Precision Agriculture

John Deere-Sentera Tie Up: Here’s What We Know So Far

Tue, 27 May 2025 15:40:37 GMT

John Deere has announced its acquisition of Minnesota-based aerial optics innovator Sentera. Although specific details are few and far between this early in the process, here’s what we know so far:

The two companies have a long history. John Deere was the first enterprise customer Sentera signed onto its system over a decade ago, and the two companies have had an API link in place between Sentera’s drone management software and John Deere’s Operations Center since 2016.
Financial details are not being disclosed. We do know the deal is not subject to any further regulatory or shareholder approvals.
In a similar fashion to the Blue River Technologies and Bear Flag Robotics acquisitions, Sentera will maintain its independence as a free-standing business unit. Once fully integrated into the Deere family, Sentera will operate under the John Deere Intelligent Solutions Group (ISG) framework. Sentera leadership will remain at its St. Paul, Minn., headquarters.
For the time being, no major changes are planned for either company as we head into the heart of the summer crop scouting and spraying season. The two companies anticipate having more details to share about the nuts and bolts of the acquisition this fall.
The two groups are a natural fit. Sentera is aggressively marketing its SmartScripts drone weed mapping program, and the technology is complimentary to John Deere’s Operations Center and its See & Spray and ExactApply application technologies. One driving force behind this deal, Farm Journal is told, is Deere’s motivation to integrate more real-time agronomic data into its Operations Center platform, and Sentera’s aerial data capture capabilities can help make that happen.

(John Deere)

A deal to lift both boats. John Deere has built up a deep bench of artificial intelligence, machine learning and autonomous technology expertise within ISG, and Sentera has a long track record of aerial sensing and camera payload innovation. Considering how many cameras and sensors are included from the factory on new John Deere machines and within its Precision Upgrades retrofit kits, there should be a healthy cross pollination of sensor and camera innovation between Urbandale, Iowa, (where ISG is based) and St. Paul, Minn.
Sentera can help make See & Spray even better. SmartScripts uses drone-based imaging to scan a field and build a weed pressure map which is then loaded onto the sprayer’s in-cab computer. Now the sprayer operator can see exactly where weeds are in the field and focus their spraying efforts there first. There’s also a logistical and planning aspect to SmartScripts: by knowing exactly how many weeds are present in the field, and even what type of weeds are there, an adept operator can have the right active ingredients premixed and the exact amount needed loaded into the tank or staged nearby in a tender truck to keep that sprayer running all day long.

“Farming is becoming a very sensor and data-centric business, and in our opinion, there isn’t anyone doing it at broad scale today better than John Deere,” says Eric Taipale, chief technology officer, Sentera. “The way we can bring these data-driven insights and improve grower outcomes — it’s just what we’ve always been about. It’s what John Deere is all about. There’s such a great mesh between the two cultures, the objectives and the mission of the two organizations.”

Joseph Liefer, global technology marketing lead at John Deere, adds, “We’re excited about how this complements our existing portfolio with See & Spray, and then not just that (product). Now a farmer with an individual nozzle-controlled sprayer from any manufacturer can also leverage this technology. A drone can fly their field, generate a weed map, turn it into a prescription in Operations Center and the machine can go execute the plan. From an ag retailer standpoint, that might have a mixed fleet, and this gives them more tools in the toolbox to do targeted application for growers and help them save on herbicide. We view this deal as complementary to our overall tech strategy.”

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Carbon Robotics adds autonomous tractor solution

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 18:38:41 GMT

In a move to help growers maximize equipment and address labor shortages, Carbon Robotics launched its Carbon AutoTractor, an autonomous solution installed on existing tractors.

Carbon Robotics’ founder and CEO Paul Mikesell says its Carbon AI will power remotely monitored tractors to help specialty crop growers deploy laser weeders for almost around-the-clock production.

“With LaserWeeder, farmers want to run them as much as they possibly can, but it’s hard to find labor,” he told The Packer. “It’s really hard to find labor to do the tractor driving. It’s hard to find labor to do these late midnight shifts. It’s hard to find people to do all the different tasks you want to do with the tractors.”

The Carbon AutoTractor features two core components: the Carbon Autonomy Kit and the Remote Operations Control Center. Mikesell said operators in ROCC handle any obstructions through monitored autonomy and take over the autonomy system, so production continues. He said growers, then, don’t have to worry whether an autonomous task gets completed.

