Post Harvest Precision Farming Projects

Kurt LawtonAg Leader, Displays, Equipment, Insights Weekly, sustainability

Insights WeeklyMany growers across the Midwest report one of the best weather harvests in a long time. I know my brother and cousin in central Iowa finished their shared harvest duties earlier than anyone in the family can remember. And the nice thing about that—more fall field work was completed.

While it’s a big relief that the crop is in, make sure your prep work of winding down harvest equipment before winter is completed. Regarding precision farming equipment, I spoke recently with Nathan Tebbe, technical support supervisor with Ag Leader Technology, who provided some tips and reminders.

• Create a data backup before removing your display from the combine/tractor for winter. Put it on a card and then transfer it to your computer hard drive. Make sure the individual log files are on the hard drive. And it’s always wise to pull the data into your SMS software now to work the data while it is still fresh in your mind. “It’s a lot easier to transfer and analyze data now before you forget, compared to doing it in January or February,” Tebbe says.
• Bring your display unit inside for winter to store them. Although these can stay in your equipment, they are too valuable to leave outside.
• Tackle all those little fixes on your equipment that you didn’t have time for in the heat of harvest while you still remember them.
• Clean all equipment to prevent mice damage. Sweep or blow out all the dirt and debris in the nooks and crannies of your combine. “You’d be amazed how often we troubleshoot grower problems, and the culprit turns out to be chewed wires that happen during the winter.”
• Also in combines, remove the mass-flow sensor in the clean-grain elevator because mice like to attack it. And it’s wise to be sure and clean the elevator mount unit, as any type of moist grain or crop residue can easily coat the sensors.
• When removing any equipment, put a cover, rag or plastic bag over the cable ends to keep them clean and dry.
• For GPS equipment, Tebbe advises to remove and store it. That way nothing will happen to it.
• And don’t forget to clean out all hoses, especially on anhydrous bars that applied N-Serve. Winterize all pumps and sprayer boom valves. Blow out all the lines, oil the planter chains, and just give all equipment the once over before stowing it in the far reaches of the shed.

Winter training. Tebbe reminds all Ag Leader customers of upcoming winter training coming to a dealer near you. “Check with your local dealer for days and times, as well as check our Customer Support page on our website (link below) as we’ll be posting dates soon.”

Visit these links for more information.

Tech Support Tips for Organizing Your Data Collection http://www.agleader.com/2010/11/19/tech-support-tips-for-organizing-your-data-collection/

Ag Leader dealer locator
http://www.agleader.com/dealer-search/

Ag Leader Customer Support page
http://support.agleader.com/

SOFTWARE:
SMS Advanced http://www.agleader.com/products/sms-advanced/
SMS Basic http://www.agleader.com/products/sms-basic/

Official Wisconsin Farm Technology Days Stuff

Cindy ZimmermanEvents, General

Marathon County will be hosting Wisconsin’s Farm Technology Days in 2011 and they are already offering official Marathon County Farm Technology Days apparel and collector’s items for that special someone on your Christmas list.

Among the items they have for sale on-line are hats, hooded sweatshirts, t-shirts (youth & adult), tote bags, travel mugs – and the collectible IH544 toy tractor with a 2-point mounted sickle mower is available for the first time ever. The tractor is being sold exclusively through the 2011 Marathon County Farm Tech Days and only 1,000 will be produced. Proceeds will support the 2011 Marathon County Farm Tech Days. The only catch with the tractor is that you can buy it now, but it will not be available until the show in July.

Wisconsin Farm Technology Days is the largest agriculture exposition in Wisconsin that showcases the latest improvements in production agriculture. Each year, the three day event is held in a different Wisconsin county on a different host family farm. With over 600 exhibitors, the show draws 60,000 agriculture and rural visitors from Wisconsin and surrounding states.

The July 12-14, 2011 show will be held at the Ken & Karen Seehafer farm north of Marshfield. The 3rd generation family farm was originally purchased by Ken’s grandfather in 1930 consisting of 80 acres. The farm grew to 200 acres by Ken’s parents, Alma and Elmer Sr., and were milking 36 cows when Ken joined the operation in l968. He purchased the farm in 1972 and it continued to change throughout the years to its existing 750 acres owned plus 100 rented and 250 milking cows.

Understanding GPS/GNSS Drift

Kurt LawtonEducation, GPS, Guidance, Planting, Satellite, Spraying

GPS/GNSS drift, or how accurate your guidance system is over time, is explained in a new piece on www.AlabamaPrecisionAgOnline.com.

The Alabama Precision Agriculture Team discovered that some users of GPS/GNSS-based technologies were not optimizing the GPS/GNSS correction services for their particular field operations (e.g. using the WAAS correction service for planting). It is imperative to understand the different accuracies associated with GPS/GNSS correction services so one can maximize benefits of their precision ag technologies.

