Farmers and contractors operating fleets of machinery from different brands will in the near future be able to securely exchange and view machine data through a common interface called DataConnect. In addition, they will be able to control and monitor their entire machinery fleet using their preferred telematics platform, without having to switch portals or manually transfer data from one system to another.
Rabobank is forecasting that median Midwest corn farmers will be working with a margin of about 4% during the next 4-5 years. This is “unacceptable” and means they will need to increase their efficiency while continuing to cut costs, Kenneth Zuckerberg told attendees of the 2018 Precision Farming Dealer Summit in January.
Some of the most vexing issues with the adoption and expanded use of new ag technologies are compatibility and connectivity of different components and applications. Farmers and dealers alike have shared the frustration of getting equipment and software produced by different manufacturers to get along with each other.
Mixing and matching precision farming equipment and components can, in many cases, produce a superior system for some operations. On the other hand, compatibility issues with such systems have been known to create major headaches for precision farming technicians whose job it is to make them operate properly.
The “precision placement of chemicals” and “consistent application within a targeted coverage” area that Ken Giles spoke of 5 years ago is a reality today, and is often referred to as “site-specific management” or, in some cases, “variable-rate application.
There’s just no winning with weeds. If we don’t kill them, they’ll choke out our crops and devastate yields. In earlier days, we removed them by labor intensive hoeing and cultivating. More recently we started spraying herbicides to control them. Unfortunately, this unwanted vegetation figured out how to beat the most common of the weed killers being used, leaving us with as big of a problem, we had before we started spraying.
Dr. Tom Krill defines precision farming as a management concept that recognizes variability within the soil environment and maximizes economic agricultural production while minimizing environmental impact for a specific location. And to evaluate it’s effectiveness, precision farming must have measurable objectives.
As much as I’ve enjoyed visiting with our readers on this page during the past few months, you’ll have a new face to look at starting with the next issue of Precision Farming Dealer
Considering how rapidly precision farming is penetrating row-crop farming, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that its impact is touching all areas of agriculture. But precision farming for gardeners?
I had the chance to sit in on a panel discussion about autonomy and automation at the National Farm Machinery Show earlier this month. The panel featured leaders from Sabanto, Solinftec, Agtonomy and Case IH.
The college offers an associate degree in Applied Science in Agriculture (60 credit hours). Students enrolled in this program may specialize in precision farming technology by selecting up to 15 credit hours in this area and agriculture business, sales and agronomy.
The college offers an AAS in Precision Agriculture and customized precision ag- related training for agricultural producers, insurance underwriters, equipment dealer and agricultural cooperative employees and others.
Offering training on Ag Leader, Trimble, Reichhardt, Norac and Integris Systems in twice yearly customer training events (spring/fall). Also offering individual training opportunities on any HTS Ag products and SMS software, year round.