“They’re trained in using Carbon Auto Tractor,” he said. “They know how to do the functions that the farmer wants to do in the field. And then, whenever there’s something that comes up, they can literally change drive the tractor remotely, and get through whatever obstacle it is, and then keep moving.”

Mikesell said the Carbon Auto Tractor will currently work for LaserWeeder tasks, ground prep such as mulching, mowing, discing and more, but there are plans to expand its capabilities in the future.

The Carbon Autonomy Kit is initially compatible with John Deere 6R and 8R Series tractors, requiring no permanent modifications and installation completed in less than 24 hours. Once installed, tractors can toggle between autonomous and manual operation as needed.

“It bolts on and then that you plug into the harness in the inside on the inside cab, and there’s a box that mounts on the window that you can turn it on and off,” Mikesell said.

The Carbon AutoTractor system includes RTK-accurate GPS, 360-degree cameras and radar-based safety sensors, as well asphysical, remote and mobile e-stops connected via a high-speed, low-latency satellite link.

“We have better visibility from the cameras on the roof than you do from the inside the cabin,” Mikesell said.

And for those growers who might be reluctant to go to an autonomous tractor, Mikesell said the Carbon AutoTractor is designed to help growers better deploy farm labor where it’s needed most.

“You want somebody there to inspect or notice problems with your irrigation or things of that nature. You’ll still want to have those people around, but the point is that they don’t have to spend all that time driving up and down the rows to do the simple task,” he said. “They can then spend their time focusing on figuring out where or if there’s issues and how to address other problems and it relieves the constant need to be driving the tractor all the time.”

Mikesell said this solution also offers growers the option to deploy tractors at night for weeding or when the nighttime temperatures are cooler. This also helps growers maximize return on investment by being able to run the autonomous solution all the time, he said.

“We found that lot of people want to run their LaserWeeder 24/7 because they get a really good ROI or more crops they can put it under, but they just can’t find the operators to run it 24/7,” he told The Packer. “If you can run it, 24/7, you can double the hours in a typical season and you can get that tool doing everything you need it to.”

Carbon Robotics said the autonomous solution works seamlessly with its LaserWeeder, automatically adjusting speed to optimize weeding performance based on weed type, size and density, which can boost coverage by up to 20% compared to manually operated systems.

Brandon Munn, farm manager with Columbia Basin Onion, has worked with the Carbon Robotics team on this autonomous solution.

“With many of our tractors and LaserWeeders running autonomously with Carbon AutoTractor, we’re able to operate more hours, address labor challenges and make night shifts safer and more reliable,” Munn said in a news release. “This isn’t just automation; it’s a practical solution that’s fundamentally changing how we farm.”

Additional Details Come In On AutoTractor
Farm Journal talked with CEO Paul Mikesell to see what else we could learn about the system and what makes it different from other tractor autonomy kits on the market. Here’s a handful of bullet points breaking down what we uncovered:

Don’t Call It A Retrofit - Because the AutoTractor kit doesn’t effectively alter or change anything mechanically on the tractor itself, Mikesell says he prefers to refer to it as a “augmentation kit.”
Satellite Connectivity Changed The Game - When Mikesell and his team started this project back in 2023, connectivity was a limiting factor in enabling a tractor to safely operate with complete autonomy. That is no longer a limiting factor as developments in the stratosphere like SpaceX’s StarLink and Intellsat’s low earth orbit constellations have provided the necessary latency and bandwidth to make driver-less operation safe and viable.
Pricing Is Still TBD - Pressed on how much the system will cost from an up-front investment standpoint, Mikesell told us that “we’re still fine tuning that price.”
Expect An Hourly Fee - Mikesell did confirm that the technology will carry a per-hour fee. He says that fee will track closely with what the user would pay a local machine operator to run the tractor. That could mean a per-hour fee anywhere from $15 in the Midwest to upwards of $25 per hour in high-wage markets like California and Washington. “We’re trying to save you money by not having to worry about travel time out to the fields. There’s no lunch break. You don’t have to worry about paying overtime. This machine will do as many double shifts as you want, and we’re still employing people to do all the monitoring. So we have a very skilled and qualified group of people that are doing all the monitoring. So that’s kind of the model: we charge you per hour to run this machine for you and we’ll work with you on what jobs you want done and how you want it done and make sure that everything is handled appropriately.”
Remote Operators With Tractor Experience - Mikesell says his remote operators that task and oversee the driverless tractors for farmers get a crash course in how tractors are used on your typical farm. “Just being out there in the field long enough to understand the size of things that are around you and just kind of what a field looks like and how things are laid out, makes a huge difference when you’re trying to drive remotely,” says Mikesell. “Even though you have a better view driving remotely, because you have a nice 360 degree view off the roof, having some concept and understanding about the size of things and kind of what everything looks like helps quite a bit.”

