More in Variable Rate

Dec. 14, 2012

Article

Corn and Soybean Digest

Farming is a Global Driver | Food Resource Among 7 Key Revolutions

Global changes in 2050 may come more quickly and urgently and expand exponentially. That's the assessment of Scott Aughenbaugh, fellow, Seven Revolutions Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, D.C. Agriculture could play a pivotal role within what he calls the seven drivers of change, he says....More
Oct. 19, 2012

Article

Corn and Soybean Digest

Crunch Your Scenarios | Spreadsheets are Vital to Risk Management

Roy Wendte, a farmer from Altamont, Ill., remembers the first spreadsheet program, Visicalc, from 1982. His University of Illinois master's thesis at that time focused on crop-production software. He’s built his own spreadsheets ever since then for budgets, crop production and yield analysis. “I don’t know how a producer could track of all of the farm data without spreadsheets’ immense time savings and analysis of 'what if' scenarios,” he says....More
Oct. 19, 2012

Article

Corn and Soybean Digest

Sensored Soils Boost Agronomics | New Sensor Technology is the Next Management Frontier

Imagine, or just push the fast-forward button: You activate your sensor network to take soil, root and leaf readings and report data. You receive temperature, moisture, plant hormone levels and more from georeferenced points. Your computer integrates them with already-identified and mapped organic matter (OM), pH and electrical conductivity (EC) zones in those fields, with the specific variety planted....More
Oct. 9, 2012

video

Corn and Soybean Digest

Monsanto Integrated Farming System

To better understand yield monitor numbers, Monsanto started experimenting with variable-rate seeding, soil map inadequacies and testing hybrids differently. Adding Precision Planting to optimize the process, the company came up with the Integrated Farming System (IFS). Ted Crosbie, strategy lead for the program, talks about what led to the IFS solution....More
Oct. 5, 2012

blog

Extreme Beans: The App

Access valuable research information, plus two calculators to help you determine which inputs get you the most bang for your buck and which seeding rates are optimal for your highest return.m...More
Oct. 1, 2012

Article

Corn and Soybean Digest

Data Drive Market Agility | Use Technology to Prepare for the Worst, Succeed in Good Times

The recent drought in half a century was a reminder that market moves in all directions make it prudent to arm your business to ride through any price scenario. Efficient use of data has bullet-proofed Nick Frey’s farm business. "Data make you a better farm manager," says the fifth-generation farmer with WCI Family Farms in Linden, Ind. Frey attributes his knack for using data effectively to his Purdue farm management degree....More
Oct. 1, 2012

Article

Corn and Soybean Digest

Irrigator Innovator | Young Nebraska Farmer Pushes Variable-Rate Irrigation Forward

A young farmer from eastern Nebraska is pushing irrigation management to a new level of precision. Nick Emanuel, founder and president of CropMetrics, is a leader in variable rate irrigation management. The innovations he developed on his farm are helping growers match water application rates to soil type, conserving water and reducing yield variability. “He’s a small-town Nebraska boy who is making a global impact on water management,” says Dave Varner, a University of Nebraska Extension scientist in southeast Nebraska....More
Sep. 27, 2012

Article

Corn and Soybean Digest

Prescribe Your Water | Variable-Rate Irrigation Applies Rates by Soil Type, Topography, Yield goals

Tim Schmeeckle is learning to grow corn with less water. Precision-irrigation management is helping him and other farmers apply the right amount of water on every part of the field. Variable-rate irrigation (VRI) adjusts water application depth for differences in soil water-holding capacity, topography and yield potential....More
Sep. 26, 2012

Article

Corn and Soybean Digest

Space Age Sidedressing Ties N Dose to Weather | New Online Tool Brings New Accuracy Level to N Prescriptions

You can’t control the weather, but you can now manage your N as weather changes. The same computer modeling technology guiding NASA, engineers and doctors can now assess your crop’s N needs every 24 hours....More
Jul. 26, 2012

Article

Corn and Soybean Digest

Farm App Phones Home | Software Syncs With Home Computer to Access, Send Crop Data From Field

Having a farm office in your tractor cab just got more practical. A new smartphone application, Virtual Farm Manager (VFM), lets you access information on your home computer while you’re working in the field. It also lets you input new information on the go....More
Jun. 28, 2012

blog

Let's Get Digital: Stay Heat-Safe with Smartphone App

There's no secret: It's hot out! There have been several heat waves crossing the Corn Belt this summer. We're starting one in Minnesota right now. Ninety-plus-degree temps make for not only uncomfortable working situations, but unsafe. We know there is LOTS to do in the field and outside each day for farmers. But, be sure to take the time to drink water, rest and seek shade when the heat index soars. You'll obviously be more efficient if you rest now and then than if you suffer from a heat illness and end up inside on the couch for the day....More
Jun. 12, 2012

blog

World Food Prize Selection Shows Importance of Water to World's Food Supply

World Food Prize Daniel Hillel's selection reminds us of how important irrigation is to the world's food supply....More
Mar. 22, 2012

