The military started using them to safely check on enemy activity without putting troops in harms way, but Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are now starting to be used for many civilian applications, especially in agriculture. USDA scientists are studying how UAVs may be used to keep an eye on changing land-use patterns across vast tracts of western rangeland. Ranchers, government … Read More
New Method Transforms Digital Cameras for Aerial Photography
Scientists with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service have patented a way to transform commercial digital cameras to produce color infrared aerial photos that can measure the extent of vegetative cover. USDA has jointly patented the technology that can take an ordinary 12-megapixel camera sold without an internal filter that blocks near-infrared (NIR) light and then add a custom-made lens filter to … Read More
FS Green Plan Offers Solutions to Maximize Every Acre
When farmers want to increase their yields – and what farmer doesn’t? – they really need a systems based approach to maximizing what they get from every acre, and that is what FS Green Plan Solutions is all about. At the 2011 Farm Progress Show, I talked with Neil Eimer, Evergreen FS Crop Specialist in the central Illinois counties of … Read More
AgChat Foundation Partners with USFRA
The AgChat Foundation (ACF) and the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) have partnered up to help farmers and ranchers share their stories with the general public. “The core vision of the AgChat Foundation is to empower farmers and ranchers to share their stories,” said Darin Grimm, Kansas farmer and AgChat Foundation president. “We are excited to partner with USFRA … Read More
Evergreen FS Tends FPS Fields
What makes the Farm Progress Show so special every year is the opportunity to watch real equipment working in real fields, so making the demo plots the best they can be is important, no matter what kind of tricks Mother Nature plays during the growing season. That was the job of Evergreen FS this year as the agronomy sponsor for … Read More
Preaching How Precision Planting Pays
As education coordinator for Precision Planting, Sean Arians has the opportunity to preach the message of how precision planting pays at farm shows like Farm Progress, demonstrating it live on-site. “Everybody loves to see equipment moving,” Sean told Chuck Zimmerman during an interview at FPS. “We have a tractor running around on a sand track with eight different row units … Read More
NASCAR Driver Impressed With FPS
There were quite a few race cars mixed in with the tractors and combines this year at the 2011 Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois. In addition to the American Ethanol NASCAR Sprint Series car at the Growth Energy exhibit, over at the Illinois Corn Growers exhibit, the Illinois Family Farmers NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Kenny Wallace was signing autographs … Read More
Calibrating Corn Production in Potato Country
Idaho is synonymous with potatoes, but there is more corn in the ground there these days to support a growing dairy industry. USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have found that some Pacific Northwest farmers can increase corn yields by using strip tillage and banding fertilizer instead of conventional tilling. Strip tillage and banding involves excavating a single row for … Read More
Hosting the Field Demos at FPS
Even though the Farm Progress Show now has permanent sites in both Iowa and Illinois, they still have host farm families who actually own and take care of the land, especially the field demonstration plots. Dawn and David Brix are the folks who handle the field demo plots in Decatur, Illinois on the odd years when FPS is held there. … Read More
Illinois KIC Program Kicks off at FPS
The Illinois Corn Growers helped to kicked off a new program at the 2011 Farm Progress Show called KIC, short for “Keep it for the Crop by 2025” program. The new program is designed to promote, implement and track the rate of adoption of enhanced nutrient stewardship practices by Illinois agricultural producers, focusing on the 4R’s of Nutrient Stewardship: Right … Read More