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3 hi-tech tools that are helping solve perplexing labor puzzles

Wed, 22 Feb 2023 18:55:12 GMT

While automation and artificial intelligence have taken many industries by storm in recent months, labor for the vast majority of specialty crop agriculture is still accomplished by human hands. Ask any farmer with dirt under their nails and they’ll confirm that growing food is exhausting, labor-intensive work.

Farm tasks such as planning the season, seeding, transplanting, cultivating, harvesting and transporting fresh produce — not to mention problem-solving challenges that come along the way — is over and above a full-time job for a farm manager. Completing these tasks efficiently and ensuring profit margins can perplex even the savviest entrepreneur.

Often, the most expensive investments a grower will make on their farm operation are in people, not fancy toys and tools. And while agtech has yet to crack the code on the produce industry equivalent of ChatGPT, several clever businesses are piloting new technologies that help growers hone labor efficiencies, improve clunky workflows, eliminate redundancies and level up communication across the supply chain.

Saving time by communicating in the cloud

The logistics of farming over many acres can create inherent communication hurdles. Jotting down notes with pen and paper, while helpful, doesn’t provide timely updates for your fellow farmer located 10 acres due west. While phones and walkie-talkies can be handy in a pinch to deliver need-to-know details, nothing compares to an app that is available and synced with up-to-date information sitting in the back pocket of everyone on the team, updating in real time.

What’s more, GPS tracking embedded into communication apps can share time-sensitive information that is site-specific, empowering farmers in the office and the field alike to make informed decisions about what’s happening and where it’s at in a moment’s notice.

Farm management software AgSquared is one of the farmer-focused apps helping growers track farm operations and labor in the cloud.

Not only does the app keep up with farmworker hours, breaks and location, but AgSquared can also track inputs like pesticides and fertilizers, mapping location and logging application times. The app can also analyze farm operations from a bird’s-eye view and calculate costs, said Kevin Hannigan, vice president of sales for AgSquared.

“The field guy just needs to click a few buttons and you can track costs fairly accurately and send notifications to the entire team,” Hannigan added.

The software is sold as an all-in-one farm management software subscription package that empowers more transparent, productive and profitable farms.

After the fresh produce has left the farm gate, the communication shifts from the harvest crew to the logistics and farm operation team.

Tive , a tech company that specializes in tracking produce shipments, offers produce-tracking software products like the Tive Tag and Tive Solo 5G tractors that give visibility into shipments as they are happening and sends alerts if there’s an issue.

“At Tive, we believe that the biggest challenge facing producers and retailers is visibility — because you can’t fix what you can’t see. When you can track your perishable shipments in real-time, you can see where they are and what condition they’re in, and you can take immediate action to reduce spoilage, minimize waste and improve customer satisfaction,” said Lauren Seigel, senior marketing programs manager for Tive. “With never-ending supply chain disruptions, visibility is the key to success.”

Another tech company catering to produce shipping and logistics, Procurant recently partnered with Uber Freight to digitize truck brokering, offering a software product called Procurant Ship. What was once smoke and mirrors, through a collaboration with Uber Freight, now grower-shippers can get a quick view of transparent cost profiles and real-time shipping via a digital dashboard.

Procurant Ship allows grower-shippers to see Uber Freight’s transportation rates and to secure load shipments, all while responding to an active purchase order.

“This partnership is a game-changer for grocery retailers and their produce suppliers, and it will bring much-needed relief to an industry struggling with rising transportation costs and truck availability. With this partnership, we move one step closer to a more cost-effective and streamlined fresh food supply chain,” said Procurant CEO Eric Peters.

A robotic technology that zeros in on automated solutions

Once the farm has dialed in communication, robotics technologies like automated harvesters, timed fertilization and irrigation, and drone monitoring can significantly reduce the amount of time spent inspecting, monitoring and cultivating crops.

