With margins likely slimming for corn and soybean production in 2015, most crop farmers are not looking to spend large sums of money on new, or upgraded precision equipment. In some cases, though, tough times are exactly when the most up-to-date precision technology can make the biggest difference on the fine line between profit and loss on a farm.
“The potential for precision ag is more important as profit margins tighten. Precision ag technologies afford the ability to improve input management, better manage or understand risks, and evaluate practices and decisions,” said John Fulton, Ohio State University Extension agricultural engineer. “Precision ag technology permits on-farm research and considering input costs, in particular seed. Farmers need to ensure they are making decisions for their operation that maximize profit. Savings do exist with the adoption of guidance, automatic section control and variable-rate technology. Having the ability to evaluate hybrid performance, seeding populations, fertility, and much more become more important as margins narrow.”
In terms of specific technology, Fulton said automatic guidance and section control on sprayers and planters can bring immediate tangible benefits back to the farm.
“One of the most beneficial technologies that can pay back is a quality display for your planter — one that provides row-by-row feedback on parameters such as population and singulation,” he said. “Many times these high end displays will pay for themselves that planting season by identifying an issue. They ensure peak performance from day one through the end of planting, plus it logs as-planted data that can be used for post-harvest analyses.”
The signal being used can have a significant impact on the technology being used.
“It is still hard for some people to justify the upfront cost of an RTK (Real Time Kinematic) signal. The sub-inch accuracy of RTK is legitimate and the capabilities for repeatability are much better,” said Charlie Troxell, precision ag specialist for Precision Agri Service, Inc. “But, because of the cost, a lot of guys are still running the free WAAS (the Federal Aviation Administration’s Wide Area Augmentation System) or something like John Deere offers that has a 4- to 6-inch accuracy range. With WAAS, we try to set up the system knowing there will be some boundary shifts over time. As long as the grower is aware that the system will not be as crisp and clean as it would be with the RTK system, there usually is not a problem.”
Along with less accuracy, the WAAS signal is prone to shifting over time.
“With WAAS you need to know that there is a range or drift. The GPS receiver quality has gotten better, but you can still expect some drift,” he said. “The downside to WAAS is that you don’t know how much drift you can have in a day. Sometimes it can be none and sometimes it can be a12-foot difference. You have to take that into account. You have to make sure the lines of your boundaries have not shifted. If they have shifted, you have to reset it.”