International Precision Agriculture Conference in July

Kurt LawtonEducation, Equipment, Events, International

Registration begins June 18 for the 10th International Precision Agriculture Conference, held July 18-21 at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center in Denver, Colorado.

Precision agriculture is growing and so is the precision agricultural community across the world. The 10th International Conference on Precision Agriculture is envisaged to be the largest ever; with more than 500 attendees from all over the U.S and over 40 countries (see program details, coming soon on www.icpaonline.org).

As with previous ICPA conferences, the 10 International Conference on Precision Agriculture will provide a forum for presentations on the current state of precision agriculture research and applications. The conference will facilitate interaction among research scientists, producers, technology company representatives, equipment manufacturers, input dealers, agronomic consultants, software developers, educators, government personnel and policymakers.

Presentation main topics include:

• Sensor Application in Managing In-season Crop Variability

• Spatial Variability in Crop, Soil and Natural Resources

• Precision Nutrient Management

• Precision Conservation

• Precision Horticulture

• Remote Sensing Applications in Precision Agriculture

• Engineering Technologies and Advances

• Profitability, Sustainability and Adoption

• Emerging Issues in Precision Agriculture (Energy, Biofuels, Climate Change)

• Information Management and Traceability

• Education and Training in Precision Agriculture

• Guidance, Auto Steer, and GPS Systems

• Modeling and Geo-statistics

• Global Proliferation of Precision Agriculture and its Applications

Think About Your Precision Nutrient Plan

Kurt LawtonConservation, Education, Fertilizer, sustainability

courtesy USDA

Best Management Practices, or BMPs, are essential for precision farming. Nate Taylor at ZedX wrote a good blog post yesterday on this subject.

As with any business, developing Best Management Practices (BMP) is essential to continued success and profitability. As you develop BMP’s for your farm, a critical piece to include are Nutrient Management plans. In this post we are going to focus on commodity crops.

Many times BMP’s are situational, especially with Agriculture and Nutrient Management. However, there are certain steps that broadly apply to developing a Nutrient Management plan for any farm. Once a plan is developed, the next step, developing BMP’s for fertilization, can be put in place. Let’s take a look at developing a Nutrient Management Plan

Farm Nutrient Managment Plan Steps:

  1. Assess the natural nutrient sources like soil reserves and legume contributions
  2. Identify fields or areas within fields that require special nutrient management practices
  3. Assess nutrient needs for each field by crop
  4. Determine quantity of nutrients that will be available from organic sources, such as manure or industrial or municipal wastes
  5. Allocate nutrients available from organic sources
  6. Calculate the amount of commercial fertilizer needed for each field
  7. Determine the ideal time and method of application
  8. Select nutrient sources that will be most effective and convenient for your operation.

List taken from the Illinois Agronomy Handbook, Robert G. Hoeft. rhoeft@uiuc.edu

Read the story to learn more about creating a plan.

How Software Helps In-Season Scouting and Management Zones

Kurt LawtonAg Leader, Corn, Guidance, Insights Weekly, Remote sensing, Retailers, Software

Insights WeeklyWhen discussion centers around all the data that fields can generate these days, crop consultants and savvy growers truly love powerful software programs. Especially when data can transfer easily between desktop and a mobile device to take to the field.

I spoke with Greg Kneubuhler the other day, who is a certified crop consultant, agronomist and owner of G&K Concepts in Harlan, Ind. Greg has been a true pioneering consultant in the NE Indiana/NW Ohio area—starting growers down the precision farming/yield gathering path back in the late 1990s. Today, his clients’ business has evolved into intensive precision management that includes precise zone management and applying the right variable-rates—all driven by on-farm research on every farm. To help accomplish such research, Greg works on numerous projects in cooperation with Joe Nester of Nester Ag, Bryan, Ohio.

“We’ve always used a zone management philosophy in fields—which started with soil types. Then we added yield and soil test data layers to begin developing variable-rate applications of nitrogen, lime, and even seed by management zones. But an accurate yield map is critical,” he says.

Kneubuhler, who has used various software over the years, now relies on SMS Advanced software from Ag Leader. Its data layering and management zone capabilities, along with its smooth data transfer between the SMS Mobile software on a handheld computer.

“I’m a daily SMS Advanced user, and I have yet to find a software that is better. If there was one, I’d be using it. I can manage all clients zones, all research trials, and easily sync data to SMS Mobile so I can use it to walk corn fields to exact locations for stalk nitrate tests or to check on potential issues that show up on aerial imagery,” he says.

These valuable information tools help Kneubuhler take all the geo-referenced data his clients collect, which he layers into his ‘sandwich.’ “As an agronomist, we use this tool to build a sandwich of every type of information we can gather—and that really helps us make very good management decisions today, and down the road.”

