Precision Farming Dealer editors encounter a variety of articles, social media posts, podcasts and videos that offer a unique look at various aspects of our great agricultural industry. Here is our favorite content from the past week:

Best of the Web This Week is brought to you by Salford Group.

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As global leaders with the widest range of spinner spreaders and air boom applicators in the industry, Salford Group has got you covered. Backed by over 400 application-specific dealers, eight North American parts distribution centers and revered in-field application support, we’re the partners you need to make your business as productive as possible.

Researchers Develop Sensors for Soil Testing

Skip to the 17:08 mark of the latest AgDay broadcast for this story. Researchers at Kansas State are working to become more precise when it comes to measuring soil moisture. As agronomy department head Raj Khosla says, “we can only manage what we can measure.” Khosla’s team is developing microsensors capable of quantifying changes in soil moisture and nitrogen.

Vegetable Growers Cashing in on Precision Technology

Growing Produce shines the spotlight on 5 products putting vegetable growers on the cutting edge: Verdant Robotics’ autonomous farm robot, FarmWise’s autonomous weeder, Vision Robotics’ intelligent inline cultivator, Veda Farming Solutions’ reverse tiller, and Sutton Agricultural Enterprises’ seed disc eye camera monitoring system.

Verdant Robotic drone picture

Photo from GrowingProduce.com, Courtesy of Verdant Robotics

5 Agricultural Realities Innovators & Funders Need to Understand

Michael Gilbert identifies “5 things Silicon Valley gets wrong about agriculture” in this article from Entrepreneur. He writes, “Betting the farm isn’t just a saying. It’s something farmers do every year. When a farmer invests in new technology they’re often, quite literally, betting the farm. If the tech doesn’t deliver, it could spell financial ruin.”

farmer in field

Photo from Entrepreneur.com, Credit: lovelyday12 | Getty Images

Using Precision Technology in Crop Breeding Programs

Precision technology is changing the game for crop breeding programs at the North Dakota State extension. Check out how breeders are using remote sensing, drones, and ag robots to measure thousands of plant traits in an accurate and fast manner.

Christmas Giving: Ag Community Challenged to ‘Pay it Forward’

Dr. Warren Dick, retired Soil Science Professor from Ohio State Univ., is “paying it forward” in working to help Ethiopia produce more and better food, reduce poverty, and improve people’s nutrition and health. This Christmas season, he’s seeking contributions to help establish a university and training center to serve Africa. Goals, he says, include “developing and demonstrating more productive ways of growing food, test more efficient irrigation techniques, create a model fish production system, develop agroforestry and conservation agriculture projects, and establish an analytical chemistry laboratory so that farmers will have accurate information on how best to manage their soils and crops." More on the project here: facebook.com/bethelagriculture.org

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Best of the Web This Week is brought to you by Salford Group.

At Salford Group, we have range - in our product lineup and when it comes time to apply. As global leaders with the widest range of spinner spreaders and air boom applicators in the industry, we’ve got you covered. Salford’s BBI and Valmar applicators are proven over millions of acres and range from simple, durable fleet spreaders to precision, variable rate machines engineered for high acreage, custom application. Backed by over 400 application-specific dealers, eight North American parts distribution centers and revered in-field application support, we’re the partners you need to make your business as productive as possible.

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