Trimble Offers New RTK Accuracy Service

Kurt LawtonCompany Announcement, GPS, Guidance, International, Satellite, Trimble

For US growers in nine states, Trimble launches its new VRS Now Ag service to deliver RTK sub-inch positioning via cellular communications–without the need for a local base station.

Growers in Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi and Nebraska can access VRS Now Ag. Additionally, European growers can receive correction services in Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, Czech Republic and Estonia. As with corrections supplied by conventional Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) radio towers, Trimble VRS network corrections provide sub-inch repeatable Global Positioning System (GPS) accuracy for precision farming operations such as tillage, planting, spraying and field preparation.

The Trimble VRS solution uses proprietary software to create correction models for regions covered by the network. The VRS service can provide growers with instant access to high-accuracy RTK positioning without the need for a local base station. VRS corrections are valuable in areas with natural obstructions such as trees and hilly terrain due to the fact that corrections are obtained by a cellular modem, rather than through the line-of-sight signals provided by an RTK tower.

Trimble pioneered RTK in the early 1990s as a means of delivering high-accuracy GPS positioning. Today, there are more than 750 million acres covered by Trimble agriculture RTK base stations. The VRS Now Ag service was developed to deliver high-accuracy positioning via cellular communications and provides more than 400 million acres of sub-inch accuracy.

“We are very pleased to provide Trimble VRS Now Ag service to nine U.S. states and five European countries,” said Erik Arvesen, vice president and general manager for Trimble’s Agriculture Division. “VRS Now Ag service provides an additional high-accuracy correction option for farmers who require reliable sub-inch positioning for their crucial field operations. Trimble VRS Now is fully supported and dedicated to the success of farmer field operations.”

A 12-month subscription will cost $1,200 or $1,500, depending on whether you want GPS only or access to GNSS. For more information visit www.trimble.com/agriculture/TrimbleVRSNowAg.aspx or contact your local Trimble dealer at www.trimble.com/locator.

The Virtues of High Precision

Kurt LawtonGPS, Industry News, International, Research, Satellite

During the recent Galileo Appreciation Days held in Brussels, the high degree of accuracy and precision that’s possible with EGNOS, Galileo and other GNSS technologies were celebrated, as reported by the European GNSS Supervisory Authority.

“EGNOS is already a success story in the agricultural sector,” said Aguilera. “It already has 50% market share, which is expected to reach 70% by 2010. The ultimate result will be increasing yields, conservation of resources and materials, and lower costs. The benefits are there, the EGNOS signal is already being exploited by farmers, and it is available free of charge.”

The Galileo Application Days ‘High Precision’ session highlighted a number of GNSS applications already being used in the agriculture sector.

Michael Quinckhardt of Claas Agrosystems outlined how his company is exploiting advanced GNSS-based applications. “Precision farming includes automatic steering for tractors and monitoring of all our machines,” he explained. “We can help farmers to know where their machines are and what they are doing at any given moment.”

Tracking and yield analysis can also help to optimise the use of fertilisers. “One can understand that different fields across a wide area will differ in terms of various qualities and in their abilities to support crops,” said Quinckhardt, “But the fact is there is a degree of variability in terms of soil quality even within a single field.”

By recording information from harvesters about what the soil is producing from one patch to the next within a field, and matching that information with precise GNSS-based location information, farmers can pinpoint very accurately where they need to apply more fertiliser and where they can save money by applying less.

Rob Kiernan of Leica Geosystems discussed the three phases of action in agriculture: planting, crop protection and harvest. “Maximising production in agriculture is all about doing the right thing at the right time in the right place,” he said. “Systems like Galileo and EGNOS tell us about place with a high degree of accuracy throughout the production cycle, and this is revolutionising the way we work.”

For more on this story…

Alliances Among Precision Ag Companies

Kurt LawtonDealers, Industry News, sustainability

In an effort to offer growers more complete precision farming guidance and application packages, more precision ag companies are forming alliances, as reported in a recent issue of Farm Industry News magazine.

A review of recent partnership/purchase announcements highlights the trend. Ag Leader and AutoFarm; Raven Industries, SST Software, Ranchview, and Buhler Industries/Versatile; and Hemisphere GPS and Third Eye Maps all revealed new alliances in the final months of 2009.

