Excitement Builds for AG CONNECT Expo 2011

Joanna SchroederAg Connect Expo, Audio, Education, Equipment, Irrigation

It’s been nearly a year since the inaugural AG CONNECT Expo happened in Orlando, Florida back in January. A successful first-time event, AG CONNECT Expo 2011 is shaping up to be even better. AgWired reporter Cindy Zimmerman caught up with the show’s director Sara Mooney to learn what is on tap for next year’s event being held at the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta, Georgia on January 7-10, 2011.

Mooney attributes much of the show’s success to their industry supporters. “The show was 30 years in the making so there was a lot of interest and a lot of participation from throughout the industry. So it was a very successful event,” said Mooney.

It’s also the support of the industry that is helping them create an even more educational event for next year. Mooney said this year there are more exhibitors and 35 brand new sessions targeted for growers who want to learn more about precision farming to those who own dairy or beef operations. Several of the educational sessions will cover smartphone technology, wireless technology and irrigation. All the sessions are designed to help growers better manage their farm operations all while increasing profits.

This year, AG CONNECT Expo 2011 will be hosted along side the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual meeting. The group will be exhibiting along side AG CONNECT in the pavilion and attendees of both events will have access to all the exhibits. In addition, the event is certified as an international buyer program show by the U.S. Department of Commerce and Mooney said this is advantageous because the event is promoted at their posts throughout the world. Last year, 20 percent of the attendees were from other countries and Mooney expects this number to be much higher at next year’s show.

To learn more about the event, see a list of the dozens of educational programs and to view information about the more than 100 exhibitors, visit www.agconnect.com. You can also register online and those who sign up by December 10, 2010 will receive registration discounts.

You can also learn more about AG CONNECT Expo 2011 in Sara Mooney’s interview. [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/nafb/nafb10-agconnect.mp3″ text=”Don’t Miss AG CONNECT Expo 2011″]

Early Registration Begins for 2011 Commodity Classic

Kurt LawtonCommodity Classic, Education, Equipment, Farmers, Industry News, Resources

Set sail for Tampa, Fla., March 3-5, 2011 to attend the annual gathering of soybean, corn, wheat and sorghum growers at the 2011 Commodity Classic. Sign up before January 20 and save bushels of value on your registration fees.

This year’s Commodity Classic will feature high-energy discussions at more than 30 educational sessions. Explore a trade show floor packed with the latest products and technology. Hear views on the state of the industry, as well as spend an entertaining evening with the music of Little River Band.

Check out the brochure for all the details and visit the website for registration and more.

AgriSolutions Offers Update for AgManager

Cindy ZimmermanSoftware

A popular agricultural accounting program is getting a face lift.

AgriSolutions®, the developer of AgManager® accounting software, is announcing an exciting new release which includes many feature updates and a new, easy-to-use interface. These improvements further enhance the ability of agricultural producers to manage the demands of their modern farm businesses. The agricultural accounting experts at AgriSolutions Inc., of Brighton, Ill., will release the upgrade on the company’s website, www.agrisolutions.com, on November 17.

AgManager®, an “old friend” to many farmers and ag accountants, is getting a new face and enhanced functionality, according to AgriSolutions Assistant Director of Operations Carolyn Roberts. The early leader in producers’ implementation of managerial accounting, this customized software comes packaged with individualized set up, technical support, live and online training, updates, and benchmarking. Expert management consultation is available to provide additional financial insight.

“For U.S. farmers and their accountants, modern times demand modern tools. All types of ag producers today face tighter margins than in the past. Marketing techniques, from hedging to contract sales, add complexity to tracking costs and projecting potential income,” said Roberts. “It’s an ever-changing environment that calls for top-notch accounting software, and ongoing support to back it up.”

New AgManager® features boost user-friendliness as farm accountants input transactions, monitor financial position and create reports, Roberts said. The software has a new menu structure that improves user navigation and adds “tool tips” which make it easier for new users to understand the menu options. There also are updated icons, a new calendar for easy date selection, and a new calculator that quickly updates amount fields and includes an electronic “tape.” All of these features are designed to make data entry and navigation much easier for the user.

Read more here.

Wireless on the Farm

Cindy ZimmermanResearch, Video

Wireless on the farm can help produce better crops, net more money for growers and land a superior product in stores for consumers, according to studies by Texas AgriLife Research scientists.

