Lake Region State College is planning a series of seminars focusing on Introductory Precision Agriculture with the first seminar beginning on January 15th. Each seminar will consist of five classes which will meet on Monday and Wednesday afternoons from 1-4 PM at the Dakota Precision Ag Center (DPAC) located 1.5 miles north of the main campus (5070 Hwy 20 N) on North Dakota State Highway 20.

Hemisphere GNSS announced that Chuck Joseph has been named President and Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Mr. Joseph has also been appointed to the Hemisphere GNSS Board of Directors.

Current estimates are that the size of the precision agriculture market investments in the U.S. by producers and service providers using precision ag technology will be growing by at least 13 percent per year during the next five years to reach $3 billion to $3.5 billion.

Farms.com is pleased to announce the organization of the first Precision Agriculture Conference in Ontario.  “Last year, I would have said that most people thought the reality of benefits from Precision Agriculture were several years away,” says Farms.com Executive Vice President Joe Dales. “But, in 2013 many of the technologies started to come together in a very meaningful way. Precision Agriculture is a reality for 2014.”

 James Szabo, who has travelled the world investigating technological advances in agriculture as part of a year-long Nuffield Scholarship, will make his predictions for the future at the Norfolk Farming Conference on February 20. Delegates at the John Innes Conference Centre, in Norwich, will be told how different types of robots are likely to play a key role on farms, improving crop yields and saving labour.

Some big investors are looking at Ag’s new opportunities to be had. Just a few months ago, Monsanto bought Climate Corp for a whopping $930 million. More recently, Horizons Ventures, the investment firm of the big-hitting Chinese investor Li Ka Shing, invested in Kaiima, an Israeli biotech company that raised $65 million from investors. There’s lots of room to grow, and therefore, lots to learn.

Topcon Precision Agriculture has named Aaron Shultz regional sales manager for the southern region of the United States.

When Gregg Carlson served in the U.S. Rangers in the early 1970s, he used the first-generation GPS system. Carlson was so impressed with the technology that he’s spent much of his post-military career educating farmers about the benefits of GPS and other precision ag tools.

Trimble announced today that it has acquired the assets of privately-held C3 of Madison, Wis. The acquisition will enable Trimble to provide unique soil information as well as decision recommendations to farmers’ trusted advisors—such as agronomists, Trimble resellers or Ag retail suppliers.

Land O'Lakes, Inc., today announced its acquisition of Geosys, a global technology firm that provides satellite imaging and insights to agribusiness.