Deere Dealers To Offer Raven Products

Kurt LawtonCompany Announcement, Dealers, Equipment, Precision Ag in the News

Come August, John Deere Ag Management Solutions (AMS) and Raven plan to combine technologies and offer a broader suite of precision application control solutions to growers.

“We’re targeting this August to combine technologies from John Deere and Raven. We’ll be able to offer an expanded line of universal solutions to customers through our John Deere dealer network,” says Nick Block, business development manager for John Deere Ag Management Solutions.

Now customers in the U.S., Canada, and Australia will be able to purchase select Raven application control products at John Deere dealerships.

Matt Burkhart, general manager for Raven’s Applied Technology Division, says customers will ultimately be the biggest beneficiaries of the agreement.

“Both companies share a common focus to provide customers with market-leading, innovative products, plus offer exceptional support for those products,” Burkhart says. “By offering Raven products through John Deere dealerships, we can reach more customers with compatible solutions that help them improve their farming operations,” he adds.

“These complementary products will enhance both of our companies’ positions in providing precision ag solutions,” Deere’s Block explains.

Precision Auto Steer Works Without Driver

Kurt LawtonFarmers, GPS, Humor, Satellite

Now you knew someone would, sooner or later, put John Deere’s iTEC Pro technology to the test by leaving the cab, as witnessed by this crazy driverless tractor video.

Good thing the GPS signal did not drop. And please, don’t try this at home. I’d like to see the rest of the video where the farmer had to run and jump in the cab without getting run over–unless, of course, someone was hiding in the cab.

Not too smart, I must say. But it’s a great testament to the quality of the Deere precision agriculture technology.

International Ag Shows Announce Alliance

Cindy ZimmermanEducation, Equipment, Events

Ag Connect ExpoThe organizers of two international agricultural shows have announced a formal alliance to coordinate show dates that will allow agriculture producers to attend a major international agriculture trade show each year.

AgritechnicaThe alliance is between DLG (German Agricultural Society), the organizer of the world’s largest agriculture machinery show Agritechnica, and the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), organizer of the new agricultural trade show AG CONNECT Expo, scheduled for January 13-15, 2010 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. Agritechnica is held on odd numbered years with the next show scheduled for November 10-14, 2009 at the Fairgrounds in Hanover, Germany.

Both Agritechnica and AG CONNECT Expo 2010 are organized with a focus on providing a world-class event with top value and the highest quality experience for registrants. The philosophy shared by the shows is to provide customers with the full agriculture trade show experience. For 120 years the DLG exhibition has highlighted technological advances favored by agriculture producers. AG CONNECT Expo 2010 has a parallel concept that will provide a global gathering place in the United States for agriculture producers, manufacturers and agribusinesses.

Precision Pasture Grazing With Sensors

Kurt LawtonCompany Announcement, Dairy, Equipment

Taking 200 grass measurements per second, the Rapid Pasture Meter from C-Dax Systems in New Zealand helps dairy and intensive grazing operations ensure optimum grazing conditions.

The concept came from the New Zealand Center for Precision Agriculture at Massey University, which continues to provide input into the ongoing development of the technology. Farmworks develops the accompanying PDA and desktop software.

The Rapid Pasture Meter allows you to accurately measure grazing residuals (pre & post grazing) for easy identification of poor performing areas of pasture, or palatability issues.

The speed and ease of use of this pasture management tool means that it can even be used to determine the optimum position of electric fences when break feeding to provide optimum feed every time.

The Pasture Meter has been designed to encourage the measurement of pasture residuals which is seen as important to ensure maximum utilisation from your pasture. Much of the guarding around the unit is designed to keep the sensors clean while measuring heavily soiled paddocks.

Initially two versions are available;

Tier1 – is a read only system that produces pasture cover averages for you to record as you complete each paddock. The system is bundled with P-Plus PastureCover software.

Tier 2 – is enabled with Bluetooth™ wireless and allows you to collect data from multiple paddocks which can be downloaded to your computer, so there is no need to carry a pen and pad with you.

Check out C-Dax Pasturemeter brochure with testimonials from users.

