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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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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More than half of all commercial farmers in Ohio are using precision technology in their operations. A survey from Ohio State’s Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics surveyed 2,500 farmers with sales of $50,000 or more last year. Agricultural economist Marv Batte says the survey shows that 55 percent of commercial farmers have adopted at lease one piece of precision agriculture equipment as of 2007.
Guidance systems, like real-time kinetic (RTK) auto steer, continue to be one of the top precision agriculture components of choice for Ohio farmers, and the most rapidly adopted precision equipment, according to an Ohio State University agricultural economics survey.
Precision guidance systems and yield monitors were the most frequently adopted precision farming equipment, with about 32 percent of all commercial farmers adopting them to date.
Precision guidance systems have been adopted by farmers most readily over the past eight years. Since 1999, adoption rates have jumped 27 percent. Adoption rates of yield monitors increased 15 percent since 1999.
“Precision guidance systems are popular because they are easy to use, are getting more inexpensive, improve efficiency, save time and labor, and can be used for a variety of field work,” said Batte, who also holds an appointment with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. “With precision guidance equipment, the potential savings are numerous and immediate.”
Other precision agriculture components being rapidly adopted by Ohio farmers include georeferenced grid soil sampling; satellite GPS receiver; boundary mapping; variable rate application of lime, phosphorus and potassium; and aerial or satellite field photography.
Batte says the least adopted precision equipment is variable rate applicaiton of pesticides and micronutrients. He adds that the technology with the most potential is variable rate seeding, the adoption rate of which has increased nearly 5 percent since 1999.
According to the survey, the least adopted precision agriculture equipment is variable rate application of pesticides and micronutrients.
Click here to find more results from the survey.
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Auto steering technology is being hailed as one the most useful farm technology to date. A commentary on PrecisionAg.com reports that it is the most rapidly adopted technology in the history of agriculture. In the commentary, Paul Schrimpf, the group editor of the CropLife Media Group, highlights what’s being called the hands-free revolution:
Given all the benefits and the current payback potential for saving chemical, fertilizer, fuel, and seed, I had to concur. Last night, I got some affirmation from a cotton grower that’s three years into his use of a real-time kinematic steering system. I was interviewing him for a story that will run in the June issue of Cotton Grower magazine, one of our sister publications.
The first question Jared Fiveash and his family asked their local Trimble dealer was, what can the system do for their farm — today, the question is, “what can’t this system do?” he says.
Jared uses it for every field activity, from harvest to seed placement to application. There have been input savings that he doesn’t offer an estimate on, but one of the most profound and important benefits has been reduced fatigue, increased productivity, and decreased labor needs.
“You can’t find folks around here who want to run the equipment anymore, this situation is terrible,” says Jared. “Automatic steering has really helped the labor issue for us.”
As for reduced fatigue, he and his father can go an extra hour or two every day, “and the next morning we’re ready to go again.”
I’ve been guilty of focusing on the search for monetary paybacks on technology like auto-steer, and while this is important there is clearly a quality of life aspect to the hands-free revolution that’s a big part, if not the biggest part, of why it’s gotten so big, so fast.
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Successful Farming’s Crop Tech Tour tracks down a certified crop adviser in the field. Lyle Mabus wanted to learn more about how precision agriculture could be introduced on his farm. Bryan Arndorfer of Precision Management Services was there to offer Lyle the instruction he was looking for and helps Lyle maximize precision technology for farming applications like variable rate nitrogen.
You can find 3 more videos of Bryan’s work at Lyle’s farm at Agriculture Online’s Crop Tech Tour site.
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Culger isn’t the only place you’ll find precision ag in Mississippi. Successful Farming’s Crop Tech Tour interviewed Hank Kelly about how he uses precision technology at his 8,000 acre farm in Holmes County, MS. Hank says though input costs might change with the use of precision farming techniques like remote imagery variable rate line, overall precision ag equipment and software keepinput costs under control and increase crop yields.