Article

Corn and Soybean Digest

Tankmix App Available

As you ready for spring planting and spraying, add a new tool to your arsenal: a tankmix app to help manage mix formulas and record what's going on which field and when. Precision Laboratories has launched Mix Tank 2.0, a "complete spray management tool," says Rick Wohlner, president of the company. "We launched 1.0 a year ago and have had over 7,000 downloads. The new version is simple, fast and it works."...More
Mar. 14, 2012

Article

Ag Groups: U.S. Agriculture Would be Gravely Harmed by LightSquared's Plans

In a filing with the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) International Bureau, the American Soybean Association (ASA) and other organizations representing farmers and agribusinesses in all 50 states today declared that “high-precision GPS technology is vitally important to American agriculture, and would be gravely harmed by LightSquared’s plans.”...More
Feb. 29, 2012

Article

Precision Ag Technology Savings

The use of precision farming products continues to increase. With increasing input costs, producers are often looking for ways to adopt technology to make farming operations more efficient and productive. Two precision-ag products – auto guidance and automatic section control – lead the way in cost savings while also enhancing the productivity of machinery operations....More
Feb. 15, 2012

Article

FCC Blocks LightSquared Proposed Network

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced Tuesday its decision to block the planned development of a nationwide wireless network by communications company LightSquared over concerns that it cannot be fixed to coexist with global positioning systems (GPS). The American Soybean Association (ASA) has been at the forefront of the discussion of this planned network’s significant and adverse effects on farmers. ASA President and Syracuse, NE-based soybean farmer Steve Wellman issues the following statement on the FCC’s decision....More
Feb. 15, 2012

Article

Corn and Soybean Digest

Think Different: A Difference in Thinking

In this issue we coincidently have two stories that mention the same technology. But the thinking by two different sources, who both reside within the same campus, seem almost polar opposite. An engineer views active crop-sensor technology as one of the next big things in precision agriculture. The agronomist sees all the problems and issues with the technology....More
Feb. 3, 2012

Article

Corn and Soybean Digest

Technology to Track | Telematics, Crop Sensing are the Next Big Precision-Ag Tools. 2

In the world of precision ag, two technologies are the next big thing, says Matt Darr, Iowa State University ag engineer. They aren’t newly developed technologies, but they are the next big wave in agriculture....More
Nov. 15, 2011

Article

Corn and Soybean Digest

Precision Ag: Know What You Need

As a follow-up to the last issue’s discussion on precision-ag technologies, I have spent more time with Dan Frieberg, of Premier Crop Systems, Des Moines, IA. It finally dawned on me that one of the reasons precision-ag technology is not used more by farmers is there are few providers that do what Premier Crop does. Dan summarized the 10 things they do to get the results in increased yields we wrote about in last month’s article; namely double the yield increase over the county average for the last 10 years. He says: ...More
Oct. 14, 2011

Article

Corn and Soybean Digest

Farming on The Edge | Strip Intercropping Edges Capture More Light, Reward With Higher Yields

How can we translate “farming smarter” and technology into an extra 40 bu.? Fasten your seatbelts for a tour of what may be the future of corn and bean farming....More
Oct. 14, 2011

video

Corn and Soybean Digest

Farming on the Edge

Bob Recker, Waterloo, IA, explains strip interecropping and its benefits....More
Mar. 1, 2011

article

With Technology, Believe In The Impossible

After recently attending a couple of big ag events I have a newfound respect for how difficult it is to stay on top of changing ag technology. It’s especially challenging to even know what some of the new technology acronyms stand for, like CORS, GLONASS, CDMA, SBAS, DGPS, WAAS… They almost sound like old Russian spy terms that only James Bond could decipher....More
Feb. 1, 2011

article

Turn Data Into Profits | Wireless Technology Helps You get More Bang from Your Information Buck

Anyone can collect data, but it takes effort to turn it into knowledge. You may have 10 years’ worth of “as applied” or “as planted” data, by field. But if it’s still on the card and you haven’t adjusted your fertility, planting population or other data accordingly, you haven’t benefited. Let’s talk about turning your information into profits....More
Feb. 1, 2011

article

Getting on the ‘Bandwagon’ | Growers Cut Fertilizer Use with Precision Placement

A few years back, Lynn Lagerstedt had a mystery on his hands. The veteran crop consultant was seeing potassium (K) deficiency symptoms in southeastern Minnesota cornfields – even where sufficient potash had been applied. What was going on?...More
Jan. 26, 2011

article

Boom Benefits | Georeferenced Boom-Section Shutoff Options Can Save You Up To 12%.

Automatic boom-section control can save you up to 12% on over-application, according to recent University of Kentucky research. The study identified up to $2,745 in glyphosate savings across 3,000 acres of production from automatic boom section control technology....More