Illinois Grower Named PrecisionAg Farmer of the Year

Cindy ZimmermanGeneral

An Illinois corn and soybean producer has been named 2010 Farmer of the Year in the PrecisionAg Awards Of Excellence program. Ken Dalenberg of Mansfield, Illinois was recognize for the role he has played in helping to develop and promote new agricultural technology for crop management.

Ken has worked with a number of research projects on his farm to evaluate precision farming technology, along with other innovative products and practices through the University of Illinois, the Potash & Phosphate Institute, the United Soybean Board, and others. He has also served on several Boards of Directors and Research Committees for the American Soybean Association, United Soybean Board, and Illinois Soybean Association, where he helped provide funding and oversight for research projects throughout the US. He has also been involved in numerous overseas programs to help improve soybean production and markets globally.

“His deliberate approach to honest evaluation has helped him build relationships with universities and industry,” says Harold Reetz, recently retired president of the Foundation for Agronomic Research and a close associate of Ken for many years. “He is frequently involved in advanced evaluation of equipment for John Deere and other companies. He is frequently invited to speak at conferences throughout the U.S. and other countries. Ken understands the importance of proper scientific methodology and is willing to expend the extra efforts and costs to do it right…even though it means delays in getting his farm work done.”

Ken has helped promote precision farming by doing it, and by sharing his experience, says Reetz. “He has opened his records and his farm to others to share what he is doing and learning. He frequently hosts farmers and industry visitors to show what he is doing and how the technology is being put to use.”

Next Generation GPS Satellite Ready to Launch

Kurt LawtonCompany Announcement, GPS, Guidance, Satellite

Tomorrow, May 21, the first of 12 ‘next generation’ GPS satellites will head into space.

Boeing announced that the first of 12 Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF navigation spacecraft that the company is building for the U.S. Air Force has successfully completed prelaunch testing. The satellite, GPS IIF-1, is scheduled for a May 20 launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

GPS is a space-based, worldwide navigation system providing users with highly accurate, three-dimensional position, navigation and timing information 24 hours a day in all weather conditions. The 12 GPS IIF satellites feature stronger and more precise signals that will enhance the services that support U.S. warfighters, their allies, and civilian GPS users around the world.

“These next-generation satellites provide improved accuracy through advanced atomic clocks; a more jam-resistant military signal and a longer design life than earlier GPS satellites; and a new civil signal that benefits aviation safety and search-and-rescue efforts,” said Craig Cooning, vice president and general manager, Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems. “GPS IIF is the culmination of our deep experience with 39 successful satellites from previous missions, representing more than 30 years of teamwork with the Air Force.”

“GPS is used by nearly a billion people worldwide for everything from farming and aviation to public safety, disaster relief and recreation, not to mention its military purpose of providing precision navigation and timing to combat forces,” said Air Force Col. David Madden, GPS Wing Commander. “GPS IIF will increase the signal power, precision and capacity of the system, and form the core of the GPS constellation for years to come.”

As the first spacecraft in the GPS IIF series, GPS IIF-1 underwent stringent and comprehensive testing following shipment to the launch site in February. Tests included verification of key satellite functions as well as end-to-end system testing to verify operations between the satellite and the Boeing-built ground control segment at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado. Commands were sent from Schriever to GPS IIF-1 at Cape Canaveral to turn on payloads, reprogram processors, and verify interoperability with user receivers and equipment, both civil and military.

In April, the Air Force and Boeing team completed a comprehensive series of prelaunch exercises. These included a mission dress rehearsal and two integrated crew exercises that involved all GPS IIF launch and missions operations crews, from controllers at Schriever to space vehicle engineers and range radar operators at Cape Canaveral to tracking stations around the world.

Making Field Operations More Efficient

Kurt LawtonConservation, Education, Guidance, Planting, sustainability

Long narrow fields can enhance field operation efficiency

While driving back and forth across field after field planting seed, spraying or spreading fertilizer, have you thought much about ways to make that task more efficient?

Obviously, if you have auto steering, you’re saving passes due to reduced overlap. But have you thought about turning time, wheel traffic pattern, shallow secondary tillage, harvest efficiencies and other uses of precision agriculture? Check out these ideas from a recent story by university extension specialists.