Within the past few years, the alliance list has become a virtual who’s who of precision agriculture: AGCO/Topcon/KEE Technologies; Trimble/Dickey-john/Rawson/Tru Count/GreenSeeker/Farm Works; Leica/Rinex/TeeJet; Ag Leader/Holland Scientific/Kinze/Norac; and Raven/AutoFarm. Both Trimble and Ag Leader also have long-term technology partnerships with Case New Holland (CNH). Of the major precision ag providers, John Deere stands alone, although it announced in 2009 that it would begin offering certain Raven application control technologies through its dealerships.

To learn more about why companies are cutting deals, as well as future prospects, read the story.

Time To Prep Your Precision Farming Equipment

Kurt LawtonAg Leader, Displays, GPS, Guidance, Insights Weekly, Planting, seed

Insights WeeklyAs you gear up for planting season, it’s wise to power up, check out and test your monitors, displays and other valuable electronic components before seed enters the planter and you head to the field.

I talked to Nick Ohrtman this week, technical support supervisor for Ag Leader Technology. He said a good place to start is to check the manufacturer’s website (or with your local dealer) to see if any of your equipment needs a firmware upgrade.

“Be sure to clear out data from last-season (after you’ve copied and transferred it to your computer), and create a new season—including any new fields you have added, as well as load any new machinery, new hybrids and varieties, new herbicides or other new inputs you plan to use,” Ohrtman says. “Doing it now saves time when you’re in the field.”

The owner’s manual is a good resource as you run through your display. “Always a good idea to test your auto-steer by capturing a signal and run up and down the yard a few times. And the same dry run with your planter and a little seed helps calibrate the seed monitor,” he says.

When you do your walk-around to check planter shut-off clutches and hydraulics, don’t forget to also check all the cables to ensure nothing is pinched or was chewed by rodents.

Many companies also provide spring guides or checklists to help with product prep. “We provide our owners with a list, published in our newsletter, that details pre-season display setup, using the new INTRGRA display, as well as pre-season prep for SeedCommand and DirectCommand,” Ohrtman says. “We’ve also been conducting training sessions across the country during much of February and March for our customers.”

Sustainability — Will It Change Agriculture

Kurt LawtonFarmers, Industry News, sustainability

Is sustainability reshaping agriculture? Will it affect your operation? That debate was front and center at a Case-IH sponsored forum during the recent Ag Connect Expo.

“We recognize sustainability is a huge buzz word, it means a lot of things to a lot of people, and one panel discussion won’t answer all the questions surrounding this issue,” said Jim Walker, Case IH vice president, North America. “But we need to have the conversation. Sustainability is at the core of a national debate about how we meet demand for food, feed and fuel while maintaining consumers’ trust in agriculture.

“At Case IH, we recognize that ag sustainability is a balance between agronomics, economics and the environment. And we’re committed to helping North American farmers create more value from sustainable farming systems,” Walker added. “That’s why we brought together a top-notch panel of nationally known experts to provide their unique perspectives on how sustainability will affect farmers.”

Expert panelists included: Annie Weber, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Roper Public Affairs of GfK Research North America; Bruce Knight, Principal and Founder, Strategic Conservation Solutions; and Jim Nussle, President and CEO, The Nussle Group.Read More

Operations Suffer Without Precision Farming Tools

Kurt LawtonGeneral

“Agriculture is an ever-changing industry, and if we don’t stay on top of the new technology and new equipment, our operations will suffer,” says John Chester, a Martin, Tenn., grower–and winner of National Farm Bureau Federation’s 2008 Excellence in Agriculture Award.

Speaking at the Precision Farming Field Day at University of Tennessee-Martin, Chester urged a crowd of more than 200 farmers to “learn new concepts and make sure we’re applying the technologies we’re currently using correctly,” according to a report in the NWTN Messenger.

Dr. Joey Mehlhorn, UT Martin professor of agricultural economics, conducted one of the sessions at the field day and noted that efficiency is the key. “If we look over the last 40 years, input prices for farmers have grown each year continually while prices received for farmers struggle to keep pace.” He said it becomes important for farmers to be more efficient. “So what precision ag can do is it can allow them to save money and be more efficient and not spread fertilizer, chemical and seed anywhere they don’t need to.

“Precision Farming is being able to manage information in a timely and efficient manner. It is everything from variable rate technology that allows you to put different seed rates out at different levels, it includes managing technology, yield mapping and any kind of technology that allows you to put resources and inputs where you want them, not just a broadcast method.”


Precision.AgWired.com by Time Saving

Cindy ZimmermanAg Leader, Audio, Commodity Classic

agleader at commodity classicThis photo was taken of me with Ag Leader general sales manager Mike Olson at the Commodity Classic as we both checked email on our cell phones to prepare for an interview. Amazing what technology we have in our pockets these days! Some people may argue whether cell phones actually make us more efficient, but most of us wonder what we ever did without them – as most farmers who use precision technology wonder how they got along without it in the past.

