Precision Air Hoe Drill from New Holland

Kurt LawtonCompany Announcement, Equipment, New Holland, Planting, wheat

Precision seed placement of small-seeded crops with an air hoe drill has been improved. With durability and innovation reflective of its Flexi-Coil heritage, New Holland’s new P2070 precision air hoe drill provides the ultimate in precision seed placement with adjustable individual opener depth control. It works up to 70-feet wide, yet folds into a compact, narrow package for transport.

“Everyone talks about how important seed placement is, especially with small-seeded crops,” says Ed Barry, New Holland Cash Crop Marketing Manager. “The P2070 places the product exactly where you want it, every time.”

Each opener on the P2070 follows terrain independently of the frame to closely follow the contours of the ground. Patented individual opener depth control provides 0″ to 2″ seeding depth in 1/8″ increments. A single bolt on each opener has an indexed slotted design which makes it easy to adjust depth.

Even in the toughest conditions, the true parallel link design maintains consistent seed depth through the complete operating range of each individual opener. Fully adjustable packing force (adjustable from 275 lbs. – 550 lbs.) and trip force (adjustable from 135 lbs. to 215 lbs.) provide the operator with exceptional control. The single-shank, double-shoot minimum disturbance opener provides 1-7/8″ lateral separation and 7/8″ vertical separation between seed and fertilizer. Spacious frame-to-ground clearance affords superior trash flow that is unmatched in the industry.

The P2070 is available in 50′, 60′ and 70′ working widths, with either 10″ or 12″ spacing. The P2070 air hoe drill’s innovative fold-back design allows it to be folded into a 17’9″ wide x 16’6″ high envelope equal to or smaller than the 4WD tractor pulling it for safe and easy transport.

A unique tow-behind hitch design allows the air cart to follow the same tracks created by a typical 4WD tractor in the field, as well as during transport. This smaller turning radius makes tight-implement turns at headland corners easier.

National Safety Month On The Farm

Kurt LawtonGeneral

Now that kids are home from school, it’s always a good time to remind your employees (and yourself) about the importance of safety on the farm. Kubota sent out a good reminder recently of tractor and utility vehicle safety.

Ten Commandments of Tractor Safety
1. Know your tractor, its implements and how they work
2. Use ROPS and seat belts whenever and wherever applicable
3. Be familiar with your terrain and work area – walk the area first to be sure and drive safely.
4. Never start an engine in a closed shed or garage
5. Always keep your PTO properly shielded
6. Keep your hitches low and always on the drawbar
7. Never get off a moving tractor or leave it with its engine running
8. Never refuel while the engine is running or hot
9. Keep all children off and away from our tractor and implements at all times
10. Never be in a hurry or take chances about anything you do with your tractor

In a recent safety podcast from Kubota VP Greg Embury, he offers excellent safety reminders. “It’s important for all equipment operators – especially utility vehicle drivers and riders – to wear seatbelts, and help promote safe operating practices with family and friends.  Safety is something that we should think about all year round, and National Safety Month provides us all with an excellent reminder to brush up on our safety practices before we use tractors, lawn and garden equipment, construction equipment and utility vehicles.”

Listen here:
recent safety podcast

And for more on safety in agriculture, especially protecting our kids, check out Farm Safety 4 Just Kids. Excellent teaching resources here!

Farmers Promote Ag With Precision Communications

Kurt LawtonEducation, Farmers, Industry News, sustainability, Video

The blog Nebraska Corn Kernels highlighted a recent TV report on how a few farmers are using Twitter to benefit their operation and dispel agriculture myths among consumers. 

In a longer “extra” video segment (go here and click on “Farmer Brandon Hunnicutt on Twitter”), farmer Brandon Hunnicutt also talked with the reporter about how he uses social media to help educate and promote agriculture with those consumers who are anti-agriculture. And in a previous blog post, writer Mike Howie highlighted other farmers who tweet.

To learn more about Twitter and how to sign up, check out this story on CNET. And check out YouTube for “Twitter in Plain English” or “How To Use Twitter.”

Outback System Guides Brazilian Sprayer

Kurt LawtonCompany Announcement, Equipment, GPS, Spraying

Stara, one of the world’s largest agricultural implement manufacturers based in Brazil, has teamed up with Hemisphere GPS to add Outback guidance,  auto steering and boon control to their newest self-propelled sprayer called Gladiador.

