Providing Steering Solutions to OEMs

Melissa SandfortAg Leader, Company Announcement, Raven

Novariant, Inc., announced its decision to focus its business on providing tailored solutions for OEM partners across the globe. This announcement reflects the strategic shift that has been underway since Novariant established partnerships with industry leading companies including Ag Leader Technology and Raven Industries, Inc.

As part of this refined business focus, Novariant has assigned the rights of several of its aftermarket European distributors to its longstanding partner, Ag Leader. This follows Novariant’s successful 2010 transition of North American distribution to Ag Leader. Novariant will continue to sell its industry leading solutions in Australia through its wholly owned subsidiary, GPS-Ag.

Wildlife Conservation Efforts on Working Agricultural Lands

Melissa SandfortAgribusiness, USDA

Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Chief Dave White and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Director Dan Ashe announced an agreement that will provide long-term regulatory predictability for up to 30 years to farmers, ranchers and forest landowners participating in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Working Lands for Wildlife (WLFW) Initiative. Participants voluntarily implement proven conservation practices designed to protect wildlife habitat, including several at risk species and vulnerable game species on private lands.

The agreement builds on a $33 million investment NRCS announced last spring dedicated toward producers who develop and implement conservation plans to manage and restore high-priority habitats for seven specific wildlife species across the country. The species are greater sage-grouse, New England cottontail, bog turtle, golden-winged warbler, gopher tortoise, lesser prairie-chicken and the Southwestern willow flycatcher. NRCS, FWS and numerous state and local entities are partnering to implement WLFW.

PrecisionAg’s Top 5 Trends List

Melissa SandfortAgribusiness, General, Industry News

No matter what way you look at it, precision agriculture continues to play an ever more important role in the world today. Right now, precision ag technologies almost run the gambit of alphabet letters, from automatic steering to yield monitors. And each year, more and more customers get involved in the precision agriculture marketplace, looking for ways to maximize their profit ability through the use of technology.

Of course, with so many options to choose from, some folks have probably wondered which ones are the most important to growers and ag retailers. For this reason each year, Precision Ag Special Report polls a handful of industry experts to find out which technologies have largely driven growth during the present year and why each is important to the marketplace’s overall expansion.

For the 2012 poll, somewhat surprisingly, precision ag technology market watchers said the five most important growth drivers were identical to those that drove growth in 2011. However, there were some major shifts in the order of importance each of these Tech Top 5 played in 2012 vs. 2011.

Here are the findings.

Clean Tanks Mean Cleaner Fuel for Equipment

Cindy ZimmermanFarm Progress Show, Growmark, Video

A dirty fuel tank can result in farm equipment running less efficiently, which is why GROWMARK STAR energy was demonstrating a high efficiency fuel tank cleaning process at the 2012 Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa.

Curt Snyder with STAR Energy demonstrated the cleaner, which can run in any size tank from 500-1000 gallons. “It has a pressurized nozzle that sprays throughout the tank, scours it inside. Meanwhile, in the back, it’s sucking up the fuel and running it through our filtering system to take out all the impurities,” he explained. “We’re able to get down to even the smallest pieces of sand.”

Snyder says it’s good to go into harvest season with a clean tank so you don’t get any grit from an old tank into your fuel system. More information is available from STAR Energy in Iowa or any FS fuel delivery service.

Watch a demo of the tank cleaner in the video below:


2012 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Precision.AgWired.com coverage of the 2012 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by John Deere and AgLeader

John Deere Offers Remote Display Access

Cindy ZimmermanAudio, Farm Progress Show, John Deere, Software

The farm of the future is getting a little closer with John Deere Remote Display Access.

“John Deere Remote Display Access gives customers and dealers the ability, with the customer’s permission, to actually view and see the 2630 display right from any internet-connected computer, or laptop or mobile devices – smartphone or tablet,” explained senior product manager Dave Mulder at the 2012 Farm Progress Show.

As part of the growing suite of JDLink™ telematic products, Mulder says Remote Display Access improves communication and offers faster resolution of problems to increase equipment uptime and operational performance in the field. “It enables (the farmer) to see exactly what’s going on with any piece of equipment at any point in time,” he said. “This new telematics and wireless capability just enables us a whole new realm to go into and I think it’s just the next evolution of productivity and management.”

The Remote Display Access was just introduced in June, so Farm Progress Show was the first time many farmers got to see it. Mulder says soon they will be introducing Mobile Farm Manager, another mobile app where customers can manage agronomic data and what’s going on in their fields at their fingertips.