I talked with Mike about how precision technology saves time as well as money. Sometimes it may be hard to put a dollar value on our time, but when planting or harvesting windows are as tight as they were last year, saving time in the fields is saving money. “When you start implementing precision ag technologies, it’s amazing how much time you can save,” Mike said. “You think of the steering systems. You’re reducing overlap, that’s obvious, but if you can make less passes across the field then it’s saving you time.”

Also, steering systems allow farmers to work longer hours with less fatigue. “So if you have a good window of a dry stretch it allows you to work longer into the night and plant longer or spray longer,” he added. Time savings may be one of those things that’s hard to monetize, “but if you don’t get a crop in, it’s pretty easy to see how much value there is.”

Listen to my interview with Mike from Commodity Classic below.

Commodity Classic Photo Album

Precision Podcast from Commodity Classic

Cindy ZimmermanAg Leader, Audio, Commodity Classic, Education, Precision Pays Podcast, Research

Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) Director of Research Tracy Blackmer was one of the presenters for the PrecisonAg Learning Center at the 2010 Commodity Classic trade show. Tracy is head of ISA’s On-Farm Network®, which focuses on precision agriculture tools and technology to collect information that can increase growers’ profits from crop production and I interviewed him at Classic for this edition of the Precision.AgWired.com Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology.

The Iowa Soybean Association started this project nine years ago to study both the environmental and economic aspects of farming practices and to help growers find out what works best for them on their operation. Since that time they have expanded into nine other states. “We’re trying to say that growers can use a lot of the precision ag technologies to actually identify which products or practices are working better,” Tracy says. “In Iowa alone we had over 450 replicated trials.”

Listen to the podcast in the player below to find out more about the ISA On-Farm Network®. You can subscribe to the Precision.AgWired.com Podcast here.

Precision.AgWired.com for ASA Scholarship Winner

Cindy ZimmermanAudio, Commodity Classic, Education, John Deere, Soybeans

This year’s winner of the American Soybean Association scholarship has a passion for precision.

BASF ASA Scholarship winnerBen Bellar, a high school senior from Howard, Kansas, was named the 2010-2011 Secure Optimal Yield (SOY) Scholarship recipient during the 2010 Commodity Classic in Anaheim, California. The scholarship package, made possible through a grant by BASF, included a one-time $5,000 education award, a trip to the Commodity Classic and special recognition during the ASA Awards Banquet. Ben is pictured here at the BASF exhibit on the trade show floor with ASA First Vice president Alan Kemper of Indiana and Nevin McDougall, Group Vice President, North America Crop Protection Division at BASF.

As an active member of the ASA and FFA, Ben has been raising soybeans since he was a child and plans to study agriculture technology management at Kansas State University next year, something he decided when his father “finally broke down and bought a GPS” about six years ago. “I just like days when I can go out there, hit one button, go for half a mile, pull out a magazine and read it until I get to the end of the row,” Ben told me during an interview.

Listen to or download that interview in the player below and thanks again to John Deere for sponsoring our coverage of this year’s Commodity Classic.

Commodity Classic Photo Album

Precision Ag Learning Center is a Classic Hit

Cindy ZimmermanAg Leader, Commodity Classic, Education, John Deere

precision ag at commodity classicThe first-ever PrecisionAg Learning Center at Commodity Classic was a big hit with growers at the trade show.

According to the PrecisionAg.com there was a steady stream of attendees asking questions, sitting in on presentations, and chatting with growers who use precision technology. Among the presenters were Idaho grower Robert Blair and Iowa grower Dennis Friest, Craig Smith from Kansas State University and Tracy Blackmer, Iowa Soybean Association Director of Research.

ag leader giveawayThe Learning Center also offered growers the opportunity to register for great giveaways provided by PrecisionAg partners. In the photo to the right, Mike Olson with Ag Leader Technology is drawing the winning name for an Ag Leader InSight Display. The winner was John Kelly of Hutsonville, Illinois. Other winners are listed here on the PrecisionAg site.

Check out our previous post on the PrecisionAg profit calculator unveiled at Classic. The Guidance & Section Control Profit Calculator is specifically designed to help growers understand their return on an investment in this technology.

Thanks again to John Deere for sponsoring our coverage of this year’s Commodity Classic.

Commodity Classic Photo Album