Precision is the name of the game when it comes to farming these days. It’s getting hard to find a farmer anymore who doesn’t use auto steer at the very least – and the options to save resources, time and money just keep growing.
At the New Holland exhibit at Commodity Classic, I talked to Matt Ahrens about some of the products they offer for growers and a program they have that can help farmers see exactly how they can benefit from using different types of precision solutions on their own operations. “We have a website – PutYourFarmOnTheMap – and on that website we have a cost savings calculator and you can go in and put your input costs on their, how much fuel usage per acre depending on implement width, and you can see what kind of savings you can get,” Matt said. “The good thing with that is that it’s their numbers, their input costs, so they get to see what their savings are.”
Matt also demonstrates the new AgGPS® FM-1000™ integrated display working with the Trimble Field-IQ in the video below. You can find out more about New Holland’s product line-up and more on the website PutYourFarmOnTheMap.com. We offer our sincere thanks to New Holland for helping to sponsor our coverage from Commodity Classic here on Agwired!
Leica Geosystems is represented here at Commodity Classic by Harlan Little, North American Business Manager. He showed me information that has just been released about their new mojo3D which puts mapping and guidance in a “new perspective.”
Designed to help growers get the job done more quickly and efficiently, the system combines a unique, three-dimensional user interface with rugged, water-resistant metal hardware built to withstand tough rural conditions.
With a large 7” touch-screen display and high-quality three-dimensional graphics, the Leica mojo3D has been built for ease of use. It has an intuitive, icon-based menu structure and setup wizards to minimize the time it takes to set the controls and get on with the task at hand. Users can change settings quickly and easily by tapping the relevant icon, without having to navigate away from the main guidance screen.
Users can customize the Leica mojo3D to meet individual requirements, with a range of option packs available, including terrain-compensated electric auto-steer via the Leica QuickSteer motor and Leica TWIST terrain compensation unit. Single section or multi-section control to reduce overlap and misses in spraying, spreading and planting applications is also available. Additionally, users have the option to upgrade auto-steer accuracy to 2cm RTK positioning with the Leica mojoRTK.
The Leica mojo3D may be pre-ordered now, and will begin shipping March 29. For more information about the Leica mojo3D and other ag guidance solutions from Leica Geosystems visit www.AgGuidance.com.
I interviewed Harlan and you can learn all about the new features and benefits of the new mojo3D in our discussion. He also talks about the mojoMINI which he’s holding in his hands in the photo.
Virtual Wrench is a service offered by Leica Geosystems. For growers using precision applications it’s like having a technical support person in the cab with them. This remote service and support system uses built-in cell data modems and even incorporates Google Earth!
To learn more about it I spoke with Darren Herstedt, Leica Geosystems service and support manager for North America. This is him sitting in front his computer utilizing Virtual Wrench. He says the customer can hit a couple of buttons and call their server so they can see the customer’s display remotely and guide them through a situation in real time. It saves time and money for both parties. He says that the system is available to almost all growers in the United States since they employ a service that utilizes most cellular carriers. Here’s what the product brochure says:
With your permission, your local reseller can remotely view and adjust settings, look at your field terrain and base station location, install software upgrades and, ultimately, diagnose and repair 90% of problems.
Since I’ve found that many AgWired fans are not familiar with Leica Geosystems, a new sponsor of ours, I thought it would be helpful to post a little background for you. You can also listen to an interview I did with Rob Kiernan at the recent AG CONNECT Expo. In it he said:
“Being a late entrant in the precision ag market, we have had the advantage of looking at what the market is seeking and identifying the gaps.” One of the gaps Leica identified was that of timely service. To address this need, Leica developed the Virtual Wrench™ service.
“Virtual Wrench is the world’s first remote service option. It gives the people who are operating the machinery the ability to reach out to the service team without having to leave the cab. Through cell phone connectivity, our technicians can look right inside that machine and see exactly what the operator is seeing. We’re able to help people with that service very quickly and very efficiently anywhere there is cell phone service.”
Translated, that means farmers aren’t waiting for a service truck to arrive in their field to fix the problem. Leica has found that about 90 percent of the service calls related to ag electronics can be “repaired” remotely, as it is primarily a matter of adjusting the various settings to the terrain and the task at hand.
So just what is Leica Geosystems? To start with it’s part of a nearly 200-year-old Swiss company with a long heritage of pioneering measurement solutions around the world. That background has been why they believe they can offer a strong lineup of precision ag products to today’s farmers. (more…)
John Deere’s AutoTrac™ RowSense™ makes more sense than ever for growers to use automatic guidance in corn, improve harvest efficiency and reduce operator fatigue. That’s because they now offer a universal version that can be used on older models and even other brands of combines and corn heads.