Carbon Robotics , an AI-powered robotics agriculture tool company, just released a fully automated laser that can precisely target weeds. The tool, coined LazerWeeder, targets thinning and weeding for over 40 varieties of crops, according to a news release.

“LaserThinning is a breakthrough approach and delivers benefits that are an order of magnitude better than existing solutions,” Matt McGuire, general manager at JV Farms, said in the release. “This technology is revolutionizing how we handle weeding and thinning, bringing dependability, speed and accuracy to our farming practices.”

Juan Calderon, director of farming operations at Duncan Family Farms, agreed that the machine creates on-farm efficiencies.

“The LaserWeeder is a consistent solution that enables us to effectively manage weeds so we can put our focus, labor and resources toward other important operational tasks,” said Calderon.

This technology, helpful for direct-seeded crops, like leafy greens, and cole crops such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale and kohlrabi, can reduce dependency on hand labor or herbicides.

“With our pace of innovation, we offer a software extensible tool that addresses farming’s most pressing challenge — weeding — and expands to tackle other problems such as thinning,” Paul Mikesell, CEO and founder of Carbon Robotics, said in the release. “The LaserWeeder enables farmers to accurately execute crop thinning and weeding without disturbing crops or soil, helping to improve crop yields and soil health.”

The Tech World Had The Chance To Meet Real Farmers At CES, And The Reaction Was Surprisingly Good

Sat, 14 Jan 2023 02:33:13 GMT

The global tech industry gathered at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this past week to see the latest and greatest in technology and this year, agriculture took center stage. What’s traditionally been a show geared to consumers is one agriculture is playing a bigger role, and as Farm Journal discovered, the interest in agriculture’s story became a resounding theme.

From driverless vehicles to a flying car, CES was full of the latest technology and a few surprises. One popular attraction was at the John Deere booth. Not only was each area of the display equipped with farming facts for consumers, the company also served up the chance for attendees to meet- and speak- with real farmers.

“We actually are a vertically integrated company–we take rice from the farm to a finished product. And we even have our own brand now called 4Sisters,” says Meryl Kennedy , a farmer in northeast Louisiana.

Kenny and Travis Senter of northeast Arkansas, were just two of the farmers in Deere’s CES display, answering questions and pulled back the curtain on production agriculture today.

“The biggest question is this machine that we’re standing behind autonomous?” says Senter. “The other question is, on my Operations Center, all those all those machines that are on there, are they autonomous? So, I guess the big factor that they’re looking at is autonomy.”

Deere and Company kicked off CES as the keynote speaker–a first for agriculture. And as Deere presented, the company pointed out farmers were sitting in the audience. The crowd gasped in response, proof that to CES attendees, the chance to meet real farmers was rare.

The Chance to Meet Farmers at CES

It was during those one-on-one conversations that Senter and Kennedy were able to connect with consumers, sharing with them–and even showing them–the ag technology already at work in fields today.

“Frankly, just having conversations with people that are in a totally different field than you but knowing that you’re so connected to technology and how we’re going to feed the world,” says Kennedy, when asked what’s been the most eye-opening aspect of her CES experience so far. “That’s really the mission of CES right now. It’s all about driving that sustainability and providing technology to make sure that we can provide water and food and fuel to the world.

Kennedy is a second-generation farmer, who along with her dad and three sisters, created the brand 4Sisters , proving rice is part of this family’s legacy.

“Retail has been a whole new journey for us as a company, honestly, before 2019, we really didn’t even have a website ,” says Kennedy. “So, we were truly a commodity-based agricultural company. It has truly been a transformation from us.”

Connecting with Consumers

Kennedy says as CES sparked conversations with consumers, technology is helping discover what solutions really do make an environmental and production difference on their farm today.

“I think probably one of the hardest things that we’ve been facing recently is bringing that sustainability journey to life in a way that is meaningful to consumers, and doing it fast enough,” she says. “People want to see meaningful change, and I think that we’re doing that, it just it takes time. So, having that kind of balance and providing the data to backup what we’ve been doing for so many years. I mean, really, the U.S. farmers the most sustainable in the world, we just had to tell that story better.”

Kennedy’s top concern for 2023 is climbing input costs, which is why she says any investment on their farm must produce a ROI. With higher costs, the rate at which they see that return is getting shorter, but it’s not changing their overall goal.

