GPS and Business Intelligence: Rubenacker Farms Makes Hay With I.T.
By Kim S. Nash, Baseline magazine.com
Crop farmers wield global positioning systems and business intelligence tools to nurture profits in the field.
The rain may pour, the sun may pound, but Kelly Robertson doesn't mind. He's a southern Illinois farmer who's always drawn a living from nature.
Robertson, who is in his mid-30s, is among the growing ranks of "precision farmers" who supplement their farm sense with software and statistical analysis to help decide what to plant, how to grow it and when to sell it.
The most advanced precision farmers plow and plant with auto-steer tractors equipped with global positioning systems that guide the machines over fields by themselves. They fertilize with sprayers loaded with geographic information systems maps and computerized instructions to vary the amounts of nitrogen applied to different spots on a field, down to four-inch patches.
Tech Supplements Nature
Several vendors offer hardware and software for precision farming.
Deere & Co. in Moline, Ill.; Trimble Navigation in Sunnyvale, Calif.; Caterpillar in Peoria, Ill.; Komatsu in Tokyo and CNH Global in Amsterdam build tractors, combines and other heavy machinery with global positioning systems, radar and scales.
For analytics, there is ArcView mapping and analysis software from ESRI in Redlands, Calif., and SMS Software specifically for the agriculture industry from Ag Leader Technology in Ames, Iowa. Also popular are statistical tools from business stalwarts SAS Institute in Cary, N.C., and SPSS in Chicago.
Robertson uses SMS Software, SPSS, a Microsoft Access database and Trimble GPS systems.
Big Bucks for Big Bushels
So, why hasn't everyone gone to precision farming?
Poor integration between different vendors' technologies has kept some farmers away, says Dusty Sonnenberg, who owns the 3,000-acre Sonnenberg Farms in Hamler, Ohio.
A lack of standards for sharing data between, say, Deere and Trimble equipment means farmers must choose one proprietary system or another, he says: "What can you do? You can't put Dodge parts on a Chevy."
But the bigger issue is cost. GPS systems and on-board computers for a tractor cost $20,000 to $25,000. A GPS base station with receivers to relay signals between it, an orbiting satellite and the farm machine costs another $15,000 to $20,000, Sonnenberg says. Tools from SPSS or Ag Leader go for about $1,500 to $2,000, depending on the module. "It's only innovators and early adopters now because of the price tag," he says.
Still, the financial returns do come, says Jess Lowenberg-DeBoer, a professor of agricultural economics at Purdue. When fertilizing, for example, a farmer pulling a sprayer behind his tractor will usually overlap up to 10% of the ground, to be sure he covers everything, Lowenberg-DeBoer says. But a tractor with auto-steer and a variable-rate sprayer overlaps just 1% to 2%, he says. More accurate spraying requires less labor and results in less wear on machinery. It also means spending less on expensive diesel fuel and fertilizer, both of which shot up more than 15% in price this year over last.
Like other precision farmers, Robertson may have data at his fingertips but he'll always have dirt under his nails.
At A Glance: Rubenacker Farms
Headquarters: Rural Route 1, Dahlgren, IL 62828
Phone: (618) 648-2257
Business: Crop farming.
Top Technologist: Kelly Robertson, agronomy manager
Size: 9,000 acres for wheat, corn and soybean crops; also runs irrigation tiling and trucking operations.
Then and Now
Agriculture: Business Intelligence
10 Years Ago
Seed, fertilizer and machinery costs recorded on paper.
Tractors, combines and sprayers driven by farm workers.
Planting decisions made on farmer experience and instinct.
Today
Costs tracked in computer spreadsheets and business analysis software
Heavy machinery guided by global positioning systems, with drivers in the cab monitoring the activity and, usually, turning the steering wheel at the end of each row. Experience and "farm sense" supplemented with statistical analysis of historical trend data.
5 years from now
Wireless networks in rural areas enable use of handheld computers for tracking and analysis. Driverless, robotic machinery with onboard computers pre-programmed with 3D visualization maps of the fields do all plowing, planting and harvesting. Computer analysis and farmer experience further refined to include variables such as near-real-time data on international market demand and pricing.