I talked with Aguimar de Souza of John Deere at the National Farm Machinery Show about AutoTrac RowSense and its benefits for growers. We also talked about the adoption of precision technology in his home country of Brazil and other parts of the world. “It’s growing everyday,” he said. “I would compare GPS technology for tractors and combines and sprayers to computer technology many years ago. Now, farmers in South America, North America, Australia, Europe understand that they need to buy these systems to be more productive.”
Listen to or download my interview with Aguimar in the player below and you can watch a video of him talking about AutoTrac RowSense here:
I’d like to introduce the newest sponsor for AgWired and that’s Leica Geosystems. They are also providing sponsorship on our Precision Pays website as well. We’ll get to know Leica more during the coming year with regularly scheduled posts on the company and the growing part of the industry they serve.
Today the company announced that Harlan Little has been named the North American Business Manager for Leica Geosystems’ agriculture group.
Little started with Leica Geosystems in late January, and will be based out of Leica Geosystems NAFTA headquarters in Atlanta.
With more than 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, management and precision agriculture, Little is a great fit for the Leica agriculture team in North America.
“Harlan is a great addition to the team and brings with him a wealth of ideas and industry contacts to help grow our business throughout the U.S. and Canada,” said Rob Kiernan, global sales and marketing manager. “We are ready to take our business to the next level with new leadership and a suite of new products being introduced this year.” (more…)
Ag Leader Technology has announced the Blue Delta Dealer Network. At the Iowa Power Farming Show I spoke with Mike Olson to learn more about it. He’s pictured working in the booth here at the show.
Basically, Ag Leader Technology has developed a new elite precision farming distribution network in an effort to bring more structure to a growing precision agriculture community.
The network is designed to help precision farming dealers become well-rounded precision farming experts, as well as help farmers locate and identify elite precision farming dealerships throughout North America.
“There are thousands of precision farming dealerships and specialists out there; our goal with Blue Delta is to create an opportunity for the best of these dealers to separate themselves with in-depth training, and increased product and marketing sup- port so they can become an even better resource for their customers,” says Mike Olson, North American Sales Manager. “We recognize the end user’s most important resource is their precision farming dealer. This is a great way to bring more consistency and expertise to the marketplace.”
Ag Leader unofficially launched the Blue Delta network in December at the grand opening of Ag Leader Academy in Ames. Since that time Ag Leader has been working with dealers on intense product training and marketing efforts.
“Our goal is to provide these dealers with a number of tools to help them better educate and sup- port their precision farming customers,” continues Olson. “We’ve learned that the more educated growers are about precision farming, the more they embrace it. We believe this will have a significant impact on the industry.”
We read a lot about precision agriculture hardware but you’ve got to have good software too. That’s what ZedX, Inc. is all about. On the floor of last week’s AG CONNECT Expo I met Twitter Master, Nathan Taylor, Business Analyst for the company.
Nathan says the company supplies precision support tools for the management of production agriculture. He says they also have a strong focus on R&D through universities government and private. They also have a weather division. The software ZedX offers is fully web based and Nathan claims they’re the only company that can make that claim right now.
Nathan says that “what’s new” with the company is an expansion of their AgFleet product so that growers can wirelessly sync from the field. He says they’re also hoping to have some new product releases very soon.
Sustainable agriculture is a much talked about trend right now and Agrotain International has a product that can help a farmer be profitable and sustainable at the same time – the Agrotain line of products. Micheal Stegmann, President of the company, explained to me during the AG CONNECT Expo what Agrotain does and why it is both economical and sustainable.
Agrotain is a product to be used with urea fertilizer. “Urea is a really great product for farmers to be using because it’s safe and abundant and it’s relatively inexpensive,” said Stegmann. “But it’s got a problem and that problem is when its applied to the surface, part of it is lost back into the environment.” A third actually. Stegmann continued, “When that loss occurs it’s not only an economic loss to the grower but also represents an environmental issue.”
Agrotain is not crop specific and can be used with any urea fertilizer. It is actually added to the fertilizer by the dealer and then the farmer applies the product as usual. The benefit to the grower is that it makes the urea more efficient and is a lot less expensive to use than the cost of the loss of nitrogen.
The company is a big believer in sustainability needing to be a big part of their future of agriculture. However, Stegmann notes that sustainability means different things to different people. “In my opinion, sustainable means a way to endure that reconciles the needs of society, the needs of the environment and economic needs as well.” He stresses the importance of the general public in understanding that farming is a business and needs to make a profit. “If we’re going to meet the growing demands and if we’re going to do it in a way that is satisfactory to the public, we have to be able to make money in the process.”