“It’s about creating a path that we can all be on as a sustainable business,” she says. “And that we can all feel comfortable with the technology that we’re using, and that we can make sure that we implement it in a meaningful way that brings value to us as a company.”

On the Cutting Edge of Adopting Technology

Senter considers himself on the cutting edge of adopting technology on his farm, as experiencing the latest technology is something Senter says he truly enjoys.

With 38 tractors, three combines, four sprayers and three cotton harvesters, orchestrating field works across their 20,000 acres, is a challenge, But Senter says through technology, that job is getting more efficient, something he was able to show attendees at CES.

“I remember early days of data, we always had flash drive and I just chased machines with a flash drive,” he says. “I felt like I was just working too hard to gather information and not actually using what I had to get it.”

A decade ago, Senter decided it was time to go all-in with how he was collecting and managing the data. That’s when he started processing his farm’s information into the cloud, while also investing in the systems and technology to propel his farm into the future.

“We kind of had a little bit here and a little bit there. Let’s just put everything connected that way. It’s all in one unit, we can see where everything’s at. We know what everybody has going on. I don’t have to keep detailed notes. I know everything’s going into the cloud. I don’t have to worry about chasing data that is working for me. I’m not working for it,” he says.

Adopting Automation

When Senter explores what’s next, he believes automation is the wave of the future.

“I think when you get into automation, which is what’s coming, being able to drive machines, you’re not necessarily going to lose labor, because you’re going to need that labor to fix those pieces of equipment,” says Senter. “Their job may change from being an operator to actually maintaining and keeping that machine moving.

And while some automation is already at work in agriculture today, the velocity at which those changes are happening may be the biggest difference in the years ahead. Senter admits even his own views on autonomy have changed.

“I’ve had the opportunity to use that some of that autonomous machines, and I was very pessimistic at first. But it actually it did a phenomenal job. And so, me seeing it firsthand said, ‘Okay, we can do this, it can be done. Let’s go forward with it,’” says Senter.

AEM’s View on Agriculture’s Role at CES

Association of Equipment Manufacturer (AEM) senior vice president Curt Blades says agriculture’s large footprint at CES elevated the image of ag last week.

“The biggest takeaway that I had from CES, representing the off road equipment industry was, hey, look at the really interesting technology that our members and the entire industry is working at to solve sustainability challenges for society,” says Blades.

As Blades attended CES, sat in on conversations and watched how equipment manufacturer’s showcased the technology in agriculture and construction today, and he says the message at CES was resounding: ag tech is a critical piece of meeting the growing demands.

“What’s happened specifically at CES is that we have pointed to technology as part of that solution. In fact, we have some of the facts and figures and research to back that up that’s telling a story that it’s not about trying to sell more equipment, it’s actually trying to solve societal problems,” says Blades.

The Rapid Change in Ag Tech

So, why is ag tech growing so rapidly? Blades says it’s multi-faceted. The changes are driven by not only agriculture being part of the solution, but the amount of investment entering the space, and just the sheer amount of data available today.

“The data is what’s allowing good robotics to make more sense. It’s allowing for better management decisions. It’s allowing for better prescriptions,” he says. “You have to have the data in place to be able to take advantage of some of the technology that was unveiled, either in practice or in concept at CES.”

From artificial intelligence to robotics, CES showed the technology space is ever-changing, something Kennedy knows the future of their family farm hinges on the ability to evolve along with it.

“For my kids, I have a four- and eight-year-old, so I feel like if I can do something that’s meaningful, bring value to them future generations to come preserve the land, that’s what it’s about,” she says.

The biggest surprise during CES was just how excited those consumers were to meet real farmers like Kennedy, a low tech, high touch opportunity for the industry to show off its positive impact on the world.

Farmers Test Kinze’s Autonomous Harvest System in the Field

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:31:07 GMT

Three farmers test Kinze’s Autonomous Harvest System in the field

In the middle of harvest, Monmouth, Ill., farmer Rick Elliott got a call from one of his neighbors. “He was driving by and asked me, ‘Is there anyone in that grain cart tractor?” Elliott says.

There was no cause for alarm—the tractor was following the combine through the field, unloading on the go, without anyone in the cab. Elliott’s farm was one of three in Illinois testing the Kinze Autonomous Harvest System.

“After unveiling our project in July of 2011, we are excited to demonstrate it in the field,” says Susie Veatch, vice president and chief marketing officer of Kinze Manufacturing, Inc.

