Precision agriculture training at Iowa State University just got a boost.
Today, Ag Leader Technology announced their commitment to support students interested in precision agriculture by establishing the Ag Leader Technology Precision Agriculture Scholarship within the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (ABE) at Iowa State University. Five Ag Leader scholarships will be awarded annually starting in the 2008/2009 school year.
“Ag Leader has benefited from the knowledge and expertise of many graduates from ABE at Iowa State University,” says President of Ag Leader, Al Myers. “Our goal is to enhance students’ awareness of, and interest in precision agriculture so they are prepared for the ever-changing agriculture industry landscape.”
It’s been a very interesting day on the road. I just finished up conducting some interviews at the John Deere Ag Management Solutions offices in Urbandale, IA. I’m going to be using them for a series of stories on Precision Pays.
There’s a lot going on in the precision ag world right now as pressure mounts to reduce input costs and increase productivity. Precision Pays is a project we’ve been working on with BCS Communications and John Deere to help distribute current information to help farmers improve their bottom line.
I thought I’d share the first interview in the series with Mark Theuerkauf, Marketing Manager. Mark and I talked about RTK. Our conversation helped me better understand how the tower or base station network functions to provide a growing coverage area where farmers can take advantage of the extreme accuracy that RTK offers. As Mark says, John Deere offers three levels of accuracy with RTK being at the top of the list.
You can learn more about RTK on the John Deere StellarSupport website. Mark says that there are considerations when using the network since it is contingent on line of sight with the local towers. He suggests that farmers work with their local dealer to find out how to incorporate RTK into their operation.
You can listen to my interview with Mark here:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 6 or above) is required to play this audio clip. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
There was certainly a lot of precision agriculture equipment and software on display at this year’s Commodity Classic as well as at the National Farm Machinery Show. Here’s Matt Hesse, Auto Pilot Segment Manager for Trimble at Classic. We asked Stewart Doan to find out what’s new from Trimble in ‘08.
Matt says they’ve got a number of new products out this year including a new EZ-Guide light bar, EZ-Office software package to manage collected data and a Trimble Agriculture Manager system that helps you save time managing all your precision assets. He says that precision starts with guidance and the returns are easy to see. Guidance pays for itself and with good commodity prices now is a great time to have new products to sell.
You can listen to Stewart’s interview with Matt here:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 6 or above) is required to play this audio clip. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Another company I just didn’t have time to visit with at Commodity Classic is AutoFarm. They’ve got some new products out including software that displays data on precision displays. This is a screen shot of what it looks like.
AutoFarm® announces the upcoming release of AF-Viewer™ II software. Developed by Farm Works Software exclusively for AutoFarm, AF-Viewer II will offer AutoFarm GPS steering customers easy collection and field-to-office transfer of GPS-generated farm management data.
AF-Viewer II software is compatible with virtually all AutoFarm GPS steering systems currently in use: A5 RTK AutoSteer™, DGPS AutoSteer™, RighTrac™, OnTrac™, and ATC, as well as the new FarmPRO™ GPS Steering & Application Control System.
Justin Larouche, AutoFarm Director of Product Management says, “It is AutoFarm’s intent to make our new AF-Viewer II software available to our existing customers at no charge, as long as they register their AutoFarm steering systems with a product serial number. This adds great additional value for our existing customers.”
Another recent announcement was for their new FarmPRO GPS Steering & Application Control System. (more…)
If you’ve never attended the National Farm Machinery Show then you really owe it to yourself to wander around the largest indoor show of its kind in the world. I mean it’s big. I didn’t stay for the whole show this year but I think I covered some ground anyway.
While there I spoke with Dan Smaldone, Media Manager for the Kentucky Fair Board which is the organization that manages the facility. In our discussion he talks about how they market the show which includes the fact that 850 different companies and organizations are on display and they are all doing there best to get people there. He calls it a “must exhibit” show for companies in the farm machinery business. With over 300,000 people going through there during the show I understand what he means.
As I’ve mentioned before, this year Dan was able to set up a great media room with some of the fastest internet access I’ve found anywhere. Boy does that make our jobs easier. My coverage of the show was sponsored by John Deere and Precision Pays where you’ll find additional interviews than the ones posted on AgWired, some of them still to be posted later this week.