He concludes that regulations or rules or pactices that prevent the industry from being profitable are also going to prevent it from doing the things the public wants them to do — feed the world.
Most any photographer will know the Leica name. Oskar Barnack created a small 35mm camera back in 1925 that pretty much changed the way we look at things. What a lot of people are now learning about Leica is that they’re into precision agriculture technology in a big way. The company has three distinct divisions and the one on display at AG CONNECT Expo was Leica Geosystems. It was there that I met with Rob Kiernan, Global Sales & Marketing Manager.
Rob says that since they come from the optical business they’re basically a measurement company that has moved into GPS and that has led them into agriculture. At the show he says they’re promoting their mojoRTK which was launched in early 2008. He thinks they’re just now hitting their stride with the product. Service has been one of their priorities and they offer Virtual Wrench which allows the operator to get help without leaving the cab using mobile phone technology. The newest addition to their product lineup is their mojoMINI which does field guidance as well as standard navigation and will be available starting in February. You can see the unit on the display in the photo.
Topcon Precision Agriculture is a global company with a strong presence in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and is growing in Europe. One of their most popular products is the AGI-3 receiver. This system not only picks up GPS satellites, but also receives information from Galileo, the European satellite and Glonass, the Russian satellite said Michael Gomes, the company’s Director of Global Strategic Alliances, during the AG CONNECT Expo.
The most unique aspect of this precision ag technology is that the receiver can steer the tractor and I asked Gomes why this was advantageous to a farmer. He explained that being a farmer is economically hard. Input costs keep rising whereas commodity prices are not neccesarily increasing so farmers are squeezed for profit. So, he continued, products like the AGI-3 are tools for efficiency.
“What they allow you to do is get more productivity out of the asset. When you put in an auto steering system on a tractor it is not uncommon to get double hours. Now you can get day and night repeatability,” said Gomes. This also allows farmers to go through re-tooling and ultimately a farmer can farm more acres at a lower cost per acre.
The AIG-3 works directly with steer ready tractors but if a farmer doesn’t have one, he can use the AES25 which in essence, gives the farmer a steer-ready tractor.
One of the exhibits I visited at AG CONNECT Expo is our primary Precision Pays.com sponsor, Ag Leader Technology. Mike Olson, Sales and Support Manager, was on the floor interacting with attendees when I stopped by.
The Ag Leader booth was one of the ones displaying the “New Product” banner. I asked Mike what was new. He says there have been several new products released recently by the company including their new INTEGRA display. The 12.1 inch screen combines the operation control options Ag Leader is known for, with a built-in full-featured steering and guidance system including an on-screen lightbar.
Mike says most of the growers he spoke with know they need to implement precision technology but are asking questions about how they can use it in their operation.
You can watch or listen to my interview with Mike below:
Last week during the AG CONNECT Expo in Orlando, Florida, Hemisphere GPS launched the G100 all-in-one steering and guidance system for auto-steer ready agricultural vehicles. I caught up with Dwayne Hildebrandt, the Sales Manager for North America, during the event to learn more about their new product which is best suited for strip till or row crop farmers. The EDrive X is a centimeter level steering solution for these applications and can be combined with the 8220 or 8221 dual frequency RK1 base station solution, explained Hildebrandt.
I asked Hildebrandt what the advantage is to a farmer of purchasing GPS. He answered that typically farmers have had to plant or apply inputs by eye or with the use of a disk marker which reduces accuracy. He also noted that these technologies can be quite heavy and cause issues with the set up of the machinery.
“GPS technology works very well independent of dusty conditions, or day time or night time and really allows a lot higher precision because you’re not relying on operator experience,” said Hildebrandt. “So it allows the farm owner to virtually put anyone in the cab and get very, very good accuracy in terms of planting precision and application precision.”
Precision, said Hildebrandt, is one key to profitability and with their GPS technologies, farmers are not wasting as much on inputs, thus reducing their costs.
Valmont Industries took home two AE50 awards during the AG CONNECT Expo last week including one for its Base Station 2 with soil moisture monitor. Michele Stolte, with Valmont Industries, explained that with this system you can use the irrometer and then that information can be reported through their base stations and accessed at home. This aids the grower in determining whether or not he needs to irrigate and if so, how much.
The second award the company won was for its GPS Guidance for corners and linears. The system uses the RTK Star Fire GPS system that eliminates the need to install underground guidance cables and helps with precision application of water.