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Swath Control Pro is getting more popular with growers every season. Kirk Swihart says that’s because the technology reduces overlap and helps farmers improve their input costs. Kirk is the Technical Assistant Supervisor with John Deere. He reminds growers that all 4000 series sprayers are compatible with the Swath Control Pro. He says growers do need John Deere’s StarFire application or another third party receiver to use the technology. He adds that Swath Control Pro offers farmers an improved coverage map, and, coupled with John Deere’s AutoTrac, growers can use it to cover more acres in one day than ever before.
Here is the second part of an interview that Chuck did recently with Kirk: Kirk Swihart Interview (4 min. MP3)
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The new John Deere Rx Converter makes John Deere hardware more compatible with various software applications. Darin Krantz with John Deere Ag Management Solutions says compatibility is an integral part of modern machinery and that’s why Deere is offering the Rx Converter for free. Darin says as Deere’s GSII packages become more popular, more software vendors are wanting to become compatible with the technology.
Chuck interviewed Darin about the Rx Converter and where users can go to find it. You can listen to Chuck’s interview here: Darin Krantz Interview (4 min. MP3)
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The pressure is on in the farming industry. At least, that’s what the English think. The Engineer Online reports that Prof John Beddington, the English government’s new chief scientific adviser, has claimed that an “impending food crisis is the biggest challenge facing humanity.” And, as it turns out, The Engineer Online says experts agree that precision farming is a major player in combating this “impending crisis.” That’s not all. They’ve highlighted John Deere’s new ITEC Pro system as THE example of the technology needed to face the food crisis.
One of the most promising developments is the emerging area of precision farming, where GPS-guided agricultural machines, armed with a detailed knowledge of a field’s varying characteristics, place seeds, fertilisers and nutrients where they are needed most…
Although the idea is not new, agribusiness consultant Neil Cameron believes precision farming is finally coming of age. ‘People have been playing around with it for years, but in the last 18 months we’ve hit a place where the equipment’s got cheaper, and the accuracy has got better and better.’
While this has much to do with the ever-improving resolution of satellite systems, one of the main reasons the approach now holds such promise is the advanced performance of today’s agricultural machines.
Today’s tractors, mainly GPS-guided and able to steer themselves, and combines have relegated the driver to the role of passenger. And there is more to come.
Earlier this year, agricultural machinery giant John Deere took the technology a step further with the launch of iTEC pro, a system that automates not only the steering, but also all of a tractor’s operations. ‘Pretty much from the moment you enter the field and set to work the operator is just a passenger,’ said Mark James, the company’s product manager for agricultural management solutions…
However, the prospect of armies of driverless robots toiling in the fields while the farmer sits at a desk at home is remote, said James. Not only would fears of 300hp combine harvesters hurtling out of control halt such plans, but there is always likely to be a need for on-site human expertise. The real benefit of automation, he said, is that it enables more efficient use of the driver’s expertise by freeing him from having to drive in a straight line for hours.
James added that while humans might not be completely removed from the loop, we may soon see operators driving one machine while a succession of driverless vehicles follow on behind. ‘On a multi-pass operation like planting potatoes — when there’s three or four operations — one man could potentially do this on his own but with a succession of different machines. Then you’ve got the experience in the operation, rather than expecting an automated system to make all the decisions.’
Click here to view the full article.
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ITEC Pro stands for Intelligent Total Equipment Control. And, it does exactly what it sounds like it does. Darin Krantz is the product development manager in the marketing department at John Deere Ag Management Solutions. He says the ITEC Pro automates the entire driving function for qualified Deere tractors, giving less-skilled operators the precision they need to make more efficient and accurate turns.
Chuck spoke with Darin about this John Deere exclusive, which represents the latest technology from Deere’s AutoTrac application. You can listen to Chuck’s interview with Darin here: Darin Krantz Interview (4 min. MP3)
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