Crop farmers wield global positioning systems and business intelligence tools to nurture profits in the field.
The rain may pour, the sun may pound, but Kelly Robertson doesn't mind. He's a southern Illinois farmer who's always drawn a living from nature.
Robertson, who is in his mid-30s, is among the growing ranks of "precision farmers" who supplement their farm sense with software and statistical analysis to help decide what to plant, how to grow it and when to sell it.
The most advanced precision farmers plow and plant with auto-steer tractors equipped with global positioning systems that guide the machines over fields by themselves. They fertilize with sprayers loaded with geographic information systems maps and computerized instructions to vary the amounts of nitrogen applied to different spots on a field, down to four-inch patches.
Tech Supplements Nature
Several vendors offer hardware and software for precision farming.
Deere & Co. in Moline, Ill.; Trimble Navigation in Sunnyvale, Calif.; Caterpillar in Peoria, Ill.; Komatsu in Tokyo and CNH Global in Amsterdam build tractors, combines and other heavy machinery with global positioning systems, radar and scales.
For analytics, there is ArcView mapping and analysis software from ESRI in Redlands, Calif., and SMS Software specifically for the agriculture industry from Ag Leader Technology in Ames, Iowa. Also popular are statistical tools from business stalwarts SAS Institute in Cary, N.C., and SPSS in Chicago.
Robertson uses SMS Software, SPSS, a Microsoft Access database and Trimble GPS systems.
Big Bucks for Big Bushels
So, why hasn't everyone gone to precision farming?
Poor integration between different vendors' technologies has kept some farmers away, says Dusty Sonnenberg, who owns the 3,000-acre Sonnenberg Farms in Hamler, Ohio.
A lack of standards for sharing data between, say, Deere and Trimble equipment means farmers must choose one proprietary system or another, he says: "What can you do? You can't put Dodge parts on a Chevy."
But the bigger issue is cost. GPS systems and on-board computers for a tractor cost $20,000 to $25,000. A GPS base station with receivers to relay signals between it, an orbiting satellite and the farm machine costs another $15,000 to $20,000, Sonnenberg says. Tools from SPSS or Ag Leader go for about $1,500 to $2,000, depending on the module. "It's only innovators and early adopters now because of the price tag," he says.
Still, the financial returns do come, says Jess Lowenberg-DeBoer, a professor of agricultural economics at Purdue. When fertilizing, for example, a farmer pulling a sprayer behind his tractor will usually overlap up to 10% of the ground, to be sure he covers everything, Lowenberg-DeBoer says. But a tractor with auto-steer and a variable-rate sprayer overlaps just 1% to 2%, he says. More accurate spraying requires less labor and results in less wear on machinery. It also means spending less on expensive diesel fuel and fertilizer, both of which shot up more than 15% in price this year over last.
Like other precision farmers, Robertson may have data at his fingertips but he'll always have dirt under his nails.
At A Glance: Rubenacker Farms
Headquarters: Rural Route 1, Dahlgren, IL 62828
Phone: (618) 648-2257
Business: Crop farming.
Top Technologist: Kelly Robertson, agronomy manager
Size: 9,000 acres for wheat, corn and soybean crops; also runs irrigation tiling and trucking operations.
Then and Now
Agriculture: Business Intelligence
10 Years Ago
Seed, fertilizer and machinery costs recorded on paper.
Tractors, combines and sprayers driven by farm workers.
Planting decisions made on farmer experience and instinct.
Today
Costs tracked in computer spreadsheets and business analysis software
Heavy machinery guided by global positioning systems, with drivers in the cab monitoring the activity and, usually, turning the steering wheel at the end of each row. Experience and "farm sense" supplemented with statistical analysis of historical trend data.
5 years from now
Wireless networks in rural areas enable use of handheld computers for tracking and analysis. Driverless, robotic machinery with onboard computers pre-programmed with 3D visualization maps of the fields do all plowing, planting and harvesting. Computer analysis and farmer experience further refined to include variables such as near-real-time data on international market demand and pricing.
posted by gab admin at 8:11 AM 
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home