Another project Valmont has been working on, said Stolte, is a rice irrigation project using center pivots. “The main reason we got into this was to conserve water. Over the past couple of years, we have seen a water savings of approximately 50 percent as compared to flood irrigation which is mainly the only way rice is grown.”
Center pivots in general can apply water more precisely than most other forms of irrigation. This not only conserves water, but also saves the grower money.
During the AG CONNECT Expo last week, I spoke with Nathan Faleide, sales and marketing for Satshot. The company offers a GIS online system for the agricultural industry that handles and manages satellite imagery and other data for use in variable rate technology with a fertilization, seed and chemical all-in-one online mapping system. The system can be managed from anywhere in the world with online access.
I asked Faleide what types of information a grower who uses this precision ag technology would see and he explained, “What the imagery works out is the vegetative biomass or the vegetative reflectiveness of the plant which correlates to yield and productivity in the field.”
This imagery, said Faleide, shows the higher points of the growth yield potential or lower points that don’t yield as much. Ultimately, this is an advantage because farmers can focus on areas with higher yield potential and put less inputs on areas with lower yield potential, increasing the productivity and profit of the grower.
The company also provides a worldwide elevation model and when combined with their other technology can, “really pinpoint the best areas in the field to maximize efficiency,” said Faleide.
When Trimble launches a new product it’s available worldwide and next week Trimble will be launching several new products. I tried to coerce Guillermo Perez-Iturbe, the regional manager for Latin America, to give me a scoop during the AG CONNECT Expo, but he held out. Good for Trimble – bad for me.
Today, the company has a suite of precision ag products available including GPS guidance systems. One of their new products is the EZ-Steer assisted steering system which takes over the steering while the farmer focuses on steering, spraying and more. There are three versions of the EZ-Steer system including the AgGPS FmX Integrated Display. This display has 3D land leveling capabilities and the technologies in the pipeline will add even more options to the current products.
In the past year, Trimble has acquired several key companies in order to, “close the cycle of the ag precision space,” said Iturbe. The company has a worldwide presence and Iturbe noted that other countries are in very different places in their adoption of precision ag technologies.
The Trimble Team: Sergio Lucas, Vilson Hansen, Guillermo Perez-Iturbe and Rafeal Bull
For example, Argentina started precision farming 14 years ago with lightbars and has yet to adopt the higher levels of precision technology while Mexico has adopted the most advanced precision ag technology available but doesn’t use something as simple as a lightbar.
Today, Trimble is working with its customers to better help them identify the best precision ag technologies for their farms, and this is important to the company because they understand that no farmers’ operations are the same.
Listen to my AgWired exclusive interview with Guillermo Perez-Iturbe here.
Precision agriculture technology is on display all over the AG CONNECT Expo show floor. I don’t think I’ve seen quite so many exhibits outside of a show dedicated to this growing technology application. Raven Industries is one of the companies exhibiting something new here at the show.
I spoke with Marketing Manager, Ryan Molitor, this afternoon about Slingshot. He says Slingshot represents a breakthrough in connectivity, online services and hardware. It can deliver advanced RTK correction signal technology and high speed internet using wireless in the cab.
In this holiday shortened week the ZimmCast will feature two interviews I conducted at the recent NAFB convention to find out what’s new in the world of agribusiness from Trimble and Pioneer Hi-Bred.
I interviewed George Huber, Trimble, who talks about virtual reference stations and “the connected farm.” He says this allows you to get data to and from your vehicle while it’s working in the field. I also interviewed Jeff Schussler, Pioneer Hi-Bred, who talks about the work the company is doing with drought tolerance in corn.
Thanks to AgWired Sponsor, Fluidigm, for their support of the ZimmCast.
You can listen to this week’s ZimmCast below.
The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our a Subscribe page.
A blizzard was brewing outside but the brand new Ag Leader Academy was just getting warmed up yesterday in Ames, Iowa.
ZimmComm’s Precision Pays website reporter Kurt Lawton was there for the kick off of the academy, along with more than 200 dealers who attended to learn about all the company’s new products and the steering technology and services gained from the recently announced partnership with AutoFarm.
There was a lot of buzz about teaming up two new products in particular, which highlights the strengths of the new partnership between Ag Leader and AutoFarm. The ability to pair the new ‘flagship’ products—Ag Leader’s INTEGRA monitor with the high-accuracy automatic steering ParaDyme product from AutoFarm—will offer the most advanced and innovative precision ag system ever, say the companies.
The INTEGRA full-featured, year-around display, comprised of a 12-inch HD touchscreen, features a new hardware platform that can handle mapping, planter and application control, yield monitoring, real-time data logging and more—controlling virtually every operation from the cab.