The Kinze Autonomy Project started in the lab in 2009 and was tested on the Kinzenbaw farm until this year. The harvest fleet includes a combine, tractor and grain cart outfitted with GPS sensors and rugged computers. The system is controlled by the combine operator’s tablet computer, eliminating the need for an operator in the tractor cab.

“The goals for this system are efficiency, productivity and safety,” says Rhett Schildroth, Kinze product manager. “Farmers are experiencing a shortage in skilled operators for the seasonal work at harvest and planting. We also know that it’s key for the system to run as safe at the end of the day as it did at the beginning.”

“Our system takes control of the tractor’s engine, transmission, steering and brakes,” Schildroth explains.

Components on the tractor are: GPS receiver; inertial measurement sensors for hills; wheel encoders; LIDAR (light detection and ranging) sensors; radar sensors for far-reaching sensing; and a camera to see what the systems sees.

Components on the combine are: an emergency stop button; GPS receiver; communication module that networks the machines; and a tablet computer, which is the user interface.

The Kinze Autonomous Harvest System is controlled by a touch-screen tablet, as demonstrated by Rhett Schildroth, product manager.

How it works. The system performs in four modes: follow, unload, park and idle. In the follow mode, the tractornand grain cart follow the combine’s path through the field using GPS guidance. The system reads where the combine has operated and designates those areas as safe for travel. If obstacles are known or encountered in use, the operator marks them to be avoided.

When the combine is ready to be unloaded, the tractor and grain cart pull alongside it and sensors provide real-time reaction to any adjustments made by the combine in regard to speed and direction.

“The system is continuously scanning for obstacles in the field so that when it’s time to meet the combine, it calculates a path factoring in any obstacles. If it can’t map around an obstacle, it stops,” Schildroth says. “Right now, it doesn’t run as fast as a human operator would—7 mph when following the combine; 9 mph for field travel.”

To park the tractor and cart, the combine operator hits the park button and the machinery returns to a designated area at the edge of the field.

In idle, the system comes to a stop wherever it is until further instruction.

“The technology is hidden from the farmer. He has the tablet and that’s all—four buttons and an aerial view of the field,” Schildroth says. “Keeping it simple means our farmers learn how
to use the system in an hour, and within a day it’s part of their routine.”

Field tests. Kinze worked with district sales managers to find three farmers in western Illinois to test the automonous system.

“We wanted flat ground for this initial testing, and this area had good crops despite the tough growing conditions this year,” she says. “There were three farmers within 8 miles that were willing to be part of our project.”

Elliott Brothers Farms (brothers Rick and Dan and other family members), Kent Armstrong and Joe Krupps were chosen to participate. All are Kinze customers through Painter Farm Equipment.

“Ten years ago we were skeptical about GPS, automated steering, planter clutches and other technologies,” says Todd Painter of Painter Farm Equipment. “But those have been highly accepted by our customers. We have 80% or more of our customers using GPS technologies on their farm. Technology is here to stay, and this autonomous system is the next thing to come.”

Krupps, who farms near Galesburg, Ill., says he is not quick to adopt technology and doesn’t currently use auto-guidance or steering systems. But he says the autonomous system was easy to bring onto his farm.

“I’m not exactly a technology leader,” he says. “The whole system surprised me—how well it worked, how they made it user-friendly. It follows instructions better than some employees, including myself.”

Armstrong started using automated steering systems on his farm just three years ago and says he’s impressed with the accuracy of the system.

“I haven’t run any corn on the ground this harvest unless it was my own fault,” he says. “The tablet gives you a countdown for how long it’ll take for the cart to get to the combine, and the cart stays right with my auger.”

The Elliott Brothers farm has multiple machines with GPS auto-guidance and RTK steering systems, but Rick Elliott reports the system fit easily into their operation. “The system is designed the way a farmer would have done it,” he says. “It’s simple to give the system the command you want in the field—four buttons, that’s it.”

On and off. The tractor can be switched from autonomous to manual mode. When the tractor is in idle mode, the farmer lowers the bottom step, which uses sensors to automatically disengage the autonomous system. The operator has control until he exits the tractor and lifts the step to
re-engage the system.

In autonomous mode, before the tractor leaves its designated parking area, the lights flash and the tractor beeps and revs its engine to send an alert that it’s about to move.

The company has demonstrated the technology on John Deere tractors but says the system is compatible with any make of tractor or combine. Once it is commercially available, Kinze plans to offer kits for specific models.

