot, in a pickup truck or from an all-terrain vehicle (ATV).The field imagery tool allows crop scouts to utilize the built-in GPS receiver and digital camera on the Nomad or Juno SB handheld computers to capture geo-referenced photos of problems such as weeds and insects.

The EZ-Office 2010 software suite is now available through Trimble’s agriculture distribution channel. For more information, including the location of your nearest Trimble reseller, call 1-800-865-7438 or visit www.trimble.com/agriculture. The EZ-Office software is designed and developed by Farm Works Software, a division of Trimble.

If you’re familiar with yield mapping, automatic boom section control or other tasks that require a GPS signal, you may not truly understand how it works…or you may not care as long as it works, right!

Let me simplify things. Basically, 11,000 miles from earth is a constellation of satellites (between 24 and 32 at any given time) strategically placed and managed by the Air Force. You know this constellation of satellites as GPS. The receiver on your vehicle receives signals from three or more satellites to determine vehicle location. This concept is called “trilateration”; four or more satellites are needed for accurate time and location.

Since GPS satellite signal has to travel through the ionosphere (charged particles in the atmosphere) and space weather (commonly referred to as sun spots), some time error or delay occurs. To correct this and improve accuracy (called differential correction, or DGPS), two receivers are needed to receive the signals. A stationary receiver calculates all signals, measures the timing errors, and then provides a corrected signal to the receiver in your vehicle.

Differential GPS Signals:

WAAS – Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS)  is an air navigation aid developed by the FAA to add accuracy to GPS by using a network of ground-based reference stations. It is a free signal, and it provides position accuracy within 25 feet or better (sometimes within 7 feet), at least 95% of the time.

OmniSTAR HP service offers a 2-4 inch pass-to-pass accuracy and 4-inch long-term repeatability. It is particularly useful for agricultural machine guidance and many surveying tasks. It operates in real time, and without the need for local base stations or telemetry links. OmniSTAR HP is a true advance in the use of GPS for on-the-go precise positioning.

OmniSTAR XP service offers a 3-5 inch pass-to-pass accuracy and 8-inch long-term repeatability. It is especially suited for agricultural automatic steering systems. While it is slightly less accurate than HP, it is available worldwide and its accuracy is a significant improvement over regional differential systems such as WAAS.

OmniSTAR VBS (not used much in the U.S.) is a sub-meter (less than 39 inches) level of service. A typical 24-hour sample of VBS will be significantly less than 1 meter horizontal position error (95% of the time), with a horizontal error close to 1 meter 99% of the time.

RTK – Real Time Kinematic (RTK) GPS  is the gold standard in signal accuracy, placing your vehicle within 1 inch of its target. And RTK system delivers such accuracy by counting the number of wavelengths of the carrier frequency radio signals between a minimum of five satellites and receiver. These systems typically cost more because they require a base station, or tapping into a neighbor or a nearby retailer’s RTK network.

How do you judge what type of signal will best fit your operation.

Pass-to-Pass Accuracy. This measures the relative accuracy of a GPS receiver over a 15 minute interval. This is typically thought of as “guess row error” when driving rows, or skip/overlap from one pass to the next when driving swaths. GPS receivers can provide pass-to-pass accuracy that is acceptable for operations such as tillage, spreading, spraying and harvesting. Typically a DGPS receiver will provide 6–12 inch pass-to-pass accuracy performance over a 15-minute interval.

Year-to-Year Accuracy. GPS receivers using dual frequency technology can be as accurate as +/- 1 inch and can be applied to operations requiring extremely precise fieldwork such as the laying of drip tape directly in preformed beds, or strip-till applications of fertilizer followed by planting of seed directly over such strips of fertilizer. Only GPS receivers using RTK technology can deliver +/- 1-inch year-to-year accuracy. You may have also heard this referred to as “repeatability”, returning to the same location after a time period has passed.

Hope this gives you a brief glimpse behind some of the technology. And don’t forget to check out Ag Leader’s website early next week for a new look, and possibly some other news…