And to make this a fully integrated system, a patented dual-antenna roof module called the ParaDyme, delivers a unique steering system that can handle any correction (from WAAS to RTK), plus it offers factory-activated and integrated wireless and cellular communications for remote diagnostics. It not only can provide sub-inch accuracy with RTK or the CORS Network, but it can track pitch, roll, yaw, vehicle position and heading.
Precision farming took a step forward this week as Ag Leader Technology of Ames, Iowa and AutoFarm of Fremont, California joined forces to provide auto steering and assisted steering solutions to the marketplace.
“We think the combination of the two companies’ products is going to provide some great efficiencies to the end user,” says Dave King, Ag Leader Marketing Communications Manager. “So, it’s a one stop shop for all their products and one stop for customer support as well.”
That’s just one of the announcements made this week by Ag Leader, in addition to a number of new products, which will all be showcased during a media event December 7-8 in Ames. “We’re going to have both Ag Leader and AutoFarm personnel on hand,” Dave said. “We’re going to cover all the new products and give editors a chance to see the products in action.”
Those who are lucky enough to be attending Agritechnica in Hanover, Germany next week will be getting the first chance to see and hear about the new products and the new alliance since Ag Leader will be there. “Ag Leader has distribution throughout the world, Europe being a primary export market for us,” said Dave. “Agritechnica is such a great show to introduce new products and a great opportunity to meet people in the European marketplace.”
Commodity Classic took place in Anaheim, CA. You'll find all of Chuck, Cindy and Joanna's photos here.
Happy Ag Week
It's time to thank our farmers and ranchers for all their hard work to feed us.
In this week's program I interview Linda Tank, CHS, Inc., who is Chair of the Agriculture Council of America, the group coordinating National Ag Day. Learn more about their activities, especially this week in Washington, DC.
Precision is the name of the game when it comes to farming these days. It’s getting hard to find a farmer anymore who doesn’t use auto steer at the very least – and the options to save resources, time and money just keep growing. 
and 
Users can customize the Leica mojo3D to meet individual requirements, with a range of option packs available, including terrain-compensated electric auto-steer via the Leica QuickSteer motor and Leica TWIST terrain compensation unit. Single section or multi-section control to reduce overlap and misses in spraying, spreading and planting applications is also available. Additionally, users have the option to upgrade auto-steer accuracy to 2cm RTK positioning with the Leica mojoRTK. 
Since I’ve found that many AgWired fans are not familiar with 
John Deere’s 
Ag Leader Technology has announced the 
We read a lot about precision agriculture hardware but you’ve got to have good software too. That’s what 
Agrotain is a product to be used with urea fertilizer. “Urea is a really great product for farmers to be using because it’s safe and abundant and it’s relatively inexpensive,” said Stegmann. “But it’s got a problem and that problem is when its applied to the surface, part of it is lost back into the environment.” A third actually. Stegmann continued, “When that loss occurs it’s not only an economic loss to the grower but also represents an environmental issue.”
Most any photographer will know the 
The most unique aspect of this precision ag technology is that the receiver can steer the tractor and I asked Gomes why this was advantageous to a farmer. He explained that being a farmer is economically hard. Input costs keep rising whereas commodity prices are not neccesarily increasing so farmers are squeezed for profit. So, he continued, products like the AGI-3 are tools for efficiency.
One of the exhibits I visited at AG CONNECT Expo is our primary 
Last week during the 
Valmont Industries took home two AE50 awards during the AG CONNECT Expo last week including one for its Base Station 2 with soil moisture monitor. Michele Stolte, with 
I asked Faleide what types of information a grower who uses this precision ag technology would see and he explained, “What the imagery works out is the vegetative biomass or the vegetative reflectiveness of the plant which correlates to yield and productivity in the field.”
Precision agriculture technology is on display all over the AG CONNECT Expo show floor. I don’t think I’ve seen quite so many exhibits outside of a show dedicated to this growing technology application. Raven Industries is one of the companies exhibiting something new here at the show.
In this holiday shortened week the ZimmCast will feature two interviews I conducted at the recent NAFB convention to find out what’s new in the world of agribusiness from Trimble and Pioneer Hi-Bred.
ZimmComm’s 
Precision farming took a step forward this week as 
“We think the combination of the two companies’ products is going to provide some great efficiencies to the end user,” says Dave King, Ag Leader Marketing Communications Manager. “So, it’s a one stop shop for all their products and one stop for customer support as well.”
It's time to thank our farmers and ranchers for all their hard work to feed us.