 “Hemisphere GPS products help elevate our sprayers among the precision farming industry and contribute to our goal of offering factory-installed precision agriculture solutions to our customers,” says Cristiano Paim Buss, Director of Technology for Stara. “Hemisphere GPS’ commitment to technology and innovation provides us with an extensive product portfolio that continues to support our advanced technology offerings.”

By combining the Outback Guidance products from Hemisphere GPS with Stara implement innovation, the new Gladiador sprayers have achieved an unprecedented level of work autonomy. Gladiador sprayers use the Outback S3 guidance system to provide precision guidance and a wide array of job management options. The Outback eDrive TC GPS assisted steering system automatically steers the sprayer, eliminating driver error and providing uniform treatments

In addition, Outback AutoMate allows the operator to independently control various sections of Gladiador’s massive 27 meter boom to dramatically reduce skips and overlaps and to reduce application waste. Also, available as an option to the customer is the Outback BaselineX RTK system which offers base station support for higher accuracy positioning.

Cap And Trade And Precision Farming

Kurt LawtonConservation, Farmers, Industry News, Precision Ag in the News, sustainability, Tillage

The benefits of precision farming to help capture carbon in farm fields is receiving press within the current debate of the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy & Security Act, a.k.a. (HR2454).

While controversy surrounds this bill on several fronts–from lack of offset inclusion for agriculture to larger energy costs being pushed back to consumers–North Dakota farmer and National Farmers Union (NFU) president sees farmer benefits in cap and trade.

In a recent Wichita Eagle story, Johnson thinks farmers should be allowed to sell greenhouse-gas offsets to help pay for input costs that he says will be driven up by proposed climate change legislation.

We want farmers to have an income opportunity out of cap and trade,” said Johnson, whose group has approximately 250,000 members nationally, including about 7,500 in Kansas.

Johnson said farmers will need the additional income because more emission control devices will cause fuel and fertilizer prices to increase, which will push up ag input costs.

But Johnson is concerned about the Waxman-Markey bill, climate change legislation under review by House committees that would establish this country’s first mandatory cap-and-trade regulations.

As the bill stands now, there is no provision for agriculture to sell offsets.

He said it’s important that the U.S. Department of Agriculture — and not the Environmental Protection Agency — regulate ag offsets because the USDA has done the most scientific research on ag greenhouse emissions.

As proposed in the bill, companies that emit more than 25,000 tons of greenhouse gases per year would fall under cap-and-trade regulations. Very large manufacturers and energy companies most often fall into that category.

Johnson said it has been estimated that 30 to 50 percent of the nation’s economy will come from industries that will fall under the cap regulations.

With perhaps the exception of about 30 very large feedlots, agriculture is not part of that group, said Chuck Rice, a Kansas State University soil microbiologist and an expert on cap and trade.

Precision Agriculture And Texas Denim Jeans

Kurt LawtonCompany Announcement, Conservation, Cotton, Farmers, sustainability

Kudos to the Plains Cotton Cooperative Association in Lubbock, Tex., for launching a new company that is selling eco-friendly denim jeans from cotton grown using the efficiencies of precision farming.

The company Denimatrix will produce jeans in Guatemala made from cotton produced by 25,000 grower-members of American Cotton Growers (ACG) who are focused on developing quality fabric using sustainable practices. To buy them, visit www.SAFEDenim.com.

American Cotton Growers-or ACG-and its farmer-owners are focused on developing high quality denim fabrics for our customers with minimal impact on the environment. We produce an average of 37 million yards of denim annually, enough to make 26 million pairs of jeans, every yard of which is grown, spun, dyed, and woven from the cotton our members produce. This denim process is a true, homespun phenomenon – American cotton literally created from field to fabric.

ACG meets or exceeds all regulations administered by the Environmental Protection Agency. In all possible processes throughout the mill, we use the best available technology to apply the principles of reduce, re-use and recycle and to avoid production of hazardous waste.

Our stewardship carries all the way from the field to the fabric. We like to call it SAFE denim-Sustainable, American and Friendly to the Environment. For us, it’s not just a fad; it’s a multi-generational commitment to ensure our children and grandchildren can farm the land.