“We’re working on a system that uses wireless sensing in rice production,” said Dr. Lee Tarpley, AgriLife Research plant physiologist in Beaumont. “We’d like to be able to continuously monitor field conditions such as temperature and soil moisture, and using sensors allows us to do that. We can put them in the field and collect the data from them inside on our computer.”

Other researchers have devised a wireless system that can pinpoint the location on the farm where each module of cotton grew so a farmer can use the information to figure out why fiber quality differed on various acres. “We wanted to take that data and map it back to the field the cotton was grown in,” said Dr. Alex Thomasson, AgriLife Research agricultural engineer. “That enabled us to look at areas of a given field where cotton of different quality comes from. The ultimate goal was to produce profit maps that show how much money is being made or lost on each portion of a field.”

Read the whole article from Texas AgriLife Research here and watch the video below.

New Control For Air Cart Seeding and Fertilizer Application

Kurt LawtonAg Leader, Company Announcement, Fertilizer, Planting, seed, Variable rate

Grower who want precision control of their air carts will soon be available from Ag Leader Technology to control seeding and granular fertilizer application.

This new functionality enables control of up to three channels of granular product or a combination of one channel of seed and two channels of granular product. The new Air Cart support provides the benefits of SeedCommand and DirectCommand to broad-acre seeding.

“Support for air carts for seeding and fertilizer application is something our growers have requested, and Ag Leader now provides a valuable precision farming tool for broad-acre operations,” says John Howard, Product Manager. “The calibration enhancements, meter prime feature and support for meter circuit clutches provide benefits such as AutoSwath, data logging and mapping and variable-rate seeding or fertilizer application for these operations.”

Additional features of the air cart support include tables for referencing stored meter calibration values to reduce the chance of error; variable rate control by product for more efficient use of inputs; support for bin level and fan speed sensors; and an automatic meter shut off option if fan speed falls below a minimum setting. The air cart support is available with Ag Leader’s INTEGRA display.

One By One

Melissa SandfortAgricultural Anthropology

Then: A hand-held corn planter that planted seeds, one by one.
Versus
Now: A 24-row drawn planter with consistent, accurate seed spacing, liquid fertilizer pump and delivery system, variable rate drive and insecticide application system.

It was the spring of 1940 and my grandfather had just endured his first year of life in the college of agriculture at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. He volunteered his time that summer planting corn test plots for yield and variety testing. And he used this hand-held corn planter, which required the user to take a step, place the planter in the soil with his boot, release a seed and move on to the next spot. One seed at a time.

Then: I have always admired the work, endurance and heart of a farmer. They put in countless, thankless hours of sweat and soul into a field, they battle Mother Nature’s attempts to holster their dreams, and yet they get up every day before dawn to do it all over again in an effort to keep a part of history alive – the farming history that this country was built on.

Versus

Now: I still admire the work of a farmer. But after spending a few hours perusing the shelves of grandpa’s “antique farm”, I have come to realize that no book, nor author, can tell the story of the life of a farmer better than taking a look at his hands. And as I write these stories, one by one, my grandfather’s hands are taking me along the roadmap to our past, and the story of what has become our future.

Until our next history lesson…

Powerful Software and Good Data Drives Better Decisions

Kurt LawtonAg Leader, Data Collection, Fertilizer, Insights Weekly, Research, Retailers, Software, Variable rate

Insights WeeklyWhat if you had good solid data that could be correlated and optimized for fertility, seeding rate, hybrid/variety type, and crop inputs—all by different management zones—for every field you farm?

To that end, I spoke today with John McGuire, owner and tech guru of Simplified Technology Services in Montpelier, Oh., who is helping growers in northwest Ohio figure out their fields with the help of powerful Ag Leader SMS Advanced software. McGuire works with growers on ways to optimize yield data collection, build management zones, conduct field research and help turn all that data into profitable management decisions.

“The first issue we help growers with is obtaining quality yield data with tools I developed to make yield monitor calibration easier. Once we have the data, then we sit down with growers and review each field with a LCD projector on a white board so the farmer can circle suspect areas of fields,” McGuire says.

He then takes all that information to set up management zones based on patterns they see in the fields then develop soil sampling plans from that. And as farmers obtain more data—such as Veris soil electrical conductivity, elevation data, planting data, product application data—he relies on the computing and analysis power of SMS Advanced software to layer all this data with yield and management zones.

