The ease of precision agriculture has given a couple agriculture instructors the opportunity to offer their students some hands-on education. Well, an article in the Emporia Gazette said both precision ag and access to the Deer Trail Implement complex located just west of Emporia made the hands-on lesson a reality. Thirty-five K-State students trekked form Manhattan, KS to Emporia, KS … Read More
Hands-On Demos
Farmers are getting a sneak peak trial of John Deere’s latest in desktop software, the beta version of the company’s Apex 2.0 program. The live demo is just one of four innovative products John Deere is displaying at its Ag Management Solutions booth. Consumers can also check out the company’s Autotrack Universal System Mobile Guidance Solution, GS2 Rate Controller, and … Read More
MapShots Focuses on Crop Data Management
MapShots is a software development company specializing in crop management applications for agriculture. The company’s flagship product, EASi Suite, is a desktop software application that is a complete crop management software package, providing crop planning, crop recordkeeping and GIS/Precision Ag functionality. MapShots Director of Corporate Solutions Tim Taylor was at the recent InfoAg conference in Springfield, Illinois to demonstrate their … Read More
Harvesting Information
Managing data well on the farm can help growers harvest a wealth of information to help them operate more efficiently. One company that helps growers do that is SST Development Group of Stillwater, Okla. Operations manager Matt Waitts says SST is a software and information services company started in 1994. “We have an extensive record-keeping program for producers to record … Read More
Precision Soil Sampling
Precision soil sampling has come a long way, according to Tom McGraw of Midwest Independent Soil Samplers, pictured here at the recent InfoAg conference with John Deere’s Jeff Kaiser. “Precision sampling isn’t all that new. 1929, Purdue University started grid sampling,” says McGraw. “We’ve done millions of acres of grid sampling by now.” He says that using imagery to detect … Read More
ZedX Offers Precision Ag Tools
ZedX Incorporated was on display at the recent InfoAg conference in Springfield, Il. Marketing Director Mike Santostefano says ZedX is combination of precision agriculture tools and weather products. “In terms of agriculture, we have our AgFleet and HighQ programs,” he says. AgFleet is the in-season, in-field suite of tools, while HighQ is end of the season yield analysis tools. ZedX … Read More
Precision Citrus Counting
Researchers at the University of Florida are developing an electronic system to “see” and count citrus fruit, a concept called machine vision. It could be commercially available by the end of the decade. According to news from UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, the system includes a Global Positioning System receiver and notes the position of each tree with … Read More
Information is key
While new precision farming tools such as global positioning system (GPS) and guidance technology have recently gained much attention from growers, it’s the collection, storage and analysis of field data that may have the greatest impact on farming operations. That’s because the availability of accurate information for most businesses, including farming, can lead to better management and input decisions over … Read More
Photos from the Field
I got an email yesterday from Roger Godwin, our Reach for the Stars winner in Georgia. That state, as you may know, has been extremely dry this season which kept Roger from planting in a timely fashion. But, he now reports that enough rain has fallen that he has gotten out in the fields: “We only got 2 tenths of … Read More
Reports From Classic
The president-elect of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting sent in a couple of interviews he did at Commodity Classic about precision agriculture. Randy Koenen of KTIC/KWPN/Rural Radio Network in West Point, Nebraska interviewed Laura Robson of John Deere AMS about the “Reach for the Stars” program. Randy Interview with Laura (1:30 min mp3) Randy also talked with Kyle Collins … Read More