 

Target Pests With Precision Ag Technologies

Kurt LawtonEducation, Equipment, GPS, Research, University

Maximizing economic return is the payoff sought by growers with any precision farming technology. And a new story in Southeast Farm Press talks about how the Precision Farming team at the University of Georgia is using soil texture to target nematodes.

With precision agriculture, we try to refine things in order to achieve the goal of maximizing returns,” says Richard Davis, USDA-ARS plant pathologist in Tifton, Ga. “And when we talk about precision agriculture in nematode management, what we really end up talking about is more effective targeting of nematode applications.”

Many of the things growers do for managing nematodes involve making applications over entire fields rather than specific parts of a field, says Davis.

As part of a large project funded in part by Cotton Inc. and the Georgia Cotton Commission, the Precision Farming Team at the University of Georgia has been evaluating a number of techniques for delineating areas within fields at high risk for nematodes.

The fact that root-knot nematodes prefer sandy areas has encouraged researchers to find ways to rapidly measure soil texture — either directly or indirectly — and one of the most promising techniques is to directly measure soil EC. Soil EC is a function of soil texture and soil moisture. Sandy soils produce low soil EC while heavier soils result in higher values of soil EC.

While different instruments have been developed to measure soil EC, one of the most popular is the Veris 3100. This instrument has six coulter-electrodes (disks) mounted on a toolbar. As the Veris is pulled through the field, one pair of disks transmits an electrical current into the soil while another pair of disks measures the drop in voltage. The separation between the disks determines the depth to which soil EC can be measured. In the most commonly used configuration, soil EC is measured simultaneously from 0 to 1 foot (shallow) and 0 to 3 feet (deep).

In addition to directly measuring soil EC, there are other promising methods for indirectly measuring soil texture. These include using real time kinematic (RTK) GPS to rapidly create detailed topographic maps of fields. Elevation and slope of the terrain frequently dictate where coarse textured soil particles are deposited by erosion.

Precision Agriculture Boosts Farming Smarter

Kurt LawtonEducation, Farmers, Industry News, Precision Ag in the News, sustainability

The technology of precision agriculture is becoming more affordable (Precision.AgWired.com!), easier to use, less cumbersome in the tractor cab and physically easier on the farmer (thanks to auto steer). That’s the message delivered by ag industry veteran Harold Reetz, president of the Foundation for Agronomic Research, in a recent story he penned for AgriNews.

The risks of over-applying and under-yielding combine to put pressure on the manager to make better decisions. Through precision farming, growers can leverage their knowledge of their fields to maximize return on inputs.

Using soil test data to decide where the fertilizer dollar offers the highest return and using row-control planting equipment to minimize seed waste are just two of the benefits of the technologies available to today’s farmer.

Precision ag is making progress onto more and more crop production acres because its ease of use has progressed along with the technology.

More farmers can afford it. Not just in terms of dollars for the system, but the changes make the time investment to learn the systems and put them to work much more affordable.

The payoff from precision ag comes from making the right decisions on all acres of your farm, maximizing economic return. Today’s precision ag software and hardware work harder than ever allowing you to work smarter.

Check out The Foundation for Agronomic Research. And if you haven’t started making that investment in precision farming, it’s never too late to start, because Precision.AgWired.com for a lifetime.

New GPS Antenna Cuts Noise Interference

Kurt LawtonGeneral

Hemisphere GPS introduces its new A21 antenna, designed to reduce GPS correction signal signal dropoff that can be caused by electrical ‘noise’ and interference.

With its metal base, lower profile, improved Left Hand Circular Polarization (LHCP) rejection, and ability to filter out an additional 30 decibels of radio band of frequencies, the A21 antenna offers superior noise rejection. The new antenna will track GPS, SBAS (WAAS, EGNOS, etc.) and OmniSTAR(R) L-band signals. The A21 Antenna also features a TNC connector, which has a threaded coupling interface to ensure a secure connection.

“Our new A21 antenna does a better job of mitigating the interference from radios, transmitters, and other peripheral electronic equipment,” said Dr. Michael Whitehead, Chief Scientist for Hemisphere GPS. “This means that even in environments that are typically filled with electronic noise, like an aircraft cockpit, the A21 antenna will provide a constant, steady and reliable stream of GPS data and differential corrections.”

