Precision Pays

Precision is the name of the game when it comes to farming these days. It’s getting hard to find a farmer anymore who doesn’t use auto steer at the very least – and the options to save resources, time and money just keep growing.

At the New Holland exhibit at Commodity Classic, I talked to Matt Ahrens about some of the products they offer for growers and a program they have that can help farmers see exactly how they can benefit from using different types of precision solutions on their own operations. “We have a website – PutYourFarmOnTheMap – and on that website we have a cost savings calculator and you can go in and put your input costs on their, how much fuel usage per acre depending on implement width, and you can see what kind of savings you can get,” Matt said. “The good thing with that is that it’s their numbers, their input costs, so they get to see what their savings are.”

Matt also demonstrates the new AgGPS® FM-1000™ integrated display working with the Trimble Field-IQ in the video below. You can find out more about New Holland’s product line-up and more on the website PutYourFarmOnTheMap.com.

Commodity Classic Photo Album

The opening of the trade show is the real “official” start to the Commodity Classic. The exhibit hall is filled with the latest and the greatest technology and machinery for growers of corn, soybeans, wheat and sorghum. According to the official attendance figures, there are 4175 attendees at Classic this year, 1338 of them are growers. This is the 15th annual Commodity Classic, which started as the combined meeting of the corn and soybean growers, but in recent years has grown to add wheat and sorghum grower organizations as well. It’s an event that can benefits a grower’s farm operation and profitability for years to come.

Take a look and a listen to the official kick off and ribbon cutting for the 2010 Commodity Classic, with coverage on Precision Pays sponsored by John Deere.

Commodity Classic Photo Album

I am attending Commodity Classic courtesy of John Deere. This is the combined meetings of the National Corn Growers Association, American Soybean Association, National Association of Wheat Growers and National Sorghum Producers.

John Deere took the opportunity to unveil a very unique tractor designed by Chip Foose. It’s a 1970 John Deere 4020. The tractor will be given away to one winner as part of the John Deere Big Buck Promotion. You may find rules to enter on the John Deere website.

The uniquely designed machine, which the Foose team has been working on since last November, will tour much of the country as part of the Drive Green Tractor Experience Tour immediately following the trade show.

Chip Foose adds, “I’ve looked at tractors for years and always thought they’re narrow, they look almost like a dry lakes car or even some of the old Indy cars, so that’s the direction I took; I wanted some of that racing feel to the tractor. And with the turf tires in the back and the three-ribbed tires in the front, it carries that theme all the way through from the tires to the sheet metal work to the paint job … but it’s still a John Deere.”

I interviewed Chip right after the unveiling. He talks about how he got into automobile design and this project in particular. You can listen to that interview below. I also shot the unveiling so you can watch it as well.

Commodity Classic Photo Album

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One of the great things about the National Farm Machinery Show is the Championship Tractor Pull … the largest, oldest and most prestigious indoor tractor pull, according to Corinne Fetter, Director of Expositions for the Kentucky State Fair Board.

“This is the 42nd year for the tractor pull and the 45th year for the National Farm Machinery Show, and so the two have worked together for quite a while now. And we feel they complement each other rather well,” said Corinne during an interview on the last day of the event last weekend.

She says for the men and women who compete in the tractor pull that it is truly a labor of love, that takes a lot of time, effort and money to get the kind of performance and down-to-your-toes rumble and roar that these machines produce. But she also credits the crews who get the track ready to give the pullers a world class area to put their machines through their paces. And she says none of this would be possible without the fans. “For some of them, this is their vacation every year,” she says. “And I can tell you, there are plenty of red fans, and there are plenty of green fans.” And plenty who are just color blind!

Listen to ZimmComm reporter John Davis’ interview with Corinne in the audio player below and enjoy short video clip of a few of the pulls here:

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Ag Leader Technology was demonstrating how the OptRx™ Crop Sensor System works at the National Farm Machinery Show this week in Louisville.