We’re protecting our ecosystems for these future generations by remaining good stewards of the land, air and water. We value doing the right thing, in the right place, in the right way, at the right time, and it requires the use of new technologies.

We continually embrace new technologies in irrigation to reduce the volume of water used to grow our cotton. Compared to 25 years ago, our farmers now use 45 percent less water to grow cotton.

Technologies like Integrated Pest Management systems use beneficial insects to control pests and reduce human and environmental exposure to chemicals while lowering input costs. Today, the number of pesticide applications required to produce cotton is half of what it was just 20 years ago.

Advances in seed breeding and farming practices have greatly reduced the amount of chemical inputs required to grow cotton, resulting in substantial environmental benefits.

Precision agriculture uses aerial and satellite infrared photography to identify problem spots in our fields and apply inputs only where they are needed via global positioning systems.

These technologies have dramatically reduced the land area required to produce enough cotton to meet world demand. In 1926, U.S. farmers planted more than 44 million acres and produced almost 18 million bales. By 2004, U.S. cotton acreage totaled just under 14 million acres which produced more than 23 million bales. In other words, an additional 30 million acres are available for food production, conservation and wildlife habitat.

ACG and its 25,000 farmer-owners are committed to continually improving our denim manufacturing processes and farming practices. Sustainable agriculture is the ability of a farm to produce food and fiber indefinitely with minimal impact on the environment.

We don’t need to be told to take care of the land for our children and grandchildren because we learned that from our own parents and grandparents. It is our generational commitment to Sustainable, American and Friendly to the Environment.

Precision Air Seeding From Raven & Seed Hawk

Kurt LawtonCompany Announcement, Equipment, Fertilizer, Planting, Precision Ag in the News

This fall, a new line of precision application and planter section control will be offered on the Canadian Seed Hawk line of seeders, controlled by Raven’s Viper Pro, thanks to a collaboration by the two companies.

The first of these solutions combines fertilizer and seed section control from Raven with patent-pending seeder technology from Seed Hawk. Known as Sectional Control Technology(TM), this system will virtually eliminate costly seed and fertilizer overlaps automatically for the customer.

“By working together, our two companies can provide seeding solutions faster and more effectively,” says Pat Beaujot, President of Seed Hawk. “We can take advantage of expertise and existing products from both companies and offer better products that deliver significant value to our customers.”

Matt Burkhart, General Manager of Applied Technology Division at Raven Industries, adds, “This new collaboration further demonstrates Raven’s commitment to expand its product line into seeding and planting applications.”

This system will be offered through Seed Hawk dealers starting this fall, and both companies plan to offer more solutions in the future. “With a good working agreement in place, our companies can share ideas freely, which will lead to faster solutions,” Beaujot explains.

Precision Farming Adoption in England

Kurt LawtonEducation, Farmers, International

Survey of arable farmers in England show only 35% have even looked into what precision farming could do for them, according to a recent story in the UK farm magazine Farmers Weekly.

Fertilizer price rise is driving greater interest, as precision applications of typical fertilizer and lime are touted to save approximately 30%. SOYL Ltd, an independent company that provides precision farming advice and services to growers in England and Scotland, is busy promoting GPS-based soil sampling, variable-rate fertilizer application, and a wide-array of manufacturers and technology.

Isobus plug-and-play technology is the buzz-phrase around manufacturers of precision-farming kits, according to SOYL’s Simon Parrington.

“Everyone in the industry is now talking about plug and play – it’s the way forward in my view. If you’re upgrading any of your arable kit, from combines to cultivation equipment, you must talk about compatibility with dealers and reps.”

There are three areas that farmers looking into precision farming should investigate:

  • Sampling. Precision-sampling fields pinpoints data that can be used to variably apply fertiliser. SOYL has has already precision-mapped 15% of the entire UK cropped area, giving 750,000 soil samples that provide an idea of variation nationally.
  • Tackling technology. There’s a mind-bending array of manufacturers and options for kit that will apply variable rate. John Deere is the market leader with its Greenstar system, while for implements, Kverneland leads the way with more ISO-ready implements than any other manufacturer.
  • Research and best practice. A recent HGCA survey shows only 35% of arable farmers have even looked into what precision farming could do for them. The HGCA. Be PRECISE project aims to bring precision farming to a wider audience and arm growers with the know-how needed to get the best out of the technology.

