Dr. Terry Kastens is an Emeritus Professor from Kansas State University. He’s back to farming now and spoke during a Learning Center Session at Commodity Classic sponsored by John Deere. The session topic was “Better Data, Better Decisions: the ROI of Smart Machine Technology. One of the first points Dr. Karstens makes is that every new technology requires an investment. …
Precision Pays iPad mini Giveaway Contest Winner
Over on our sister website, Precision Pays, the winner of the iPad mini Giveaway Contest has been picked via random selection. He’s Nick Leibold of New Hampton, IA. Nick farms about 600 acres of corn and 400 acres of soybeans. Cindy visited with Nick by phone to let him know about his winning and to learn a little bit about …
Dupont Pioneer Press Conference
Dupont Pioneer held a news conference at the recent Commodity Classic to introduce a new set of services. The focus of the press conference was the new Pioneer Field360 services. These new services are meant to help farmers increase productivity and profitability by providing more control of field-by-field data without having to become a technical expert. The Pioneer Field360 Services …
XL Solutions at Raven Industries
Experts in Raven Industries’ applied sciences division have been busy bringing new and innovative technologies to the door step of growers across the country. The 2013 Commodity Classic was the place to display these new products and Raven Industries was there to do so. I spoke with Paul Welbig who oversees a lot of the product management issues at Raven. …
My Field’s Been Droned Dude
Ever since we’ve been hearing about the whole drone issue in Washington, DC I keep hearing this phrase in my head. But of course farm fields are being droned, by farmers themselves, and for good reasons. Here’s a great story on the subject. Helicopters are just plain cool, especially if you can operate them by remote control. The Aerial Precision …
Precise Disk Drills from New Holland
Just how important is it to plant seeds precisely as you’d like to? Very important. That’s why New Holland has come out with a new series of disk drills. Whether seeding into summerfallow or stubble, New Holland’s new P2000 Series disk drills slice through crop residue to ensure precise, uniform seed placement with very low soil disturbance. Both the new …
Making Precision Data More Valuable
At a networking breakfast this morning at AG CONNECT Expo, sponsored by CaseIH, Dr. Terry Griffin, VP – Applied Economics CrescoAG, spoke on the “Making the Most of Precision Ag: I have all this data. Now What?” It is a good example of the type of sessions you’ll find at throughout the show. Big data is kind of a hot …
More Power to You at Iowa Power Show
With more than a century of history, the Iowa Power Farming Show has become the third largest farm show in the United States, according to show director Tom Junge. “We have over 300,000 square foot of exhibit space and about 750 exhibitors,” Junge said. “One thing we take pride in is we have all ag displays. We have three different …
Heading to the Iowa Power Farming Show
I am on my way to Des Moines right now, along with thousands of farmers and ranchers from around the Midwest, to see big iron and futuristic ag gadgets at the 2013 Iowa Power Farming Show. The show, January 29-31 at the Iowa Events Center, will feature more than 750 ag-related companies from 29 states and 4 Canadian provinces. With …
FarmLogs Obtains Seed Funding
More mobile farm applications are coming. This one from FarmLogs. FarmLogs, the Michigan startup and Y Combinator alum that helps farmers digitally manage their farm to increase profitability, today announced that it has closed a $1 million seed funding round co-led by Huron River Ventures and Hyde Park Venture Partners. Hyde Park Angels, Silicon Badia Ventures, and First-Step Fund participated …