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:

• New Toolkit Enables Farmers & Tech Companies to Collaborate More Efficiently
• SwarmFarm WeedIts Provide Solution to Labor Issues
• Ohio State Ag Team “Smart-Plants” Way to World Record
• New Technology Helps Increase Irrigation Efficiency in Mississippi
• The Return of the Agriculture Technology Podcast

New Toolkit Enables Farmers & Tech Companies to Collaborate More Efficiently

Forbes contributor Connie Bowen introduces the new Agtech Toolkit, which features crop-specific resource-pages including information on market size, grower metrics, top problems facing the industry, how to interview growers, requirements for automation and more. “Ideally, a founder will have critically consumed the relevant Ag Toolkit pages’ contents prior to booking time with the growers, enabling the founder to efficiently do the foundational work to determine whether or not the addressable market is potentially large enough without wasting a farm manager’s valuable time,” Bowen says.

SwarmFarm WeedIts Provide Solution to Labor Issues

Australian farmer Tom Coggan completed a week’s worth of spraying in just one day thanks to SwarmFarm’s WeedIts. In this article from Ground Cover, Coggan details how the robots have been a game changer for his operation, providing a solution to labor challenges and more. “We have been able to add an extra 36 meters of spraying to our mix and we haven’t had to employ anyone to do it,” he says.

Photo by: Tom Coggan

Ohio State Ag Team “Smart-Plants” Way to World Record

O-H! I-O! Precision ag students at the Ohio State University used GPS-guided smart planting to break the world record for the largest script Ohio logo. It took the team 4 years to complete the project. "We decided to start and continue this project to show the potential of new multi-hybrid/variety planting technology and demonstrate that it can complete tasks with accuracy and precision to the point of making logos in field scenes,” says Andrew Klopfenstein, senior research associate engineer.

New Technology Helps Increase Irrigation Efficiency in Mississippi

This article from Farm Progress details how farmers in Mississippi are utilizing new tools like soil moisture sensors to increase productivity while cutting back on water usage. “Putting a soil moisture sensor in the ground doesn’t save a drop of water,” says Drew Gholson, irrigation specialist at Mississippi State University’s Delta Research & Extension Center. “Knowing how to use the soil moisture sensors to know when to irrigate is how you save money.”

Today, about 50% of Mississippi’s agricultural land is irrigated, with 40,000 to 50,000 acres of irrigation added each year. Mississippi State University researchers are working to improve irrigation efficiency. Photo by: Kevin Hudson

The Return of the Agriculture Technology Podcast

They’re back! After a brief hiatus, Tony Kramer and the team at RDO Equipment return to deliver the latest precision ag news, machine technology updates, data analytics and more.

Is there something you want to share in "This Week"? Send us an email.

More from this series