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Corporate Farming
Farm Technology Changing Agriculture
Lucas Shivers
Hi-tech systems offer tractors that operate without drivers No one is denying that technology is changing the face of the world. Tomorrow's technology will bring sweeping changes to every industry, including agriculture, and may one day make it possible to conduct business and control production without a great deal of human labor.
The following press release comes our way from Kansas State University (KSU) Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service and provides a glimpse into farming's future as it relates to technological advances.
Our thanks to KSU and communications specialist Lucas Shivers who authored the article.
Accuracy in Agriculture: Guidance Systems Plotting New Future
SALINA, Kan. - Tractors guided by satellites steered themselves around a demonstration track set up at the Kansas Precision Agriculture Field Day in Salina Aug. 13. Automatic steering systems, along with other leading technology, were displayed and tested by more than 300 producers.
"Precision technology is one of the hottest things in agriculture," said Randy Taylor, Kansas State University Research and Extension agricultural engineer. "It is helping us to drive more efficiently and be more productive. Systems range from those that indicate a desired path to ones that automatically steer the vehicle."
Global Positioning Systems, known as GPS, provide a cornerstone for the new precision technology, Taylor said. The equipment increases productivity by minimizing overlap and skipped areas to reduce use of chemicals, fuel and time.
"We now have the ability to rapidly process information from satellites to provide meaningful feedback to the operator," Taylor said. "We have no direct evidence to know of worth or value of the systems. However, when taking into account all of the time and overlap, the little things like every turn add up. Anything that we can do to increase productivity will help improve the bottom line."
Precision technology allows producers to operate in conditions previously challenging. Taylor said current environmental protection trends helped to fuel the development of GPS guidance systems.
"No-till planters and drills needed good markers to see where application had been done on fields," he said. "GPS guidance can be an extra set of eyes; better than anything before."
Taylor outlined three key points to dealing with precision technology:
Compatibility. With few overall standards for protocol, customers need to think ahead and be ready to compare apples and oranges.
"While you may want only guidance systems now, you will not want to have to buy anther two years down the road," he said. "GPS guidance systems come in many shapes and forms. Though they may initially be purchases for guidance only, they have many potential uses."
GPS systems can provide information for light bars, yield monitors, data loggers and other equipment.
Accuracy. According to Taylor, accuracy is the ability to gauge something you know to be true.
"Accuracy is defined by how well the receiver can locate itself on the face of the
earth," he said. "This is more important when you want the capability to return to an exact location at some tine in the future."
Precision. Also known as pass-to-pass accuracy, relative precision occurs if a unit is always off by the same number in the same direction.
"Precision is a measure of consistency of the receiver," Taylor said. "It is capable to be precise without being accurate. For guidance systems, precision is a necessity.
"Practical applications of these three concepts have real-life results."We went from 36-inch rows to 30-inch with the mark-less planter due to our new GPS system," said Arie Hurston, producer from Grand Island, Neb. "We're finding a lot of repeatability. We can even cultivate young beans at seven miles an hour."
Manufacturers are also taking these points into consideration as they develop new equipment.
"We want what you want," Guy Balkin, representative with Challenger Auto-Guide, a satellite guidance system. said. "Our studies showed customers desired a tractor with ease of use and flexibility in an automatic system."
Balkin said customers looked for several keys points in precision technology:
Use in all aspects of farming operation.
Easy and simple to use.
Completely integrated into design of machine.
Buy product today that's not obsolete tomorrow.
Flexible to add additional equipment.
Affordable in price.
"You have a choice and you have control," Balkin said. "You can get quality at high accuracy."
Source: Lucas Shivers, Communications Assistant, lshivers@oznet.ksu.edu K-State Research& Extension News
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