GPS/GNSS Drift
Upon returning to the field, a producer may notice discrepancy between what he/she knows to be the crop row where an AB line was previously established, and where the guidance device is suggesting the AB line is located. WAAS and sub-meter correction services may seem accurate during one field operation but be off-track when the operator returns to the field. This result is because there is typically large ambiguity between pass-to-pass accuracy and year-to-year accuracy or GPS drift.

 GPS/GNSS Drift / Year-To-Year Accuracy (Y2Y) / Long-term Accuracy: Drift can be defined as GPS/GNSS receiver (guidance system) accuracy over time. Causes of drift are changes in satellite configuration, operating near trees or other obstacles, and satellite data errors.

 Pass-to-Pass Accuracy (P2P): Represents the short-term (<15 min.) relative accuracy of a GPS/GNSS receiver but does not necessarily reflect long-term accuracy (which includes drift). One can think of this as the accuracy between adjacent, parallel passes made within 15 minutes of one another.

Since manufacturers typically report pass-to-pass accuracy, it is generally used for equipment purchasing decisions. However, this accuracy may not reveal how the guidance or GPS/GNSS-based system will perform relative to the last operation or over the course of time if previously established AB lines are re-used. This result is especially true when AB lines are established for planting and re-used for harvesting.

As mentioned above, GPS/GNSS drift is largely due to the changing GPS/GNSS satellite constellation patterns used by the guidance device to derive positional information. GPS/GNSS satellites are in continuous motion orbiting the earth twice per day in a repeated pattern. It is assumed that the GPS/GNSS satellite constellation and environmental conditions will not drastically change within a given 15 minute time span, thus derived positions using the same satellite constellation and environmental conditions will be closely correlated relative to each other. However, the GPS/GNSS satellite constellation and atmospheric conditions change over just short time periods resulting in different satellites in varying geometric configurations. Therefore, the magnitude of drift expressed by your device is dependent on the correction service used. Using WAAS, potential range of drift is plus or minus 4.7 feet. With sub-meter accuracy, it’s 2.3 ft.; with decimeter it’s 1.7 ft.; and with RTK it’s 1 inch.

Read on to learn solutions…

The Tea Leaf Collection

Melissa SandfortAgricultural Anthropology

Before we got married, we went to the store and registered for gifts we thought we needed as a new couple, some of which included two sizes of plates, matching bowls and coffee mugs. I think a place setting totaled about $8, if memory serves me right. The coffee mugs have never been used – I guess square plates are okay, but square mouths on coffee mugs is just on oddity, according to my husband.

However, if you visit my Grandmother’s house, you might notice four china hutches stacked FULL of fancy dishes. First entered in the British Registry in 1856, white ironstone china became very popular in England and was soon exported to America in 100-pound barrels, sometimes used as ballast for merchant ships. This display is the “tea leaf” pattern, part of my Grandmother’s collection, which has been a popular special display at the local museum. Her mother started the collection when she was given a sugar bowl by her grandmother. In the 1940s, relatives and friends added to the collection and my Grandmother inherited the collection in the 1960s. She has added various pieces from many sources and now there are more than 300 pieces of the fine china.

I’m guessing that a place setting is more than $8. The art of china hutches packed full with great-grandmother’s dishes is lost … but somehow, my Grandma has managed to salvage not only a beautiful set of dishes, but a large piece of history.

Until our next history lesson…

Why Advanced Technology is Needed in Farming

Kurt LawtonConservation, Education, Fertilizer, sustainability, Variable rate

Urban Lehner, head of editorial for DTN/The Progressive Farmer, wrote an opinion piece this week that talks about the need for precision farming technology to help balance high-yield production with environmental needs.

In the piece he writes… “But, for the foreseeable future, technology will be the key to boosting yields and avoiding billions of acres of forests and grasslands morphing into farmland.

Having said that, I’d add that improving yields isn’t the only contribution agriculture should make to the environment. The dictator also wants to maximize soil health and minimize runoff and input use.

Can technology-driven non-organic agriculture do that? There are reasons for hope. GPS, GIS and other tools of precision agriculture enable farmers to use only what’s absolutely needed in the way of seeds, fertilizers, chemicals and fuels. And the high price of inputs motivates farmers to realize precision agriculture’s potential.”

Read the rest of the piece here.

Scoop Up Some Extra Holiday Cash

Joanna SchroederCompany Announcement, General

Scoop up some extra cash for the holiday season by filling out the Precision.AgWired.com Survey. By participating in our fast, easy quick 5 minute survey, you could win $250 to spend on yourself or to help spread the joy to your friends and family.

Here’s all you need to do. Click on this link to complete the survey that will help the blogging team bring you more stories that are of interest to you. Once you’ve answered all the questions, enter to win $250 in cash. Each month, one winner will be chosen from all of the survey’s entrants. Non winners will be put into the drawing for the next month so there is no need to fill out the survey multiple times.