For more information, visit

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

SMS Mobile http://www.agleader.com/products/sms-mobile/

Ag Leader Precision Point blog – “Scouting the Crop” http://www.agleader.com/2010/05/25/scouting-the-crop/

G&K Concepts http://gkconcepts.com/Contact-Us.html

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

Certified Crop Advisors https://www.certifiedcropadviser.org/

Tracking the Latest in Precision Farming Terminology

Kurt LawtonEducation, GPS, Resources

Good precision agriculture information can be found at the Auburn University Cooperative Extension System Precision Ag website. A current publication deals with GPS/GNSS related terminology. From their Precision Ag Blog…

Ever wonder what GNSS, CMR or CORS stands for? Or what a datum or repeater really is? The world of GPS and Precision Agriculture often abounds with confusing terminology and acronyms, especially for those who don’t live there. A new publication is available on the Alabama Precision Ag website defining common GPS/GNSS (see what I mean?) terms, acronyms and components. Check out the new publication GPS/GNSS Related Terminology at http://www.aces.edu/anr/precisionag/GPS.php.

Written by Amy Winstead, Regional Extension Agent for Precision Agriculture, Alabama Cooperative Extension System. For more information visit www.alabamaprecisionagonline.com

More PrecisionAg Awards of Excellence

Cindy ZimmermanGeneral

Two more recipients of the 2010 PrecisionAg Awards of Excellence have been announced.

For Precision Crop Adviser/Entrepreneur, the award goes to Clint Jayroe and the OptiGro Team, part of the Jimmy Sanders, Inc. retail operation based in Cleveland, MS. The Education/Extension award recipient for 2010 is Dr. Terry Griffin, professor of economics at University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.

OptiGro provides agricultural advice, information, and precision agriculture resources to farmer-customers designed to provide maximum return on investment. OptiGro includes trained Certified Crop Advisors utilizing the latest software applications paired with Web transmission and integration for agricultural data processing, storage, and analysis. OptiGro improves the productivity and profitability of each customer through a higher level of management and expertise.

Jimmy Sanders, Inc. has been an agricultural leader and innovator in the Mid-South since 1953, serving production agriculture with farm inputs and on-farm expertise in all aspects of the unique needs of the Mississippi River Delta region. They service a diverse crop mix of rice, cotton, corn, soybeans, wheat, grain sorghum and even specialty crops such as sweet potatoes and peanuts.

Griffin has conducted economic analyses such as tracking technology adoption and evaluating farm-level profitability of yield monitors, variable rate applications, and GPS-enabled navigation technologies; but he has also worked with scientists not traditionally associated with precision agriculture such as gerontologists to study how GPS guidance impacts the quality-of-life of older farmers or those who suffer from disabilities.

He is active internationally collaborating as the economist and spatial econometrician with agricultural scientists from Germany, South Africa, Argentina, United Kingdom, and Australia, in addition to his domestic work in Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Alabama, Illinois, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas and Louisiana on analyzing site-specific data.

Ten Years of Unscrambled GPS

Kurt LawtonEquipment, General, GPS, Satellite

Readers of precision.agwired.com know the value of how satellites and accompanying technology has totally changed farming. And as a journalist who has covered the precision agriculture industry before it’s birth, I’m jealous of some technologies that I want for my car–like auto steering.

While that technology is a ways off into the future, Gearlog.com posted a recent piece on how unscrambled GPS has helped consumers. It listed a few benefits we’ll see before self-driving cars.

More efficient hybrids. A hybrid car is good for half a mile to two miles in EV (electric vehicle – only) mode but the car typically keeps the hybrid battery topped up as soon as it gets a chance. With a smarter GPS receiver that talks to the car’s navigation system and to the charging system, the GPS could advise the car it’s about to head down a long hill in a mile, but only after two hills. The car would use the electric motor on the hills, or whatever works best for efficiency, and arrive at the start of the downhill with the hybrid battery nearly depleted, then use the downhill to recharge the battery. The result would be improved economy.

Predictive swiveling headlamps. On higher-end cars, the headlamps swivel lift and right when you turn the wheel. With more accurate GPS, the car would start to turn the headlamps a second or two before the road curves. That adds a small measure of safety. Plus, on a dark country road at night, sometimes it’s hard to recognize if you’re seeing the road marking curve sharply to the right, or if that’s an angled white rail fence 20 yards off the highway. The headlamps could help show you the way.