This week’s program ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network. It’s called “Little Bit of Sunshine” by the Dr. Mic and the Brain Ninjas. I picked this song since I’ll be in Florida later this week. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.
You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 159 (18 min MP3)
Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 6 or above) is required to play this audio clip. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes
Iowa State University has a new precision ag lab thanks to Ag Leader Technology. Pictured from left to right are: Dr. Thomas Brumm, Associate Professor, ISU, Dr. U. Sunday Tim, Associate Professor, ISU, Dr. Ramesh Kanwar, ABE Department Chair, ISU Al Myers, President, Ag Leader Technology, Michael Vos, Software Sales Manager, Ag Leader Technology.
Ag Leader Technology, Inc. has donated the latest precision ag equipment to the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at Iowa State University for use in educating students on precision farming systems. The donation starts a new lab at ISU, complete with hardware and software.
“In today’s fast-paced precision ag industry, there is a constant need for highly-educated graduates and we hope to provide students first-hand experience with precision farming systems,” says Al Myers, President of Ag Leader Technology. “Iowa State continues to provide the industry with motivated, young professionals. By giving to the university we hope to strengthen our partnership and continue to take part in the education of students in precision agriculture.”
Students taking classes on precision farming will now be able to use the lab to gain knowledge and understanding of the equipment in a real-world situation. By using the hardware and software together, students will be able to simulate a working farm and collection of valuable information using geospatial technology.
John Deere has officially introduced its first ever self-propelled sprayer for the European market, the 5430i, as one of the latest options in sprayer technology at Agritechnica 2007. The Manager of John Deere advertising in Africa, Europe and the Middle East, Paul Leathem, says European business is moving away from mounted sprayers and is demanding more self-propelled technology. He says the 5430i sprayer is only offered as an intelligent package that offers almost a complete automation of the entire sprayer application procedure. The intelligent sprayer integrates ten innovative AMS (Ag Management Solutions) features, including SprayPRO technology. The SprayPRO system uses GPS technology to offer more precision on sprayer functions such as steering the tractor, recording application rates, monitoring overlaps and skips, switching boom sections on and off, or any other GPS-based function.
Paul gave our group of reporters who traveled to Agritechnica with John Deere a detailed overview of the 5430i sprayer. You can listen to Paul here:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 6 or above) is required to play this audio clip. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The preview days for Agritechnica 2007 suggest that John Deere is going to be rather busy at the event this year. Typically, the preview days are reserved for media, honored guests and participants who don’t mind paying triple the normal entrance fee. But, the high-dollar tickets didn’t manage to keep a steady crowd away from John Deere’s revamped exhibit. Dr. Oliver Neumann, the manager of public relations in John Deere’s European market, says the early crowd has a lot to do with John Deere’s new look, it’s new approach to consumer education on precision technology and, of course, it’s gold medal winning E Premium series 7430 and 7530 tractors.
I spoke with Oliver and he gave me a brief introduction to what Agritechnica visitors will find this year at the John Deere exhibit. You can listen to my interview with John here:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 6 or above) is required to play this audio clip. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
I’ll be posting more specified information on the John Deere exhibit and on other popular North American farm machinery companies soon.
I interviewed Yoshisada Nogasaka, Research Team for Farm Machinery and Systems for NARC, the National Agricultural Research Center. He’s the guy who’s developing the software to run the prototype Autonomous Rice Transplanter we saw on demonstration at the Furukawa Agricultural Research Center. This guy is enthusiastic to say the least. He says that when he demonstrates this thing on a farm the farmer asks, “Can you leave it here on my farm?” They’re really looking forward to it but they’ll have some waiting to do. He says it could be up to 10 years before commercial production.
You can listen to his remarks here:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 6 or above) is required to play this audio clip. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
It seems like the precision agriculture companies are doing a lot of collaborating these days. It makes sense when you consider how many different components have to work together from software to satellites to hardware. Here’s the latest announcement from Autofarm and Raven Industries.
AutoFarm and Raven Industries announce the expansion of a collaborative agreement for product development opportunities following the successful launch of the new Raven steering system, QuickTrax. The collaborative team is finishing development and test of a new system which will provide full-featured sub-inch accurate RTK automated steering designed by AutoFarm and state-of-the-art displays and controls such as Viper Pro and Envizio Pro by Raven Industries.