“SMS allows us to look at many different comparisons, even point-by-point in a field, in order to look at many ‘what if’ scenarios to help figure out different approaches to try to solve problems areas of fields,” McGuire says. “And no matter what type of precision farming equipment a farmer uses, we can handle many data formats with SMS.”

Once farmers get comfortable with understanding what the software and data comparisons can do, then some will take it a step further and want to build strip trials into fields in order to make better management decisions. “We have a handful of growers who are conducting strip trials to compare hybrids and varieties, fungicides, seed treatments, nitrogen, P & K, seed populations and more. And as we add these data layers of results, the analysis tools in SMS Advanced really help growers make management decisions that save money and add profits,” he says.

“I’ve been working with SMS for almost ten years. I’m impressed with how much time Ag Leader spends polishing and continuing to tweak this already powerful software, constantly listening to users and providing superior analysis tools. It doesn’t get any better than SMS, as far as I can tell,” McGuire adds.

When not immersed in dealing with data, McGuire also works as a sales and service guy for Nester Ag Management, a precision agriculture equipment sales company.

Visit these links for more information.

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

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

Nester Ag http://www.nesterag.com/

Previous story on SMS and in-field scouting
http://precision.agwired.com/2010/06/how-software-helps-in-season-scouting-and-management-zones/

Precision VR Manure Application Trials Promising

Kurt LawtonFertilizer, Variable rate

A recent Canadian demonstration project to determine if variable rate (VR) fertilizer techniques work for manure was featured in the recent National Hog Farmer magazine.

Producers were impressed with the concept, but found current manure application technology fell short of the challenge. The potential agronomic/economic benefit would be increased yields in more productive areas of the field by applying more nutrients to these areas and, therefore, decreasing the environmental risk of nutrient leaching to bodies of water.

In the study, manure was applied using the drag hose application method. Application rates were varied based on global position satellite field maps indicating different nutrient requirements for different parts of the fields. Satellite imagery identified zones using different light bands to create a vegetative index of better growing parts of the field. The zones were then individually soil tested to determine the reasons for the variability across zones and establish the optimal nutrient application rate.

Project leader Scott Dick with Agra-Gold Consulting, Ltd. says an increasing number of producers are adopting VR application with commercial fertilizer to tailor application rates to the varying nutrient requirements on different sections of a field. That technique can produce better nutrient utilization by the crop, higher yields, lower costs and reduced environmental risk of excess nutrients contaminating water supplies.

While adapting variable-rate techniques to manure application would seem to have good potential, there still needs to be some refinement in the application of the technology, he says.

“Producers accepted the methodology used in creating the different management zones, but they weren’t ready to embrace this precision approach yet,” Dick reports.

Read why they came to that conclusion…

How to Choose GPS/GNSS Accuracy

Kurt LawtonGPS, Guidance, Satellite, University

If you’re just starting to look at more advanced precision agriculture practices on your farm such as auto steer, take a look at your operation to see which signal is right for you. Jonathan Hall, a grad assistant at Auburn University, offers some tips on the Precision Ag Blog.

After exploring all of the equipment that can be purchased, you will find that there are three basic options for GPS accuracy:

1. A free signal, known as Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), provides pass-to-pass accuracy of about ±6 to 13 inches and has a potential GPS drift of ±4 to ±7 ft. WAAS is managed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

2. A “corrected” signal that requires a paid subscription can provide a pass-to-pass accuracy between ±2 and ±13 inches and has a potential GPS drift of ±1.7 to ±3 ft depending on the correction service.

3. A real-time kinematic (RTK) system that provides pass-to-pass accuracy of ±1 inch and a potential GPS drift of ±1 inch. This system requires the purchase of an RTK base station if an RTK network, such as CORS, does not already exist in your area. The Continually Operation Reference Station (CORS) network is a free RTK signal operated and monitored by the National Geodetic Survey (NGS). If CORS is not available in your area an annual subscription for a proprietary RTK network can be purchased.

It is important to keep in mind two terms relating to GPS/GNSS accuracy when evaluating signal options. Pass-to-pass accuracy is the accuracy of the GPS/GNSS receiver over a 15 minute time-frame and pertains to short-term operations such as spraying or fertilizing fields. GPS drift is the accuracy of the GPS/GNSS receiver over an extended period of time. GPS drift is more long-term and becomes important when planting or harvesting.

Check out his piece to learn more.