The Rural Voice, 1997-02, Page 25It's "in" to be "techie"
these days. Everybody
wants to be, or appear
to be, high tech. Just look
around. GPS (Global
Positioning Systems),
GIS (Geographic
Information Systems),
RS (Remote Sensing),
SSM (Site Specific
Management), VRT
(Variable Rate Tech-
nology), grid sampling,
yield and moisture
monitors, internet, web
site, home page, etc., etc.
The list goes on and the
acronyms are endless.
Powerful stuff this
new technology. If you
aren't somewhere in the
loop, you ain't on the
"cutting edge". You're
almost embarrassed to
admit you're not
involved. Well I ain't
involved, at least not yet.
You see, I once was. I'm
just waiting until they get
most of the big wrinkles
ironed out.
A few years ago, I and
my associate Mike
Hunter, purchased a new,
"cutting edge", hand-
held, digitized, infield computer,
designed just for guys like us, 51,000
bucks, U.S. bucks at that. However
being used to spending U.S. bucks, it
didn't phase us one bit. No sir-eee,
we're high tech guys, right? Wrong!!
Even though the device had big name
bakers and co -developers it still had
major deficiencies and short comings.
I will admit to a partial lack of the
"VCR gene" and have been called
"Abacus Man" on more than one
occasion (although you should realize
where it came from). However, this
thing had some flaws. I felt I had
bought version 0.1, not 1.0, however,
versions 1.1 and 1.5 still didn't iron
out all of the big wrinkles. Even my
accountant, who's a fairly bright guy
(he does my books, right?), couldn't
come to grips with this "leading edge
tool".
Lo and behold, last September I
received a letter from the company
telling me that the big name players
and big name co -developers had gone
to play somewhere else and the
One step back from the
cutting edge
New technologies will change the way we farm, but
sometimes it's best to let them prove themselves
By Mery Erb
Hich-tech tools like John Deere's "Greenstar" program willultimately
change farming but before you invest, beware.
project was being abandoned. To
make matters right, they were going
to send me a cheque for $500 bucks
U.S., a somewhat happy ending to a
temper -straining story. So there it sits
on my shelf, this "cutting edge" relic,
this rusting vestige of my foray into
the "techie" world. However, it's
nothing that you no -till boys don't
know about, rusting scraps and
expensive heaps of iron out behind
the drive shed, partially hidden from
in full view by the long grass.
Yup, I know where I should have
been. One step back from the "cutting
edge".
In all seriousness though,
precision agriculture (PA) will
change the way we all do business.
PA will revolutionize agriculture as
dramatically (if not more so) as did
the development of hybrid seed corn,
the adoption of herbicide use and
supplemental nitrogen applications.
The greatest difference is that it will
happen much faster than the previous
technological changes.
Let me take you on
a tour for a few minutes.
Seed size — there
will be major changes in
seed sizing in the
coming years and there
will be less sizes to
choose from. No, we're
not going to genetically
alter the corn cob to
produce only F14's. PA
gave us air and vacuum
disc -type seed metering
systems. Future seed
sales and sizing will be
geared toward these
types of planters. Don't
be buying a finger or
plate type planter. It'll
be obsolete by 2002,
five years from now. Be
on the "cutting edge" of
new planter design, but
don't buy 'em the first
year they come out,
purchase the second
year model.
Combine yield
monitors and moisture
testers — there are still
some large wrinkles to
iron out here. Weight
measurement is fairly
accurate with 12 per
cent to 17 per cent
moisture soys and under 27 per cent
corn. Moisture measurement is fairly
accurate with 12 per cent to 17 per
cent soys and 19 per cent to 27 per
cent corn. If you're outside of these
ranges, you're better off one step
back from the cutting edge with an
old fashioned weigh wagon. You
know the old saying, "Garbage In,
Garbage Out".
Row widths — 20" and 22" corn
beats 30" corn by 4.8 per cent, 6.8 per
.cent cent and 8.8 per cent, which
worked out to 6 bu., 8 bu. and 16
bu./ac across many years and many
counties both in Ontario, Michigan
and Iowa. The yield advantage to a
farmer in Hamilton County, Iowa is
no more than to a farmer in Huron
County, Michigan or Huron County,
Ontario. The yield advantage is here
and it's real. Sure, in narrow rows.
com may be a tad more lodge prone.
But there is more profitable yield.
One thing is for sure, you need to
pick stress tolerant hybrids, or get
one step back from the cutting edge.
FEBRUARY 1997 21