I told you I’d get to see the new John Deere 7760 Self Propelled Cotton Picker in action. This bad boy will be ready for sales next year but growers can call their local dealer to get an on-farm demonstration.
I liked the American flag touch. It was waving in the nice breeze we had all day. There were also field demonstrations with corn, soybeans, hay and peanuts.
If you’d like to see photos from the Sunbelt Ag Expo, I’ve got them in a Sunbelt Ag Expo Photo Album.
The Farm Science Review is taking place in London, OH and I got to attend the precision ag field demos yesterday and found John Deere on the job.
I spoke with John Deere’s Jamie Bultemeier (pictured on the left). He was conducting a precision tillage demonstration. Jamie’s an agronomist by training so he focuses on crop production as it relates to seeding, tillage, sprayers and GPS equipment.
In his demonstration he was tying two of those together. He says they have a John Deere 2510S strip till rig being guided by John Deere RTK sub inch accuracy steering to allow for repeatable planting next spring. After running down a row a little ways he stopped to talk with farmers and they commented on how moist the ground was even though there had been little rain of late.
Questions he gets asked a lot include, “How should I set it? What fertilizer should I use? What kind of attachments should I put on?” He says he’s spoken with about an equal number of farmers who are using the technology and those who aren’t yet.
You can listen to my interview with Jamie using this link:
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(mp3 file)
I also caught Jamie doing an end of the row run during his demonstration which you can watch here:
If you’re interested you can see a lot of pictures I took at this year’s show in this photo album: Farm Science Review Photo Album
John Deere has recently announced that it’s offering a slew of different precision agriculture products. Some are available now and others are scheduled to be released in the spring or fall of 2009. Kim Fletcher, Marketing Representative with John Deere Ag Management Solutions has been hosting several live presentations showcasing many of the new products and some old favorites at the 2008 Farm Progress Show John Deere exhibit. I managed to grab video of one of her presentations. Check out the video below. I’ll also be posting a couple interviews with her about the products in the next few days.
John Deere RowCommand: New Technology for Efficient Planter Row Control
John Deere AutoTrac RowSense
John Deere GreenStar Lightbar, GreenStar 2 Display 1800 and StarFire 300 Reciever
John Deere SeedStar 2 Monitoring System
John Deere iGuide
JDLink
John Deere Precision Ag Products from Laura McNamara on Vimeo.
Agriculture Online’s Crop Tech Tour caught up with John Deere Ag Management Systems Consultant Todd Zimmerman in Auburn, Nebraska. Todd was visiting Arlin Aufenkamp, a farmer who has been using precision farming technology for 10 years. Todd says Arlin started off with mapping technology on his combine, moved to auto steer and has now added auto shut-offs on his sprayers and planters.
You can watch videos of Todd and Arlin explaining the benefits of using these technologies here:
Farmer inventor Ned Meyer is in his third year of applying “Precision Track” technology to his farm. Agriculture Online’s Crop Tech Tour visited Ned Farmer to talk about his concept of the functions and potential uses for his “Precision Track” field system design. Ned says his farm uses the system for both planting and cultivating. The performance, he says, is impressive.
You can watch videos of Ned explaining his “Precision Track” field system here:
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:
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:
The Certified Crop Adviser that Successful Farming’s Crop Tech Tour tracked down at Lyle Mabus’s farm was also offering his expertise to farmer Jim Erdahl of Blue Earth, MN. In this video Jim Erdahl talks about how farmers’ ability to collect data has changed with technology over the years.
You can find more videos of both Bryan and Jim at Agriculture Online’s Crop Tech Tour site where Bryan and Jim talk more about managing data and using sit specific variety maps.
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.
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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