It’s National Ag Day and John Deere is a major partner of the event via the Agriculture Council of America. You’ll find a lot of good information on their website.

Today’s farmers work nearly 3 1/2 times as much land compared to their predecessors back in 1900 and consolidation is continuing to change farmer’s equipment needs. “There is an on-going consolidation in agriculture that results in fewer farmers farming more acres,” says Doug DeVries, Sr. Vice President Agricultural Marketing for North America, Australia and Asia at John Deere in Moline, Ill. “Their needs for equipment are changing. Their expectations for what the equipment will do for their farming operation are also changing.”

Besides all the major equipment launches of the past several years by John Deere, it’s in the area of precision technology that some of the most beneficial innovations are taking place to help farmers remain profitable.

John Deere also provides technology services to farmers that include wireless information transfer and satellite guidance systems for driving equipment. With JD Link™ farmers can have information about their equipment and production operations transferred directly from the equipment in the field to a Web site for easy access later. This can greatly improve their efficiency and increase the life of their equipment by ensuring more timely maintenance.

GreenStar™ AutoTrac is a satellite guidance system introduced to farmers by John Deere in 2002 and expanded in 2003. This assisted steering system is extremely accurate (within 4-inches pass to pass accuracy) and guides the tractor in a straight line down the row. The operator still turns the tractor at the end of each pass, and must also steer around obstacles such as trees, ditches, and waterways. This technology helps farmers by reducing fatigue and benefits consumers by reducing input costs so the end product costs less when it reaches the retail shelf.

Overall, new technology, such as Field Doc, an agronomic data collection system that uses KeyCard software and three common GreenStar components, provides farmers with better, more timely information to ensure quality, efficient crop production. The information infrastructure also allows growers to track their crops and the production processes used to produce those crops better. A key factor as biotechnology and traceability of specific crop varieties become even more important in food production.

So, it’s a good day to thank a farmer and it looks like you can continue to count on John Deere to do all they can to provide farmers with technology that will help them feed the world!