INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Non-farmers looking in at modern agriculture from the outside might wonder what growers need with Global Positioning System (GPS) and Global Information System (GIS) technology and related equipment.<br>
Indiana farmer Roger Hadley, who grows 750 acres of corn and soybeans in Woodburn, began using GPS/GIS 10 years ago for grid-sampling his fields, which consisted of smaller lots of perhaps 10 or more acres grouped together. Because of this, each field had different levels of soil nutrition.<br>
“I wanted to see what I needed, and (was interested in) controlling fertilizer costs, back then,” he said.<br>
He explained by mapping his fields and collating data, he could literally get a picture after a while of where he needs to apply what levels of fertilizer. He estimates he probably uses 70 percent less fertilizer now, overall, than he did back then – and saves money, especially in light of what he estimates to be approximately a sevenfold increase in cost for fertilizer in the past decade. So far this year, he and other farmers have priced different types at double the cost of 2007.<br>
“As the fertilizer prices go up, our savings on fertilizer are really multiplying,” he said, adding this also means less fertilizer to wash away in rain.<br>
Hadley was one of the speakers at a meeting in Indianapolis last week focused on innovations in precision agriculture, hosted by the American Soybean Assoc. (ASA) and John Deere. A former ASA officer, he talked about the growing demand for soybeans worldwide and the importance of American farmers scraping the most value out of what they spend on seeds and fertilizer, especially given the struggle with corn for planted acres.<br>
Because of this, and growing demand in other countries, Hadley said traditional export customers of the United States – such as Japan – are wondering if farmers will be able to continue supplying their needs; he recommended they work to do so.<br>
“It is much easier to maintain those markets than to regain the market” if it is lost, he said.<br>
He spoke excitedly of Kip Cullers, the Missouri farmer who set a record with 154-bushel-per-acre soybeans in 2007, for proving to the industry the genetic capability of the bean. Since Cullers credits his accomplishment, in part, to monitoring and spraying for plant diseases, GIS can come in as handy for spraying as it does for fertilizing.<br>
“It is one of the key components that will help producers compete for planted acres,” Hadley said of precision agriculture.<br>
Scott Gabbard with Purdue University extension in Shelby County, Ind., explained GPS uses satellites to orient on a location and GIS provides data specific to that location, such as elevation, soil type, past yield productivity and the like. By using the technology, he said it’s possible for farmers to discover problems in a field earlier than they might otherwise, and take corrective action.<br>
Such information can also track yields and tell the grower within a field which patches are lower-yield. Eventually, he said the technology may help farmers pinpoint specific problem areas for weeds and pests. Gabbard said farmers might wish to get out in the field with the GPS and double-check information randomly every so often for accuracy.<br>
“It makes you look a little harder and concentrate a little more on what you’ve got,” he said. Hadley added that he re-grids his fields every two or three years.<br>
Jason Beuligmann, RTK (real-time kinematic, which uses a nearby signal to correct for GPS “drift,” or the time lag between when satellites send the information and the ground equipment processes it) network specialist for Deere, said the company’s products are the result of customer requests for equipment to help increase productivity and minimize spray and planting overlap in the field.<br>
In 1978, he said the first GPS satellites were launched, and five years later, then-President Reagan ordered that public access to the signals be granted. Deere entered this market in 1996. The technology now helps farmers with automatic steering, compensating for overlaps on hillsides and “swath control” – controlling automatic shutoff valves on planters and sprayers when they are driven over patches that are either treated or don’t require the product at all.<br>
Roughly half the farmers attending this meeting already use GPS/GIS and had questions. One said downloading information updates to his equipment is a slow process and he wondered how he could speed it up.<br>
Gabbard recommended that he might want an inexpensive computer dedicated solely to his GPS/GIS system, separate from the household computer. He explained that university personnel who set their computers to work on a similar task usually have to let them run overnight, or longer, and shut down all other programs while doing so (i.e., e-mail, Internet windows, word processing, chat) so as not to slow the system.<br>
“You are really tasking” the computer with such a download just by itself, he added.<br>
Hadley agreed, saying if a farmer is prepared to spend $10,000-$20,000 for GPS/GIS equipment and/or a signal tower, they would be wise to consider a $700 computer as a necessary part of the package.<br>
Another grower wondered if Deere’s GPS/GIS equipment is certified by an agency acceptable to USDA’s Risk Management Agency, to use the resulting data in consideration of a yield loss claim. <br>Beuligmann said to his knowledge, there is no independent agency that te<br>sts and certifies various dealers’ equipment for this purpose.
A signal may be temporarily blocked while a farmer’s in the field by elevation problems, and even heavy rain and leaves, Beuligmann said. Deere marketing representative Kim Fletcher said solar flares can knock out systems, and did once for about two hours, of which she is aware.<br>
However, “you’re not going to see that big a difference in accuracy signals,” she said of daily use.<br>