Turning time
To reduce turning time, farmers should strive to make fields large, long, and narrow by eliminating fence rows, ditches, or other barriers. Larger implements, if matched to tractor size, can be more field efficient because bigger implements cover larger areas and require a smaller number of turns.

Tillage direction
The concept of going “catty corner” or “tilling off the corners” of the field when tilling diagonally can also save fuel by having the turning result in a tillage operation.

Wheel traffic pattern
Controlled wheel traffic patterns can save fuel and reduce total soil compaction in a field. The tractor and other machinery operate in the same tracks for all operations, improving tractive efficiency with compaction occurring only in a narrow area.

Crop growth in the uncompacted areas of the field is considerably better than if some compaction occurred all over; however, poor drainage or other problems may occur near the compacted zone.

Shallow tillage
Deeper tillage results in greater fuel use. With every inch of increase in moldboard plowing depth, approximately 0.15 more gallons of diesel fuel per acre is used. There is a proportionate increase for other tillage operations at increased depths. Secondary tillage should seldom be performed deeper than one-half the depth of primary tillage.

For example, if a field is plowed 8 inches deep, disking should be no deeper than 4 inches. Shallower secondary tillage has the added benefits of not only saving fuel, but reducing compaction and lessening the amount of wet soil and weed seeds brought to the soil surface. Water loss is also often reduced with shallower tillage, resulting in a longer period before first irrigation is necessary and/or better overall early plant growth.

Harvesting efficiency
Crop conditions can affect the amount of fuel used in harvesting operations. A crop which is too wet, lodged, or harvested under wet soil conditions can increase fuel consumption. Where possible, under optimum crop and field conditions, proper machine adjustment and harvest can result in fuel efficiency. Harvesting less straw and stalks during grain combining by increasing height of cut can reduce fuel consumption as well.

Use of precision agriculture
Global positioning system (GPS) guidance systems and auto-steer technology make use of the most efficient routes around a field, eliminating overlaps and skips.

A Look at British Precision Farming

Kurt LawtonGeneral

While the United Kingdom has been slower to adopt precision farming practices compared to the U.S., they claim to already achieve “four times the yield of the American Midwest,” says a recent article in GeoConnexionUK magazine.

Precision farming service provider SOYL and satellite image provider DMCii are working together to fulfil the specific needs of UK agriculture. It’s a convincing partnership: DMCii’s unique imaging capabilities guarantee regular, up-to-date UK imaging, while SOYL understands the farmer’s agronomy requirements.

SOYL works with all sizes of farm. Its experienced agronomists provide information in a format that is both familiar and optimised for a farmer’s own specific set of requirements. Note that this is a consultative process designed to overcome the traditional barriers of trust and understanding that are associated with a new technology, while also lowering the risk to farmers themselves.

Read the story to learn more about precision farming progress in the UK.

Farmers Form New Social Media Foundation To Educate Consumers

Kurt LawtonGeneral

Precision communications to consumers is every bit as important as your precision farming. Check out how these farmers are joining together to help other farmers like you communicate your story.

Twitter. Facebook. YouTube. LinkedIn. More frequently, these are services being accessed from the turnrow, tractor’s seat and barn. Farmers are tapping into social media services more frequently, especially since the weekly streaming conversation called AgChat was founded on Twitter last year. As many offices closed Friday for holidays, farmers launched the AgChat Foundation online. Hundreds of people talked about the new website and the mission to empower farmers and ranchers to connect communities through social media platforms.

Farmers Jeff Fowle of California, Darin Grimm of Kansas, Mike Haley of Ohio and Ray Prock of California were strangers a year ago. They built friendships and began doing things that supported each other’s farming segments after meeting in the online AgChat discussion.

“I’d say the effort Ray and I spearheaded to raise awareness in the economic crisis for dairy farms was where we began to realize how well we could do in telling our stories online. It’s also the first time some of us really focused toward a common goal,” Haley explains. “We think AgChat Foundation will help other farmers share their experiences as we learn from each other about how to put the true faces and stories of American agriculture.”

