Reading Time: 8 minutes In the world of precision agriculture, each new growing season seems to bring a fresh batch of brand new technologies, complete with upgrades to existing systems. No question, it can be a challenge just to keep up with the variety and capability of some of these innovations, let alone figuring out which might have the […] Read more
The ‘precise’ in precision agriculture
Making cost-of-production decisions is possible using available software
Farmers Edge expands satellite imagery offering
Reading Time: 4 minutes Farmers Edge says it’s making satellite imagery a practical and affordable agronomic tool for farmers through a new strategic partnership with Planet, the company with the largest fleet of Earth-imaging satellites. “We think this will be game-changing,” Farmers Edge president and CEO Wade Barnes said in an interview Oct. 3. “I think it’s going to […] Read more
Greig: Farmer trust key to big data’s future
Reading Time: 3 minutes The marketplace for precision agriculture technology is sorting itself out, but it still has a way to go before it will be mature and have predictable uses for farmers, says a U.S. agriculture economist. Dr. Keith Coble, chair of the Mississippi State University’s department of agricultural economics, says we’re in the “overexuberance” phase of technology […] Read more
Who’s to blame?
Variable-rate technology is getting adopted, but not nearly as quickly as many farmers would like. Finally, this may soon change.
Reading Time: 9 minutes When variable-rate technology first came onto our radars roughly 20 years ago, it was supposed to revolutionize agriculture. We’re still waiting. But maybe not for much longer. In fact, maybe we don’t have to wait any longer at all. The advanced equipment systems needed for variable-rate technology have started to become available in the past […] Read more
Thinking small with a big idea
Britain’s “Hands Free Hectare” project is developing the model that you may need to build tomorrow’s farm on
Reading Time: 6 minutes As a kid, I can vividly remember one particular occasion sitting on the steps in my grandparents’ old farmhouse in the late 1960s looking at an issue of Country Guide. One image from its pages still sticks in my memory. It was an advertisement showing Massey-Ferguson’s newest line of tractors. Why did that mental image […] Read more
Getting started at variable rate
A new computer system may help farmers find their optimum path into precision farming
Reading Time: 7 minutes It seems nothing ever happens fast enough in our society, not with Internet connections or email replies, and not with the adoption of technology on the farm. At least, that’s the complaint from the manufacturers and service providers who say farmers just aren’t buying into precision farming fast enough. Of course, from many farmers’ points […] Read more
A place for community data
“Mining data isn’t a substitute for doing actual research,” warns seed company scientist
Reading Time: 7 minutes In the past five years, precision agriculture systems have begun providing an exciting opportunity to collect and pool data on factors ranging from yields to soil quality and beyond. Each data set offers greater insight into the characteristics of a field and its variability, or to its potential response to different treatments and management practices. […] Read more
Precision ag tech’s link to broadband under study
Reading Time: 2 minutes Crop growers in southwestern Ontario are being asked how their access to high-speed internet, or lack thereof, has helped or hindered their adoption of precision ag tools. Researchers at the University of Guelph’s Ontario Agricultural College (OAC), as part of the Regional and Rural Broadband (R2B2) project, are studying how “current and future connectivity” influences […] Read more
Deere buys stake in U.S. sprayer maker Hagie
Reading Time: 2 minutes CORRECTED, March 30, 2016 — Reuters — Deere and Co. said on Tuesday it has acquired a majority stake in Hagie Manufacturing, allowing the farm equipment manufacturer to take a greater position the high-clearance sprayer market. High-clearance sprayers, which allow farmers to spray fertilizers and pesticides in-crop later in the growing season, are “a new market for […] Read more
Before you buy that drone
Even in precision ag, it’s unwise to lose sight of the ‘fundamentals-first’ approach to good agronomy
Reading Time: 7 minutes It can be hard for those of us in the farm sector to contain our excitement when discussing the enormous potential of precision agriculture. Variable rate applications, variable rate planting, automatic down-pressure sensing, data management, digital imaging and soil sensing… these are just a few of the possibilities in a movement still clearly in its […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