Ultra-accurate speedometer. A GPS system also calculates your speed. Car speedometers are often inaccurate by a couple miles per hour, sometimes to insure that even if you use a slightly different diameter tire, you’re never going faster than the speedometer indicates. Some drivers like the insurance factor of a mechanical speedometer that reads high by a couple mph. Others may want to know that when the speedometer shows you’re doing 68 mph, you’re doing 68, not 65, 66, or 69. So you could use GPS to apply a correction factor to your speedometer. Or not. No doubt all these features would be ones you could enable or disable, at your discretion.

Read more details here.

Precision.AgWired.com Podcast: Planting Population Algorithms

John DavisAg Leader, Audio, Precision Pays Podcast

A South Dakota State professor of plant science is using a formula to optimize planting populations… leading to a more precise way to get the most out of farmers’ fields.

In this edition of the Precision.AgWired.com Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we talk to Gregg Carlson, who is using an algorithm to figure out precisely in each corn field what the optimum planting population should be for specific areas within that field.

Carlson says his formula even shows what fields should not have a lot of precision techniques applied to them.

It’s a fascinating conversation, and you can hear more of it in the player below. In addition, you can contact Carlson and get some insight on some papers they haven’t yet published at the South Dakota State University Web site.

You can subscribe to the Precision.AgWired.com Podcast here.

HarvestMaster Launchs FRS Field Layout

Cindy ZimmermanGeneral, Software

HarvestMaster just made field data collection a little easier.

HarvestMaster is pleased to announce the release of Field Layout as part of the Field Research Software (FRS) suite. FRS provides a comprehensive solution for mobile field data collection. FRS Field Layout is a new addition to the FRS suite, and is used to map field boundaries with GPS technology. When using Field Layout, a field researcher can set the corners of a field, determine the number of plots within a field, and check that the field is square for planting, all without the help of any additional technicians.

FRS Field Layout on a GPS enabled Windows Mobile® device is designed to assist researchers in establishing field boundaries. Field Layout replaces traditional methods that depend on laborious processes using tape measures, right angle prisms, range finders, and an extra person. Field Layout utilizes GPS signals to define and mark the four corners of the field and lets the user measure distance between any two points to verify location and accuracy. Once a field map has been generated, FRS Field Layout creates individual plots within the defined field boundary. When returning to plant the field, FRS displays field boundaries quickly and allows efficient navigation to those positions.

To evaluate FRS Field Layout, download a demonstration version at http://harvestmaster.com/HarvestMaster/support/Downloads.

Consider Sidedress N Applications Or Mapping with OptRx Sensors

Kurt LawtonAg Leader, Corn, Dealers, Fertilizer, Insights Weekly, Retailers, Spraying, sustainability, Variable rate

Insights WeeklyAs corn continues to grow across the Midwest, areas of heavy rain in portions of states may cause more problems than just pond replanting. Loss of applied Nitrogen can cause valuable yield loss.

I spoke with Cory De Jong, Certified Crop Advisor and GIS/Agronomy Sales at Sully Cooperative Exchange in Sully, Ia. today. They tested the Ag Leader OptRx crop sensor system last year during all the heavy rains. “We strictly used the sensors on a sprayer for mapping purposes, as we weren’t set up yet to apply nitrogen. And we saw a lot of (plant health) variability in fields, covering several thousand acres that we mapped,” he says.

“Last year, sidedressing N definitely paid due to all the spring rain we had here in central Iowa. On average, growers gained at least 15 bushels an acre by sidedressing. And if they applied variable-rate, they could have gained 30 bushels,” De Jong says. “We saw 50 bushel per acre differences within fields with the OptRx. So this year we’ve got a bar ready to custom apply with OptRx to apply sidedress N. And we have a bar with OptRx that customers can rent, too.”

De Jong says there is a lot of hog and chicken manure used by customers in his territory, and they are interested in this sensor technology. “For example, one grower who has a lot of hog buildings wanted to know how much N he was getting from his manure. We used the sensors to shoot the plant leaves and saved him input dollars. And in some areas the N gets reallocated to areas of the field where N is needed most,” he adds.

He feels this sensor technology will gain more and more users, once growers see the benefits of variable-rate application. “As interest picks up, we’ll add sensors to a sprayer that will just be dedicated to sidedressing. We may be losing some N business due to manure, but we’re gaining business by helping customers apply N only where the sensors detect it is needed—as well as how much the plants need.”

For more information, visit

OptRx Crop Sensor http://www.agleader.com/products/directcommand/optrx/

Ag Leader Products http://www.agleader.com/products/

Sully Cooperative Exchange – Agronomy Dept. http://www.scecoop.com/index.cfm?show=10&mid=7

Certified Crop Advisors https://www.certifiedcropadviser.org/