Prock explains, “We’ve had these ideas and after tossing them around for months, all of us agreed, if farmers didn’t take ownership for moving this forward, we couldn’t really expect anyone else to. And as we worked on our ideas, a number of others have offered suggestions and a lot of time of their personal time to help us realize this vision.”

The Foundation has four program areas focused on social media:
• Agvocacy 2.0 Training: Educate farmers through basic, mid-level & expert training to move mindsets up the technology ladder.
• Strategic Agvocacy Coordination: Empower agriculture’s voice through coordinated industry-wide efforts.
• Data Analysis: Provide tools to assist agvocates with targeted community efforts.
• Technology Scholarships: Equip farmers with infrastructure to enable full use of social media.

Each of the founding farmers believe in these four areas and social media so deeply, they each have elaborated on them by shooting videos that can be accessed through the Foundation’s new website http://agchat.org, by going to http://youtube.com/agchat or through the links above.

Fowle points out that the programs are meant to be broad. “It becomes very apparent through social media that there is a great diversity of farm stories. My family runs our ranch one way and we may have a neighbor across the valley that makes very different choices. The real value of social media comes from farmers telling their own story from their own perspective.”

Michele Payn-Knoper admits that when she started AgChat a year ago, she had no idea how quickly it would grow. “The talent and dedication the farmers and ranchers who helped bring the AgChat Foundation to fruition is absolutely inspiring. All of them have applied their technology skills and commitment to the betterment of agriculture in ways that set them apart, but we are all confident this is a common thread among farmers who raise our food, fuel, feed and fiber.”

Volunteers have been part of AgChat on twitter for a long time, providing moderation of discussions, etc and adopting more ways to reach out to both members of the ag community and the general public as well.

Even Grimm finds himself amplifying their voice online. “My friends and family would be surprised about how vocal I’ve become online cause I’m somewhat of an introvert, but I’ve seen a lot of power from farmers sharing their stories and am trying to do the same. Most of us think our story is pretty boring but you find that some of the most common things we do on the farm are some of the most interesting to people in cities and suburbs.”

Data shows that almost 300 people sent messages on Twitter Friday and driving more than 1,500 people to access AgChat.org and reaching almost a quarter of a million people in the 1.4 million impressions.

The AgChat Foundation seeks to involve all sectors of agriculture in this effort, encompassing diverse viewpoints such as conventional, organic, small and large operations. Our focus is to bring agriculture together, rather than segment and diminish our industry by focusing on size, region or production differences. The board of directors of farming represents diverse types of family farms across North America.
• Chris Chinn, Farmer
• Jeff Fowle, Rancher
• Mark Gale, Agribusiness Liaison
• Eliz Greene, Consumer & Healthcare
• Darin Grimm, Farmer
• Mike Haley, Farmer
• Shaun Haney, Seedsman
• Michele Payn-Knoper, #AgChat Founder
• Ray Prock, Farmer
• Dr. Chris Raines, Extension
• Dr. Katherine Swift, Veterinarian
• Tricia Braid Terry, Check-off Representative
• Chuck Zimmerman, Agribusiness Liaison

The advisory committee provides perspective from agricultural organizations, farms, consumers and technology experts. The AgChat Foundation is a registered Indiana non-profit seeking 501(c)(3) status. The Board of Directors maintains all fiduciary responsibilities and oversees the programming.

Auto Steering Plants More Acres Efficiently with Less Stress

Kurt LawtonAg Leader, Dealers, Equipment, Guidance, Insights Weekly, Planting, Retailers

Insights WeeklyWe’ve written before about economic savings derived from auto steering and auto planter row shut-off off. But many growers often favor the aspects of increased productivity with less fatigue at the end of the day.

We spoke with Adam Gittins, Precision Ag Sales Manager for HTS Precision Ag Solutions in Harlan, Iowa, about the current planting season and local farmer philosophy on this subject.

“Farmers, and I’m one of them, often apply two schools of thought regarding productivity and planting season—auto steer and auto shut-off,” Gittins says. “First, adding auto steering allows growers to run later at night with less fatigue and still be every bit as accurate as planting during the day. Second, by adding auto row shut-off to the planter, guys are saving time with quicker turn time at the headlands.”