And while you’re at it, send us your thoughts on our monthly poll question. Which precision farming tools do you currently use in your farm operations? You can sound off by posting a comment to this story, or sending your response to PPPoll@hotmail.com. Select answers will be used in an upcoming story for the blog.

Ready to win?  Then click here to begin.

Give Thanks for Food

Cindy ZimmermanGeneral

The AgChat Foundation has come up with a unique idea for you to use during this upcoming week of Thanksgiving. It’s called #foodthanks. It’s a way to show your thanks for the food we enjoy every day and the people who produce it.

So what you’re encouraged to do is go to the webpage where you’ll find images for your Twitter accounts and other web purposes. Tweet with the hashtag, #foodthanks, especially on November 24.

Remember that all this week is National Farm-City Week, always the week before Thanksgiving, to celebrate the important partnership between farm and urban residents in providing the nation with a bounty of food, fiber, fuel and a growing list of other other products. Chuck Zimmerman, president of Animal.AgWired.com’s parent company ZimmComm New Media, took part in a panel discussion to kick off Farm City Week held Thursday in Lancaster, PA. The panel addressed the urban media’s coverage of agriculture in the annual Farm-City Week Symposium “Agriculture: A Growing Story” and explored ways to promote the positive news about farming and ranching.

The symposium was broadcast live on AgriTalk and can be viewed here:

Watch live streaming video from agritalk at livestream.com

Sensor-based Variable-Rate Application on Cotton

Kurt LawtonCotton, Equipment, Remote sensing, Spraying, University

A new publication for cotton growers offer insight and details into sensor-based variable-rate application and equipment, written by Oklahoma State University Ag Engineer Randy Taylor and Auburn University Precision Ag Extension Specialist John Fulton, funded by Cotton Incorporated.

There are great opportunities for this technology in cotton production for varying the application of plant growth regulators, harvest aids, and nitrogen. However, the users must understand the limitations of their equipment and the sensors being used in order to maximize the benefits.

Users should understand the agronomy behind prescriptions and be comfortable with the recommendations. Familiarity with these prescriptions can allow users to fine tune them for their environment or to develop their own prescription algorithms. They should also understand their equipment and know how to tune their controller for optimum response. As with all new technologies, users should seek advice from experts and those who are already implementing sensor–based variable rate application.

Learn more here.

And check out the Oklahoma State University Precision Ag Technology webpages.

Save Chemical Input Cost with Precision Farming Technology

Kurt LawtonConservation, Fertilizer, Guidance, Harvesting, Planting, seed, Spraying, Variable rate

In the North Dakota Farm Business Management Program, coordinator Steve Metzger says producers are telling him they are using far less chemicals, saving money and the environment thanks to the tools of precision agriculture, according to a recent story in Farm & Ranch Guide.

“We talk to each producer that we work with, and they are the ones telling us that they sure use less chemicals on a field than they used to because of the (precision farming) technology they have,” he said. “I think from those discussions, most are figuring they are saving between 5 to 10 percent on a field with GPS technology.”

Metzger likes to mention the story of a farmer who has been enrolled in the Farm Business Management Program for several years. When ordering herbicide for his total crop acreage he always added five percent to what he had figured and ended up using the entire amount each year. However, the year he added a sprayer with GPS and boom control to his operation he took the entire extra five percent that he always ordered back to the chemical dealer because he didn’t need it.

With the average chemical cost for wheat today at $31.23 per acre, Metzger said there is the potential for great savings.

“If you start looking at saving $2 to $3 an acre on chemical on a couple thousand acres of wheat, it doesn’t take very long before the savings can add up to $5-, $10- or $20,000 on an average farm,” he said.

“And as the costs increase, there is even more of a desire to save all the time,” he continued. “If we didn’t have the GPS units we might still be over-applying by going around sloughs twice, doing the headlands twice – those types of things. But with the GPS and the automatic shutoff, those areas of over-application are taken care of.”

And the savings doesn’t end with chemicals. The five major costs associated with crop production–chemicals, fuel, repairs, seed and fertilizer–can all be trimmed back. Read on for more details.

Plow Sets New World Record

Cindy ZimmermanEducation, General

The Manitoba Agricultural Museum has plowed new ground with a world record for the Largest Operational Agricultural Plow, according to the World Records Academy.

The museum assembled and used the 77 foot wide plow at the Manitoba Threshermen’s Reunion and Stampede. The first plowing pass used five 30-60 E Rumely steam tractors to pull the monster plow across a field north of the Reunion grounds. Then they used a single 535 HP New Holland 4 wheel drive tractor with ATI tracks to see if modern agriculture could compete with century old technology – and it did quite well!

“We were excited to break the record for the world’s largest usable plow with 30-60 E Rumely OilPull tractors as they originally created this record in 1911,” said Erron Leafloor, the plow’s chief engineer.

See more photos from the event on Facebook and read more about it from the World Records Academy. Pretty cool!