By MARK BUTZOW
Indiana correspondent INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — “Go out into the field, kick the dirt and say, ‘Yes, it’s dry; time to water.’” Sound familiar? That method may have worked for you, but modern tools might serve even better. Whether trying to plan spraying, fertilizer or irrigation needs, relying on just your senses could be costing money and efficiency. That’s one way to care for your crops, but there are more precise tools to gauge moisture and nutrient content. Kyle Tom, chief operating officer for Tom Farms in Leesburg, Ind., will discuss soil sensors and other precision ag tools Dec. 13 at the Indiana Farm Equipment and Technology Expo, at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. “If we have a field that’s not producing as well as others, we want to find out why,” Tom explained. He hopes to relay information that not everybody knows about or doesn’t yet think makes sense for their operation. “A lot of guys see this technology and wonder ‘what is the benefit?’ Larger-scale operations have figured out the benefit of tracking everything. Some of the smaller guys, it was Mom and Dad’s, and they generally continue to do things the same way.” His main goal is to share his operation’s experience with soil sensors, but he plans to talk about different technologies, too. He’ll describe three types of soil sensors – ones that use electrical resistance to measure moisture; “dielectric constant” devices that take readings from within a slurry; and sensors that interact with neutrons, which work as a proxy for moisture. Tom Farms started using soil sensors about 18 years ago, and those involved making a slurry and taking a laptop computer into the fields to retrieve data. The operation now uses electrical resistance sensors from Israeli company CropX. They are connected to a wireless network, allowing Tom to access each sensor’s data via a phone app or on office computers. His sensors cost from $600-$900 each, but he is convinced that using them has saved Tom Farms money by improving yields and cutting down on unnecessary treatments of pesticides, fertilizers and water. “We’re saving ourselves money by spending money,” Tom explained. “We’re not having to irrigate as much, and we’re using less electricity and less money. If we can save one to two circles a year, that’s a significant savings.” As for fertilizer, “If you don’t have to apply another 10 gallons or 20 gallons of fertilizer, you’re paying for it (the cost of the sensor).” Tom Farms has had success with two other technology programs that he hopes to address. One is Granular, the digital agriculture software business of Corteva Agriscience, DowDuPont’s agriculture division. The other is Climate FieldView Drive, a Bluetooth-enabled device that plugs into a tractor or combine and reads machine data during planting and harvest – and then translates it to prescription maps that go back to the planters. “Before we touch the field, we know the acres’ hills, valleys, amounts of nutrients in the soil,” Tom noted. “We build algorithms, so on high ground we plant fewer seeds because of lower water content, and we plant more populations on lower land where water is more plentiful. The planter is automatically varying populations.” His 30-minute Expo session begins at 10 a.m. in the fairgrounds’ West Pavilion. The 2018 expo is the first since radio network Hoosier Ag Today and Farm World’s owner, MidCountry Media, bought the show from Richard Sherman, who operated the Indiana-Illinois Farm and Outdoor Power Equipment Show for nearly 40 years. The Indiana Farm Equipment and Technology Expo will focus on new technology and product innovation in farm equipment, seed genetics, bioscience, precision agriculture, artificial intelligence and Big Data. The website www.indiamafarmexpo.com is being updated as features and exhibitors are added, and pre-registration for the Expo, which will be Dec. 11-13, can be made there. There is no admission cost to attend. For details on exhibit space, contact Toni Hodson at 800-876-5133, ext. 280. |
