Tracking labor performance and product quality now comes at the touch of a button… or the flash of a scan rather. The all-in-one Labor Performance and Product Quality Management Systems, one of the newest products from John Deere Agri Services, boasts unmatched data collection for hand-harvested crops. The hand-held device measures crew output and productivity, harvest performance, and crop quality, quantity, location, attributes and more through the use of barcodes on worker IDs, RFID tags and GPS field location. All information and data is then instantly uploaded to a specialized website accessed through unique user and password information. John Deere says the bottom line is, the device allows farmers to, well, increase their bottom lines by giving them more control and manageability over production and workers alike.
I spoke with Richard Johnson (pictured left), the National Account Manager of Production and John Deere Agri Services about the Labor Performance and Product Quality Management Systems. You can listen to my interview with Richard here:
Richard Johnson Interview Interview (7 min. mp3)
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Farmers are touting auto-steer technology among the best of precision farming applications. The Indiana Prairie Farmer reports that the farmers reporters spoke with during farm management tour stops stressed auto-steer capabilities as priceless.
In fact, statements like “I wouldn’t let you take it away from me” flowed freely during tour interviews. Besides the tangible benefits, including saving from overlap and spraying more precisely, the benefit that it’s not possible to put a dollar sign on came up quite often.
That’s how freeing yourself from doing the driving and concentrating on rows or markers leaves you much fresher late in the day. How you measure not being so tired in terms of dollars and cents is a factor even ag economists haven’t conquered yet, but farmers insist it’s real and that it’s important. And the older the farmer running it, like a parent or grandparent, the more important that factor becomes, they note…
It was auto-steering that kept coming back as the most favorite technology at the tour. Some folks still use the free WAAS signal, but those serious about using it for precise operations, like planting, are either using a satellite subscription signal or obtaining an RTK signal. Precision Partners, a technology firm located near Flat Rock, now ahs a series of stations mounted on various towers that broadcast RTK signals. For a fee they allow customers to pick up the signal and use it for guidance.
Click here to read the entire article.
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A local television station out of Huntsville, Alabama has highlighted the changing face of agriculture on its daily newscast. WHNT NewsChannel 19 has recently featured farmers who are learning more about precision technology. WHNT found that farmers are calling traditional farming “a thing of the past.” Plus, they’re calling John Deere equipment “the perfect example” of cutting-edge farming technology.
“When people think of farming, they think of sweating out there,” says Ben Smith.
Smith is an Agricultural Management Specialist for Trigreen Equipment and says the idea most people have of traditional farming is a thing of the past.
The newest model of the John Deere tractor is the perfect example. It’s equipped with RTK, real time kinematic, technology.
It works by GPS satellite, so farmers can plant, spray, and harvest their crops, and the whole time just sit back while it drives itself on routes specifically programmed for the field. The accuracy is less than an inch.
“This is the most accurate you can get,” says Smith.
The tractor can pinpoint locations close enough to hit a golf ball. Smith says technology like this is becoming almost necessary.
“With the rising chemical and fuel costs that we have now and seed costs, we want to get more accurate,” says Smith. “If we can plant in the same place year after year, using the same route systems, then it will make our yields a whole lot better.”
Click here to find out what more farmers think about precision agriculture.
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Pictures and sensors from outer space are getting clearer and that means more finite and precise technology for farmers. The Satellite Imaging Corporation says satellite technology can be used to detect field fertility, measure water usage and more.
Satellite sensors acquiring high and medium resolution image data, combined with specialized software algorithms are used for various applications in agriculture to improve crop production. Scheduling and timing for the acquisition of satellite image data is very important for agriculture management to take important decisions supporting a successful crop season.
…With the availability of high resolution satellite sensors such as IKONOS, QuickBird and soon GeoEye-1, the current remote sensing NDVI algorithms utilized have become more accurate and reliable, providing detailed crop information for agriculture management to improve production and crop health.
…Agriculture resources are among the most important renewable, dynamic natural resources. Comprehensive, reliable and timely information on agricultural resources is very much necessary for countries whose main source of the economy is agriculture.
Satellite images can show variations in organic matter and drainage patterns. Soils higher in organic matter can be differentiated from lighter sandier soil that has a lower organic matter content. “Satellite image data have the potential to provide real-time analysis for large areas of attributes of a growing crop that can assist in making timely management decisions that affect the outcome of the current crop” said Leopold J. Romeijn, President of Satellite Imaging Corporation of Houston, Texas.
Click here to view the entire release.
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Farmers in the Midwest will soon have the chance to scope out the latest in agriculture. The 2008 Midwest Ag Industries Exposition is coming to Bloomington, IL August 20th through 21st.
Join us at the 2008 MAGIE show, the only outdoor summer event designed exclusively to showcase the equipment, products and technology utilized in the commercial crop production supply and service industry. Test drive the newest application equipment and network with the best agricultural equipment and technology suppliers in the country.
Admission is $12 before August 4th and $15 after August 4th.
Online registration begins July 14, 2008.
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The optimal time to invest in precision farming is now. PrecisionAg.com reports that the International Nutrition Plant Institute has come up with some reasons why farmers should embrace precision ag technology today.
- Precision agriculture technologies have not always been economical for small to medium-sized farming operations. However, as input costs rise, precision agriculture equipment is becoming less expensive and tools such as guidance systems, yield monitors, and variable-rate fertilizer applicators may now be profitable for nearly all growers.
- Some technologies, like RTK auto-steering, can improve efficiency without changing management practices. Using a GPS-guided steering system can eliminate sprayer overlaps and planter skips that can result in lower profits.
- Despite the fact that yield monitors have been around over a decade, many growers still don’t fully understand how to use them to improve farming efficiency. This lack of knowledge is being actively addressed in a series of extension programs and classroom courses developed North Carolina State University. This training involves on-farm demonstrations, hands-on classroom training using “Virtual Yield Monitor” custom software, and introduction to spreadsheet-based analysis of yield monitor data, yield-limiting factors, and potential changes in management that could increase yield.
- Variable-rate fertilizer applications have been shown to improve efficiency and increase profits in many grower fields. Several universities and USDA-ARS research units have developed strategies for using on-the-go sensor-based applicators to improve fertilizer use efficiency. Profits have come in the form of increased grain yields without increasing total nutrient inputs.
- Precision management pays now more than ever.
Click here to view the entire article.
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John McDonald of Phillips, Nebraska says GPS guidance systems take the stress of planters, reducing planters fatigue while running the tractgor in 14 hour shifts. Agriculture Online’s Crop Tech Tour stopped by John’s farm to get a look at how GPS technology is being used in Nebraska. John says there’s a generational learning curve with GPS guidance systems technology. His kids, he explains, pick up the new applications with the snap of a finger. He says for him, it’s not that easy. But, he says planters just “gotta think like a computer.”
You can watch the video of John here:
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Agriculture Online’s Crop Tech Tour recently stopped in Beloit, Kansas and spoke with certified crop advisor Roger Barrett. The Farmway Cooperative representative says the use of precision ag tools is growing in his farming region. He says there are a lot of growers in his area that are delving into new precision applications and technologies, like the ones John Deere offers.
You can watch a video of Roger talking about precision farming in his area here:
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