This expanded effort will take advantage of expertise and existing products from both companies: Raven, offering the displays plus sprayer and planter section control, boom height control and variable rate control for sprayers, spreaders and planters; AutoFarm, offering market leading technology in sub-inch accurate RTK steering systems.
“The system will be marketed mutually and will be available through the distribution channels of both Raven and AutoFarm by mid winter, which will expand the GPS steering market for both companies domestically and internationally,” says Justin Larouche, AutoFarm Director of Product Management.
The first press conference of the day here at the Farm Progress Show was held jointly by Trimble and Dickey-John. On the stage are Jim Stephens, Trimble Ag Media Relations, Erick Arveson, GM, Trimble Ag Division and Chris Tarpley, VP of Sales and Marketing, Dickey-John.
The companies announced that they’ve joined forces to offer precision farming solutions using their combined technology. Their “hybrid” systems will offer one stop shopping for seamless systems through both their dealer networks. You can hear more about what this means in their opening comments at the press conference.
You can listen to their comments here:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 6 or above) is required to play this audio clip. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Here’s where we got to see new sprayers in action at the John Deere product introduction. We had three presenters including Iowa farm brothers Brent and Lee Madden and Adam Hart. They also talked about how some of the new John Deere precision ag equipment works with these sprayers to more precisely apply product.
You can watch a portion of their presentation here and learn more. They did fire up the equipment like the 4830 sprayer in the background.
Kayla Reynolds works in the John Deere Ag Management Solutions area just like Mike Park. She was our teacher in the “classroom” part of our media/analysts session this week at the John Deere product introduction.
Kayla focused on 4 main topics related to precision ag. They are long range RTK, shading optimization, GS2 rate controller expansion and Swath Control Pro for planting. Don’t worry if you’re not familiar with what these mean. She explains it in an interview I did with her after her presentation.
It appears that John Deere has made some significant strides in the area of precision ag. For example the new long range RTK allows a grower to operate their equipment with sub inch accuracy at up to 12 miles from the base station instead of the 6 miles previously possible.
You can listen to my interview with Kayla here:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 6 or above) is required to play this audio clip. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
At the John Deere product introduction we got to see some big iron in action. One demo involved this 9630T which has an amazing stability functionality built into it including a new AirCushion walking I-beam suspension system.
While I was at this field station I interviewed Mike Park, Factory Marketing Manager, Ag Management Solutions. Mike talks about John Deere’s precision ag products including their new APEX 2.0 software. He says that although not every customer is ready to invest in some of these tools he highly recommends they talk about them with their local representative. When I asked him if a grower can stair step into the precision products he says they call it, “scalable accuracy,” meaning that there are different levels of investment that will all utilize similar components.
At the 2007 InfoAg Expo I had a nice conversation with Paul Schrimpf, editor, CropLife Media Group. His company was one of the key organizers of the event and the Precision Ag Awards from the Precision Ag Institute. In the photo he was announcing the award winners.
While talking with Paul he explains how they are involved with the conference. We also talked about how technology is changing the way we communicate as much as the way we farm. For example, he says that they’ve surveyed precision ag farmers and they’re likely to have high speed internet so that’s making his publication company pay more attention to what they’re doing online. For one thing, they’ve kind of re-launched PrecisionAg.com and Paul’s even making blog entries.
The program ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network and Andrew Pfaff. The song is “Information Technology.” After all that’s what we’re talking about!
You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 128 (17 min MP3)
Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 6 or above) is required to play this audio clip. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes.
During the 2007 InfoAg Conference I got to go on a ride and drive with Brian Mathis, TeeJet Technologies.
They’ve got a demo unit for their products set up on a Kubota utility vehicle which works very well for situations like this and it’s a lot easier to haul around than the alternative. Today they were demonstrating their auto steer product which was very cool. The gps controlled unit steers in a straight line down the row you’re on. The driver has to manually turn but the unit takes over and keeps you on the right next path you’re on.
To get a better idea of how this thing works watch a short video of my ride.
I know I haven’t posted much from the InfoAg Conference but don’t think I’ve been slacking off. I think I’ve conducted 15 audio interviews and one video clip as well as about 79 photos.