Listen to my interview with Dave here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/farm-progress/fps12-jd-mulder.mp3″ text=”John Deere’s Dave Mulder”]

2012 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Precision.AgWired.com coverage of the 2012 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by John Deere and AgLeader

National Watershed Research Network Established

Melissa SandfortResearch, USDA

Photo by Peggy Greb.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service announced that it has established a Long Term Agro-ecosystem Research (LTAR) network from among its existing experimental watersheds and rangelands nationwide to address large-scale, multi-year research, environmental management testing and technology transfer related to the nation’s agricultural ecosystems.

The 10 sites chosen are affiliated with ARS research units located at Ames, Iowa; Cheyenne, Wyo.; Columbia, Mo.; El Reno, Okla.; Las Cruces, N.M.; Mandan, N.D.; Pullman, Wash.; Tifton, Ga.; Tucson, Ariz.; and University Park, Pa.

The LTAR network can provide data that can be used in the development of innovative management systems that increase the resilience of agricultural ecosystems in the face of rapid environmental and socioeconomic change, and can help assess the environmental and societal impacts of different agricultural practices and land uses within a particular landscape.

Information from LTAR also can contribute to the development of agricultural production systems that maximize energy conservation and reduce greenhouse gases, while investigating various forms of incentives to encourage on-farm adoption and mitigation, and optimize biodiversity to conserve and protect natural resources while enhancing agricultural profitability.

New Corner Pivot ROI Calculator

Melissa SandfortAgribusiness, Company Announcement, Irrigation

Lindsay Corporation recently released a new online calculator which can be used to determine the return on investment of installing a custom corner pivot irrigation system. The calculator tabulates the upfront investment of Zimmatic by Lindsay’s 9500CC Customer Corner with GPS Corner Guidance.

According to Tanner Hoffman, Zimmatic product manager, the calculator takes into account fuel or electricity cost, the annual revenue increase and years to break-even for the investment. Growers can also evaluate the investment across various crops, including corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton and potatoes, while taking into account yield and commodity price scenarios.

A GPS base station located at the pivot point communicates to the 9500CC’s corn arm, providing RTK correction for repeatable path accuracy. SmartChip technology from Lindsay helps determine the best application rate for a custom watering program to eliminate over- or under-watering.

Ag Leader Academy Dealer Training Wraps Up

Chuck ZimmermanAg Leader, Audio, Education, Insights Weekly

Insights Weekly

For more than three years, Ag Leader has been providing customer and dealer training via Ag Leader Academy. And, Ag Leader Academy reached a new personal record by hosting over 70 dealer trainings this summer. With record attendance, Ag Leader Dealers will be more prepared than ever before to help growers through a successful harvest. One way Ag Leader dealers help prepare growers is through customer training.

Andy Boyle, Ag Leader training coordinator, says the different courses break things down for more specialized learning, including hands-on experience. Training sessions include information about Ag Leader displays, SeedCommand and DirectCommand setup and operation, automated steering with ParaDyme and OnTrac2+ and a host of other topics.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Andy here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/agleader/ag-leader-7-12-boyle.mp3″ text=”Interview with Andy Boyle”]

Be sure to visit with your local dealer for all the latest from Ag Leader – and while there, take a look at their wall to see if there are certificates displayed. That means they passed the quizzes at the Ag Leader Academy!

Become a fan of Ag Leader on Facebook today, and get the latest precision ag videos on the YouTube channel. For more information about Ag Leader products and services, or to visit the blog site, go to www.agleader.com.

AgGateway Enhances AGIIS Product Directory

Melissa SandfortCompany Announcement

AgGateway is excited to announce the launch of significant enhancements to the AGIIS product directory. The changes make it easier for AGIIS subscribers to add and maintain data on chemical, seed, feed and fertilizer products, and also introduce new security features that allow subscribers to determine who can access their product information.

Among the new, specific enhancements is a simplified Web interface that allows AGIIS subscribers to add and maintain products more easily. With updated XML and CSV bulk file formats, and new web services, users can now add and update large datasets.

In addition to the simplified access, these enhancements incorporate new security features so that AGIIS subscribers can precisely specify which users can access their product information. Subscribers can now manage security settings at a company and product level to fit any number of security needs and preferences.

Minimum Tillage Changes Due to Drought

Melissa SandfortZimmPoll

Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, ” What tillage practice changes will you make due to drought?”

Our poll results: Thirty-one percent said No change, continue conventional till; thirty-five percent said No change, continue conservation till; fifteen percent said Will start conservation till (no-till, strip-till, other) on part of crop; and nineteen percent said Will start conservation till (no-till, strip-till, other) on all of crop.

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, ” Do you plan to buy an iPhone 5?” It’s taller, thinner, lighter weight and has a bigger screen. Or do you just love your Android? Or not want a smartphone at all? What do you think?

ZimmPoll is sponsored by Rhea+Kaiser, a full-service advertising/public relations agency.