Farm more acres. Running longer hours combined with quicker turns can help growers farm more acres with the same equipment. “We’ve seen operations add farm land, and instead of buying another tractor and planter, they’ll instead buy auto steering and planter shut-off to increase productivity—and be able to farm 20 percent more ground with the same equipment,” he says.

“It so much less stress when you don’t have to stare at a marker furrow all day. And I feel I’m doing a much better planting job because I can swivel my seat part way around and watch row units and planter attachments, and can make quick adjustments as needed—instead of focusing mostly on driving. And I feel so much better physically at the end of the day,” he adds.

Becoming standard equipment. Gittins cited one extreme example from this past winter where a farmer saved money by buying an auto steer unit instead of paying for markers on a new 90-ft. planter. “Another trend we’re seeing is that guys who purchase new tractors won’t wait and add auto steer later, they put it in now.”

While good weather is really helping a lot of farmers get crops in the ground quicker this spring, any grower with auto steer and auto planter shut-off will tell you how this technology has truly helped them improve their entire planting operation.

For more information, visit
Tips for using AutoSwath http://www.agleader.com/2010/04/08/tips-for-using-autoswath/

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

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

HTS Precision Ag Solutions, Harlan, Iowa
http://www.htsag.com/

HTS on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Harlan-IA/HTS-Precision-Ag/222272725264?ref=ts

HTS Precision Ag’s blog
http://htsag.blogspot.com/

New Precision Spraying Website

Kurt LawtonCompany Announcement, Internet, Spraying, Weed control

The maker of Apache sprayers, Equipment Technologies, just announced the addition of SpraySmarter.com to its business.

SpraySmarter.com is an online culmination of years of sprayer manufacturing and customer support expertise. The site offers brands like Hypro, TeeJet, Banjo and Raven precision-ag products combined with an intuitive shopping experience and an array of application-focused tools intended to supplement the visitor’s spraying knowledge including tip selection calculators, video tutorials, a spray-focused forum and more. Matt Hays, CEO of Equipment Technologies and SpraySmarter.com, explains, “Our goal with SpraySmarter.com is to transfer the vast spraying expertise of ET to an online shopping experience that doesn’t simply sell sprayer parts; it gives the user an experience that is as close to the traditional parts counter as possible.” Hays adds, “The tools on our site act as an aid in the online buying process, provide a place for applicators to collaborate online and really position SpraySmarter.com as a destination.”

ET boasts a same-day fulfillment rate of 98% on all parts orders and many of those orders come from the thousands of calls received by ET sprayer support specialists. Kevin Covey, parts and service manager for Equipment Technologies and SpraySmarter.com, commented, “Through the volume of calls we receive and our just-in-time inventory philosophy, we have taken the traditional manufacturer support model and turned it into a true competitive advantage.” Covey adds, “We are constantly in touch with applicators; we know it is time to take our competitive advantage to the internet – it’s just a natural progression.”

www.ETsprayers.com

www.SpraySmarter.com

Ag Camera on Space Station to Watch Crops

Kurt LawtonAerial Imagery, Remote sensing, Satellite, University

University of North Dakota students and faculty designed and built the ISSAC camera to watch growing crops from space beginning in 2011.

“ISSAC is a space-related research project that will result in the delivery of direct benefits from space to the general public,” said Doug Olsen, ISSAC project manager. “The ISSAC project is in the midst of developing an upgrade to its camera sensor, which is expected to be launched in April 2011. It will resume operations during the 2011 growing season.”

ISSAC is designed to take frequent images, in visible and infrared light, of vegetated areas on the Earth, principally of growing crops, rangeland, grasslands, forests, and wetlands in the northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountain regions of the United States. Images will be delivered within two days directly to requesting farmers, ranchers, foresters, natural resource managers and tribal officials to help improve their environmental stewardship of the land. Images will also be shared with educators for classroom use.

The system allows users to select specific geographical areas of interest over which to request collection of imagery in both red and near-infrared bandpasses, and at medium-high spatial resolution. Farmers using variable-rate application and other precision agriculture techniques will be able to dynamically delineate management zones as the crop vegetation canopy changes during the growing season; this can result in more effective use of fertilizer and other chemical inputs and reduce negative environmental effects.