David Habig, a pilot with Dixie Dusters from Itta Bena, MS stated, “In the past, my GPS signal used to drop off when I keyed my radio. I would lose GPS and have to wait for the signal to come back.” In some cases, the GPS signal would be lost for up to 15 seconds because of radio interference. An aircraft can cover a good distance in 15 seconds, and losing a signal for that long can significantly impact the application. Mr. Habig put the new A21 antenna to the test, and was pleased with the results. “I tried to make it lose GPS signal in my turns, but it did not. This is a big improvement. Anyone with interference concerns is going to want this antenna.”

The A21 antenna will begin shipping in May 2009, and will be included in all Hemisphere GPS Air M3(TM), Flying Flagman(R), and LiteStar II(TM) GPS guidance systems. Current Hemisphere GPS Air GLA-3(TM) antenna owners can also upgrade to the new A21 antenna. The A21 antenna features the same mounting footprint as previous Hemisphere GPS Air antennas. The A21 antenna technology will soon be featured in other Hemisphere GPS product lines as well.

Getting Started With Precision Agriculture

Kurt LawtonGeneral

An excellent presentation on precision agriculture and the tools that add greater farm efficiency was compiled by Alabama Extension and Auburn University experts and presented at the North Alabama Production meetings.

It shows the history, the rate of adoption of many precision farming technologies, current trends, savings rates of key technologies, guidance systems and GPS satellite correction signals, swath control, variable rate application and much more. Here are a few key points:

  • 54% of growers have adopted one or more precision technologies
  • One hot trend is high-level GPS accuracy using RTK and auto steer for strip-till, fertilizing and planting
  • Auto-swath input savings can equal from 2 to 10% per pass across the field, with a payback of less than two years
  • Use data mapping to address field variability so your profit map reflects a positive return
  • Develop short-term and long-term precision agriculture implementation plans to help with purchasing decisions

Visit www.alabamaprecisionagonline.com for more information.

Smart Nozzles Aid Precision Application

Kurt LawtonEquipment, GPS, Video

With planting and spraying season top-o-mind right now, more and more growers are saving money with planter and boom control precision agriculture technology. For growers ready to move up to the next level of precision, check out Harrison Ag Technologies and their Smart Nozzle–which received a FinOvation award for 2009 from Farm Industry News magazine.

Using GPS technology for tracking purposes, the Smart Nozzle utilizes computer driven valves to control the flow of herbicides and pesticides when applied with a large agricultural spray vehicle. Once an operator “maps” a field – creating an outline of the area to be sprayed and also eliminating wash, hazard and wetland areas – the computer will then control the flow of each spray nozzle. The system will interrupt the chemical flow to those nozzles that are in recognized areas that are not intended to have chemical applied and it will also terminate the flow of nozzles that are in an overlap area or an area that has previously been sprayed. This system can also be used for the application of fertilizer with the same benefit of less product being needed. In addition, the Smart Nozzle can be employed in planting equipment and currently experimentation for variable rate nozzles is being developed.

The Smart Nozzle can be purchased as an add-on item to most large land based spray vehicles. A stand-alone system retails for $13,900.

In a presentation by the company at the Kansas Precision Agriculture Technologies conference, they state that the smart nozzle is reducing overspray by 10 to 15 percent. That could certainly help pay for a system in short order. Check out a YouTube video on the product.

Raven adds Planter and Sprayer Control

Kurt LawtonCompany Announcement, Equipment

With one console, farmers can control both planter rows and sprayer boom with Raven’s Cruiser. The company’s SmartRow and SmartBoom precision agriculture technologies will help farmers use GSP to save money on seed and chemicals, while greatly reducing over-application.

Raven is excited to introduce SmartRow™ automatic planter control via the same SmartBoom automatic boom control console— that’s two separate section control systems through one console! Simply interface SmartRow or SmartBoom through the Cruizer guidance system for easy set up and control.

SmartRow Features

  • Simply add a planter kit to the SmartBoom console to convert
  • Set field boundaries to determine acreage
  • Create no-plant areas
  • Limit cross planting and wasted seed
  • System override for manual operation