The OptRx crop sensor system measures and records data about a crop in real-time using the reflectance of light shined on the growing crop. “The biggest use for this is for variable rate nitrogen application on the go,” Ag Leader’s Roger Zielke told me, which helps farmers put exactly the right amount of fertilizer in the right spot.

That helps growers get a good return on their investment. “We ran this in quite a few fields in 2008 and 2009 and we compared to their flat rate that they would have done and we saw a big yield increase from what the sensor prescribed compared to the farmer and that has ranged from $20 all the way up to $100 – the average is about $20-30 per acre,” Roger said. “This could turn out to be one of the higher return on investment products that we’ve ever had since nitrogen has such a huge effect on yield in corn and other grass-type crops.”

You can watch a video showing how the OptRx™ Crop Sensor System works here and listen or download just the audio portion below.

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Just in case you weren’t able to attend the Iowa Power Farming Show, here’s what you missed in the Ag Leader Technology booth. Jess Ahrens was my tour guide and walked me around the displays of the displays. Your next chance to catch up with Ag Leader Technology will be at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, KY. Cindy will be there providing coverage.

Iowa Power Farming Show Photo Album

Earlier this week Ag Leader Technology added the patent-pending SureVac electric row shutoff to their lineup of planter section shutoff devices. Since I was at the Iowa Power Farming Show I stopped in and learned all about it from Chad Huedepohl. You can watch the interview or just listen to it below. Here’s the details:

SureVac provides today’s precision farming operation with an easily- installed, zero-maintenance solution to reduce seed costs and increase yield potential.

SureVac is designed for John Deere Pro-SeriesTM XP row units, but is also compatible with any John Deere vacuum seed meter manufactured in the last 20 years. In addition to John Deere corn and soybean seed disks, SureVac supports the eSet® vacuum disk from Precision Planting.

Chad says SureVac is an electric row shutoff made to shut off the seed placement per row on a row by row basis. He says this benefits the farmer user by saving on seed and avoiding “doubles” such as on point rows.

Iowa Power Farming Show Photo Album

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I’m attending my first ever Iowa Power Farming Show courtesy of our sponsor Ag Leader Technology. The first person I met this morning was show manager, Tom Junge. The show is conducted by the Iowa-Nebraska Equipment Dealers Association.

Tom says they represent about 400 dealers and have been doing the show for 55 years. They have a show in December in Nebraska now too. Here at the Iowa show they use 3 different buildings with 6 acres of exhibits. They’re hoping for another record attendance this year like they had last year. There’s a lot of precision technology on display here and Tom says it has become an integral part of farming and the show.

You can listen to my interview with Tom below. I also uploaded a short video clip from above the show floor with my iPhone so you can see what it’s like.

And of course I’ve got photos for you in the Iowa Power Farming Show Photo Album.

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The 2009 Sunbelt Ag Expo has concluded and it did include a number of exhibits from precision product companies. One of those, having the largest field demonstration wasTrimble. I stopped and spoke with Matt Hesse, Autopilot Sales Manager.

The company was showing various levels of precision integration. They had two different land leveling systems. One used a GPS control and one used a 2D laser system. They also had their new TrueGuide passive implement steering system in use. This system puts an antenna on the implement to tell the tractor where it is so the tractor knows how much to move in relation to the desired line to optimize the placement of the implement. They also had their TrueTracker System on multiple tractors and implements.

Matt says that they take applications that are not possible for human beings and put them into a machine to do it for us. This ultimately increases efficiencies that have produced up to 20 bushels per acre increases in corn.

Feel free to check out my photos from this year’s Sunbelt Ag Expo 2009 Photo Album. My visit to the show was made possible by Growth Energy.

While I was driving my golf cart through the Farm Progress Show last week I shot a short video clip so you can see what the crowd was like. You can also get a sense of how nice the weather was. If you’ve never been to a FPS then make plans ahead for next year in Iowa.

Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Precision Pays coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by: .