“The UND interdisciplinary effort that has produced this camera is a remarkable story,” said UND President Robert O. Kelley. “Faculty and students from several colleges and centers on campus have produced an instrument that will analyze the composition of agricultural and other natural resources on the surface of the earth from the International Space Station.”

“The consolidation of multiple technologies into a single instrument will add tremendous economic value to the agricultural industry in North Dakota and around the world,” Kelley said. “UND and NASA have forged a very productive partnership in this initiative.”

ISSAC is operated from the Science Operations Center (SOC) on the UND campus, staffed by students from across the campus, including from the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences and the School of Engineering and Mines. From the SOC, students will send commands to ISSAC to take images and transmit them to SOC, where they’ll be processed and delivered to end users. Images captured by the camera will be made available to the public through UMAC’s Web page (see http://www.umac.org/).

Precision Farming Auto Steering Has Many Benefits

Kurt LawtonGuidance, Harvesting, Spraying

Cutting input costs are driving more growers to invest in precision agriculture and guidance systems. And once they have auto steer available, they are finding ways to use it they had not considered, such as mowing hay, says Amy Winstead, Auburn University, in a recent Southeast Farm Press story.

“In the last year or two, we’ve seen large increases in first-time buyers of precision agriculture technology. These have included livestock producers, forage producers and row-crop producers.

“The increasing cost of inputs has caused everyone to think about how they can save money, and precision agriculture figures into that.”

The benefits of using guidance systems are numerous, she says.

“It decreases skips and overlaps — that’s one of the biggest advantages. It also minimizes driver error and eliminates guess rows. In row crop situations, we’ve seen up to an 8.5 percent decrease in overlapping. In a pasture situation, we would expect that to be much higher because you obviously would have no rows to go by.”

A guidance system increases efficiency, allowing the grower to operate at faster field speeds. “You can cover more area with fewer hours of operation, and you’re able to reduce per-acre fuel consumption because you reduce overlaps in the field,” says Winstead.

To learn more about non-cash benefits, ease of use and costs, read the story.

Variable Rate Fertilizer/Manure Saves Money and Environment

Kurt LawtonConservation, Fertilizer, sustainability, Variable rate

Auburn University biosystems engineer Jonathan Hall recently highlighted the value of prescription maps and VR (variable-rate) application to reduce runoff and save up to 30 percent in annual costs.

With the spring growing season finally underway, many Alabama farmers are fertilizing their fields to enhance crop yields. Most people are familiar with farm-grade fertilizers such as 8-8-8 and 10-10-10. Granular fertilizers are meant to be worked into the ground or sprinkled around plants. It is recommended that they be worked into the ground prior to planting. Granular fertilizers take longer than liquid fertilizers to dissolve into the soil. They can last anywhere from 1 to 9 months, depending on the type. The nutrients need time to break down with some watering, and it usually takes a few days to see results.

Variable-rate technology (VRT) is recommended when applying granular fertilizers. By using VRT, farmers can apply fertilizer and nutrients on a site-specific basis. However, organic fertilizers, such as manure and poultry litter, are commonly used in Alabama. Poultry litter is used extensively in the northern half of the state due to the state’s growing poultry industry. In Alabama, about 2 million tons of poultry litter is generated annually with 90% of it land applied as a fertilizer or soil amendment. Over the years, continuous application of litter has generated environmental concerns due to excessively high phosphorous levels. Therefore, the use of guidance systems, VRT, and other precision agriculture technologies can be used in an attempt to reduce over-application and application in undesired areas.

By forming prescription maps and using VRT during the application process, runoff is reduced and the field is provided with site-specific nutrients. It is also economical! Research has shown that up to 30% of annual costs can be saved. This includes the cost of fuel, labor, and the fertilizer itself. While money is being saved, crop yields are also improved by providing the plants with nutrients as needed throughout the field. By incorporating VRT into the application of granular fertilizers, Alabama farmers can be economical while being good stewards of the land at the same time.

For more information visit www.alabamaprecisionagonline.com.