Syngenta Thrive - 1Q/2013 - 8

KNOW-HOW

TECHNOLOGY

Precision Ag 2.0
With advances in precision agriculture, growers can adapt to specific growing conditions and better plan for the future. | By Suzanne Bopp

lthough the technology that drives precision ag changes constantly, the concept, and even the term, is not new. “Precision ag didn’t just pop up in the last few years,” says Syngenta Technical Solutions Development Manager Bruce Battles. “Even 10 or 15 years ago, we were doing a lot of work on precision ag.” As the practice continues to evolve, Battles says it’s extremely important for retailers and dealers to stay on the leading edge of training, equipment and trends to help their grower customers do the same. At the most fundamental level, precision agriculture has a straightforward goal: optimizing returns on inputs while preserving resources. Initially, precision ag focused on gaining efficiencies on the farm and understanding exactly how different areas had different needs, which led to developments, such as automatic seed shut-off on planters that help prevent growers from overlapping in the field. “Now, that’s evolving more,” Battles says. “We’re learning how hybrids respond to different soil types and are adjusting populations on the go throughout the field. We’re working on rapidly understanding the data and how to apply it.”

Ground-Level Benefits For growers, the advantages of applying that data are many, starting with saving money by using inputs more efficiently. “We are able to increase yields by using variable-rate technology with chemicals and fertilizer, so a customer can take a soil sample and put just the right amount of inputs on an area of the field. It reduces input costs and saves our customers money,” says Ryan Molitor, marketing supervisor for Raven Industries, a full-line solution provider offering GPS, automatic steering, planter-control systems and field computers. “Precision ag saves fuel costs, too—that’s one of the big advantages of automatic steering.” Increased yields are another benefit. Growers can bring organic matter up in their low-yielding areas and increase their yields farm-wide, says Josh Messer, an agronomist with Plains Grain & Agronomy, LLC. “We get an idea of where fertilizer and seed are better utilized to grow yields on those acres. We want to use just enough to maximize what we know an area is capable of producing and not over-fertilize. Eventually, you could take your average yield and start pushing it up. One customer has done this for six years on a piece of ground, corn on corn, and he’s seen the average yield getting better and better every year.”

6 · thrive · 1Q /13

ILLUSTRATION: RYAN ETTER

Syngenta Thrive - 1Q/2013

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