The theme of the 2013 Southern Peanut Growers Conference was “Making Sustainability Work” and one important aspect of sustainability is profitability. To that end, one of the greatest advancements in farming sustainability and profitability over the past decade or so has come from the use of precision technology.
“One of the biggest things we can offer them is guidance,” said Ag Leader Technology southeast territory representative Kyle Snodgrass. “They are able to actually figure out where the peanuts are going in the ground and where they’re going to be when it’s time to harvest.”
Kyle says that improved cell phone coverage has helped improve signal capability for guidance systems and there are lots of new precision products, such as Advanced Seed Monitoring and variable rate applicators, that more peanut growers are starting to use. “They look at their bottom line after the first year and they’re absolutely shocked and amazed and they say why did a I wait so long?”
Listen to my interview with Kyle here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/peanuts/spgc13-agleader.mp3″ text=”Ag Leader Rep Kyle Snodgrass”]