Ag Leader Technology officially released the North American Wheat algorithm for OptRx during the Iowa Power Farming Show in Des Moines, Iowa this week. OptRx is a crop sensor used for mapping, data collection and real-time variable rate nitrogen application. To learn more about how OptRx worked, I spent some time with Mike Olson, North American Sales Manager for Ag … Read More
Wheat Growers Gain Nitrogen Sensor Technology
For wheat growers who normally top-dress nitrogen, the use of crop sensors could boost yields and reduce over or under application. Today, Ag Leader Technology, Inc., a leader in the development of precision farming solutions, announced the release of the North American Wheat algorithm for OptRx, a crop sensor used for mapping, data collection and real-time variable rate nitrogen application. … Read More
Can’t Beat Personal Precision Farming Software Training
Had the pleasure this week of talking to a great guy, George Ropp of RCMS Consulting, who is 74 years young and still helping farmers—use computer software, no less. Ropp, of Van Wert, Ohio, decided to get into GPS work after retiring from the county extension service in the early 1990s. “I started grid soil sampling fields for the local … Read More
Nebraska Ag Tech Conference Gears Up
Don’t miss the upcoming February 9-10 NeATA conference in Grand Island, Neb., as it promises a technology extravaganza, along with other valuable topics such as precision Nitrogen management, social media, building consumer trust and much more. The Nebraska Agricultural Technologies Association (NeATA), founded in 2001 by innovative Nebraska farmers, ranchers, agribusiness representatives and the University of Nebraska Extension, has compiled … Read More
Variable-rate Irrigation Teams with Prescription Service
The precision irrigation from Valley has now teamed up with the variable-rate precision data services of CropMetrics. This agreement creates an alignment of Valley Irrigation dealers with the latest in agronomic technology to provide growers true precision irrigation with center pivots. Valley Irrigation with VRI Zone Control, and CropMetrics with automated agronomic VRI prescription services, are also proud to announce … Read More
The Year in Precision Farming – 2010 Recap
This past week, I caught up with Matt Darr, Iowa State University ag engineer and precision farming guru, to chat with him about this past year in precision agriculture. “We’ve said for a few years now that ‘accuracy is addictive.’ Well farmers are proving that as this has been a year driven by higher precision—a move to more RTK accuracy.” … Read More
New Publications on Auto Section Control
The Alabama Precision Ag team has compiled three good publications on automatic section control (ASC) for sprayers, planters and spreaders. Automatic section control (ASC) has been one of the most adopted precision ag technologies in recent years. This technology has the ability to save producers on input costs by minimizing application overlap at headlands, point rows, or other odd-shaped areas … Read More
Precision Fertilizer Recommendations From Nebraska
Fertilizer production costs will be substantially higher in 2011 than they’ve been for the past couple of years. When you look at the numbers, remember that commodity prices also have increased significantly. If you are a shrewd marketer, you have taken advantage of crop pricing opportunities that will help offset the higher production costs. You may still be able to … Read More
Robust RTK Signals Expand Across Corn Belt
Check out a good story by Farm Industry News that offers the latest look at RTK signal correction across the Midwest. The umbrella of real-time kinematic (RTK) correction signals that covers much of the Corn Belt will be larger and more robust by the time the 2011 planting season rolls around. As a result, growers in many geographies will have … Read More
Nitrogen Sensor Unplanned Test Convinces Grower of Value
You know how sometimes things happen in farm fields that are either out of your control, or perhaps something known as operator error. Well, some of those oops provide valuable learning experiences, don’t they?! Such was the case with central Nebraska farmer Kurt Kroeger. Now Kroeger is a fairly advanced precision ag aficionado, playing with many things on his 1,250 … Read More