There isn’t a convenient room for media to work in here so that’s made it kind of difficult to be on the floor and in the seminar rooms and get time to edit and post. One of the things I would highly recommend to IPNI/FAR would be a media room. I know I’ve seen at least a half dozen farm reporters here who like me were searching for a place to work with a power outlet and internet access.
I’ll be heading back to ZimmComm New Media world headquarters today and you’ll find these pictures and interviews posted over the next week or so. Some will show up here on AgWired. The majority will be posted onto Precision Pays though. That’s why I spent some quality time with these folks in the John Deere Ag Management Solutions booth as well as their Agri Services booth. I’ve also got content to post onto Domestic Fuel and World Dairy Diary. So I think this has been a productive trip.
Harold Reetz kicked off things here at the 2007 InfoAg Conference. Harold is director of external support for IPNI and FAR.
I interviewed Harold after the opening session. I have got to believe he’s happy with attendance. The room was full and everyone was at attention. Harold provides an overview of the conference including the fact that there are 60 speakers here doing 100 sessions. The trade show looks good too with over 60 spaces sold.
I’m hearing a lot of optimism for people in the precision agriculture business and Harold echoes that in our interview.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 6 or above) is required to play this audio clip. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
I am loading photos to Flickr and you can find them here:
Precision agriculture training at Iowa State University just got a boost.
It’s been a very interesting day on the road. I just finished up conducting some interviews at the 
I thought I’d share the first interview in the series with Mark Theuerkauf, Marketing Manager. Mark and I talked about RTK. Our conversation helped me better understand how the tower or base station network functions to provide a growing coverage area where farmers can take advantage of the extreme accuracy that RTK offers. As Mark says, John Deere offers three levels of accuracy with RTK being at the top of the list.
There was certainly a lot of precision agriculture equipment and software on display at this year’s Commodity Classic as well as at the National Farm Machinery Show. Here’s Matt Hesse, Auto Pilot Segment Manager for 
Another company I just didn’t have time to visit with at Commodity Classic is 
If you’ve never attended the 
As I’ve mentioned before, this year Dan was able to set up a great media room with some of the fastest internet access I’ve found anywhere. Boy does that make our jobs easier. My coverage of the show was sponsored by 
Iowa State University has 
The preview days for 
Precision agriculture is hitting the rice industry in Japan. At least it’s in R&D now at the 
It seems like the precision agriculture companies are doing a lot of collaborating these days. It makes sense when you consider how many different components have to work together from software to satellites to hardware. Here’s the latest announcement from 
The first press conference of the day here at the Farm Progress Show was held jointly by Trimble and Dickey-John. On the stage are Jim Stephens, Trimble Ag Media Relations, Erick Arveson, GM, Trimble Ag Division and Chris Tarpley, VP of Sales and Marketing, Dickey-John.
Here’s where we got to see new sprayers in action at the John Deere product introduction. We had three presenters including Iowa farm brothers Brent and Lee Madden and Adam Hart. They also talked about how some of the new John Deere precision ag equipment works with these sprayers to more precisely apply product.
Kayla Reynolds works in the 
At the John Deere product introduction we got to see some big iron in action. One demo involved this 9630T which has an amazing stability functionality built into it including a new AirCushion walking I-beam suspension system.
While talking with Paul he explains how they are involved with the conference. We also talked about how technology is changing the way we communicate as much as the way we farm. For example, he says that they’ve surveyed precision ag farmers and they’re likely to have high speed internet so that’s making his publication company pay more attention to what they’re doing online. For one thing, they’ve kind of re-launched 
During the 2007 InfoAg Conference I got to go on a ride and drive with Brian Mathis, 
I know I haven’t posted much from the InfoAg Conference but don’t think I’ve been slacking off. I think I’ve conducted 15 audio interviews and one video clip as well as about 79 photos.
At this morning’s opening session of the 2007 InfoAg Conference several awards were presented by Paul Schrimpf, group editor, 
This was the scene this morning as I made my way to Springfield, IL and the InfoAg Conference. 
Harold Reetz kicked off things here at the 2007 InfoAg Conference. Harold is director of external support for IPNI and FAR.
Digital cattle news pioneer, Rob Cook, is now working for Vance Publishing after the company acquired CattleNetwork.com.
