John Deere has released the next generation of it’s 8R Tractors. These new tractors integrate the “smart-tractor” concept into the row-crop tractors, and by “smart” I mean the tractor provides growers all the latest and greatest precision ag technologies right at their fingertips. I caught up with Cody Dicken during the Farm Progress Show to take a look at the … Read More
Leica Geosystems Making Progress
During the Farm Progress Show one of the many precision ag companies exhibiting was Leica Geosystems. Here’s their team posing for a photo opp during my visit. I spoke with Harlan Little, North American Business Manager, on the far right, to learn what’s new with Leica. Harlan says they’ve got a lot of interest in their touch screen units, the … Read More
USDA Studies Show Value of Agrotain Plus & SuperU
Nitrogen is a very important element in corn development and this year it seemed to be in short supply in many wet areas of the Midwest. When growers have to apply nitrogen, once such product they use is Agrotain Plus, a nitrogen stabilizer which controls nitrogen loss by blocking the enzyme urease. Agrotain Plus can be added in liquid nitrogen … Read More
John Deere Launches New Precision Technologies
John Deere has launched several new precision ag technologies including a new telematics system, JDLink, GreenStar 3 family of displays, the StarFire 3000 GNSS Receiver, iGrade, that helps producers better manage surface water movement, and iSteer, that improves implement guidance in a grower’s field. “The GreenStar 3 and the new GreenStar 3 2630 display is the new generation of GreenStar … Read More
Raven Introduces OmniRow, Envizio Pro II & SmartYield
During the Farm Progress Show held last week in Boone, Iowa, Raven introduced several new products including OmniRow, Envizio Pro II and SmartYield. I caught up with Ryan Molitor to learn about these new products and more. Molitor began by explaining that OmniRow is an advanced planter control system. This system enables the grower to do variable rate seeding either … Read More
Precision Planting Pays
“Precision Planting’s business is trying to make sure seeds get into the right space at the right distance and seeds only land where they need to land,” Precision Planting’s Jason Larkin explained to me during the Farm Progress Show. We use precision technology to know where the tractor is at and where the plant is at to control population, so … Read More
Ag Leader Talks GPS Guidance & Steering
Earlier this year Ag Leader launched a new GPS guidance and steering technology called ParaDyme. While the product is still fairly new, growers are already raving about it. To learn more about its unique features and benefits, I spoke with Jeff Bentley, GPS Guidance and Steering Sales Manager for Ag Leader. ParaDyme is a fully functional, fully integrated hydraulic steering … Read More
Ag Industry Integral to America’s Future
During a press conference hosted by Growth Energy, Iowa Ag Secretary Bill Northey stressed the importance of the ethanol industry to agriculture. Northey told the tale of how corn farmers were looking for a way to sell their excess corn back in the 80s and so they created the ethanol industry. And it worked. Last year, ethanol used 4 billion … Read More
Politicians at Farm Progress Show
Instead of kissing babies and giving speeches, the Iowa politicians at Farm Progress Show 2010 were mostly wearing hats and doing interviews as they walked through the show talking constituents or potential voters. Iowa’s Senator Chuck Grassley spent some time checking out all the new technology on display at the show, between media interviews. In the photo, he is being … Read More
Precision.AgWired.com: Sometimes Precision Is Not That Precise
In this edition of the Precision.AgWired.com Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we listen to an explanation of how precision agriculture sometimes actually misses the mark. The whole idea of precision agriculture is being able to precisely place seeds, fertilizer, pesticides and any other applications in the exact right place at the exact right time in the exact right portion, … Read More