Precision Farmer Of The Year

Kurt LawtonCompany Announcement, Education, Farmers, Industry News, Precision Ag in the News

The PrecisionAg Institute, formed and managed by CropLife Media Group, just announced their 2009 precision agriculture awards that include a top farmer, crop advisor, educator and legacy award winners.

Farmer of the year is Robert Blair, who is not your typical dryland Idaho farmer. While his passions rank family and farming first, he is also staunchly dedicated to promoting precision ag for the betterment of all farmers.

In addition to farming 1,500 acres of wheat, peas, lentils, garbanzos, alfalfa and cows, he taught the precision ag lab at the University of Idaho during the 2008 fall semester and has also started a precision ag business called PineCreek Precision. The company is centered on Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) – small, autopilot-controlled planes (less than 20 pounds) that can be used to gather imagery. Blair, the first farmer in the United States to own and fly a UAS on his own farmland, decided to make a prototype airframe in 2008. Today he is a national leader in the promotion of UAS for agriculture, and is the first person in the U.S. to file a petition to the FAA for commercial use. Not even Boeing, Lockheed, or other aircraft businesses or organizations had done that. He has traveled on his own dime to Washington, D.C. to try to make commercial UAS rules that are sensible for end users. He has spoken around the country at different venues on UAS use in ag.

Robert is a board member of the Idaho Grain Producers Association, Lewiston Chamber Ag Committee, U of I/WSU Legume Virus Project, Idaho Farm Bureau LASR Committee, Nez Perce County Farm Bureau President, CEO Coalition on Transportation member, Governor Otter’s Kitchen Cabinet (Advisory Group), IGPA Alliance for Rail Competition National Representative, and taught the precision ag lab at the University of Idaho.

He is helping the University of Idaho to expand its precision ag program and is also promoting agriculture by doing TV interviews for a new farm program in our area. His leadership and ability to bring things together are excellent and promotion of ag and precision ag is at the front of everything he does.

Robert hosts a precision ag field day each year and 2009 will be the third. His on-farm experiments with fertilizer, varieties, and different equipment has opened the eyes of many farmers in the area to the benefits of precision ag. Besides the economic benefits, he emphasizes the environmental stewardship aspects precision ag brings. He touts the benefits of precision ag records for proving environmentally safe tillage, application, and record keeping.

Check out the other recipients of 2009 PrecisionAg Awards of Excellence.

 

Trimble Acquires NTech & GreenSeeker Technology

Kurt LawtonCompany Announcement, Equipment, Fertilizer, Precision Ag in the News, Spraying, Trimble

Trimble expands its precision agriculture solutions offering by acquiring NTech, a leading provider of crop-sensing technology GreenSeeker and WeedSeeker.

NTech products use optical sensing and variable rate application to apply only the inputs needed to maximize crop yield. The GreenSeeker nitrogen application system determines the health of a plant in real time and delivers the optimum amount of nitrogen. The WeedSeeker automatic spot-spray system senses the presence of living plants, allowing targeted and controlled herbicide application.

The systems are typically utilized with Global Positioning System (GPS) solutions and flow and application control products, both of which are supported by Trimble’s precision agricultural portfolio of products.

“Trimble’s focus is to provide complete agriculture solutions – from machine guidance and automated steering to application control. The acquisition of NTech gives Trimble customers even more ways to save on fertilizer and herbicide costs while reducing their impact on the environment,” said Erik Arvesen, vice president and general manager for Trimble’s Agriculture Division. “By applying the right amount of inputs for optimum plant growth, farmers can manage for maximum efficiency and avoid over-applying fertilizer or herbicide.”

“GreenSeeker and WeedSeeker solutions are breakthroughs for variable rate application. Our technology offers farmers innovative solutions to help control fertilizer and crop protection products, which ultimately drive costs,” said Ted Mayfield, NTech’s chief operating officer. “We are excited to join Trimble and believe that our combined technologies will provide farmers with enhanced solutions to more efficiently manage control applications in the field.”