For now, the system is designed for a variety of harvesting conditions. For example, when cutting soybeans at an angle, the system follows the combine path and reacts in real time. Amid waterways, it understands tilt, and if the wheels start spinning in wet conditions, the tractor shuts off.

Field testing yielded some changes as well. “The biggest improvements this year are that we added the tablet as the user interface, and with adjustments to the software, we improved the time it takes for the tractor’s path to be determined,” Schildroth says.

Although there isn’t yet a date for commercial availability, Kinze is working on autonomous technology for planting applications. The system is designed only for in-field, off-road use.

“Farmers want increased productivity and rapid return on investment, and we’ll continue to innovate around the autonomous solution,” Schildroth says. “Next year, we’ll have more testing.”

To watch a video of the Kinze Autonomous Harvest System in action, visit
www.FarmJournal.com/follow_the_driver

When a Soil Test Lies

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 05:56:23 GMT

Crop consultant Del Glanzer is known for pestering his clients about proper soil testing. He is convinced that at least 25% of soil fertility issues are related to poor soil sampling, which leads to misguided test results—and flawed execution.

“Many farmers are lax in their soil sampling, so they end up with the wrong analysis and bad decisions,” explains Glanzer, who is based in Alexandria, Minn., and works with clients across the Midwest. “With the cost of fertilizer today, you can’t afford to be fooled.”

The best rule of thumb in soil sampling is that the plant and the soil sample have to match, Glanzer says. He gives the example of a client’s 40-acre field with flat, sandy soils. The client took a composite soil sample in the fall right after harvest that showed adequate fertility levels, including magnesium. Yet, when the corn reached 8" tall, at least three-fourths of the field showed magnesium deficiency in the form of striping on leaves.

“No matter what the soil test shows, the plant is the true test. And the plants said three-quarters of the field did not have adequate magnesium,” Glanzer explains.
In that case, Glanzer and the farmer began sampling both in the fall and late spring. They further divided the field to sample the good and poor spots separately and eventually eliminated the magnesium deficiency problems.

As a crop consultant for more than 30 years, Glanzer has witnessed (and made) all sorts of soil sampling missteps. He and his associate Jared Anez of Anez Consulting in Willmar, Minn., have developed a list of key factors that can derail soil test results. Here are their top five:

1. Sampling in compacted soil.
When farmers sample in compacted soil, they don’t realize that compaction restricts the roots’ water and air movement, so yields are undermined. “The result is the soil test shows good fertility levels, but with the hard layers the plant can’t get the fertility it needs,” Glanzer explains. To help identify compaction problems, he often takes soil samples by hand so he can feel if the soil is tight and compacted. If a problem is present, he encourages the client to deal with it before planting.

2. Failure to adjust soil sampling to growing field size.
Be careful of blending parcels together as fields enlarge and machines get bigger. Old fence lines need to be respected. For instance, a farmer who purchases two 40-acre fields that were once farmed separately needs to ask questions about the land’s history, including fertilizer use, manure spreading problems and other factors that could impact the fields’ fertility. “We suggest you sample newly purchased fields separately the first year and don’t combine them until you are positive the soil test is close,” Glanzer says.

3. Forgetting a field’s production history.
The life of the field has a huge impact on soil test results, Glanzer says. Knowing the field’s disease, insect and weed history can impact decisions for the growing season. Yield maps and yield histories can point out the differences, but watch for other signals, as well. For example, certain weeds can point to other problems. Yellow nutsedge, for instance, thrives in soils with poor drainage.

4. Sampling where fertilizer was spread unevenly.
Manure spread on only a portion of the field can greatly skew a soil test, Glanzer says. If you happen to sample where manure was accidentally dumped at one time, that will throw a soil test off for years.

5. Going with a cheap test.
Sometimes you need more than just a soil test for phosphorus, potassium and pH, Anez says. This is especially true for soils where pH is an issue. “One of the downsides of grid sampling is that the cost gets so high farmers start to eliminate things to test for,” Anez says. “Even if you don’t order a full sample every time, you should try to test for sulfur and trace elements when you can.”

One of Glanzer’s favorite sayings is: If you don’t know where you’re going, then it’s hard to get there. That is certainly true with crop yields and fertility management. All farmers, he says, whether they are crop or livestock producers, need to be developing a short-term and long-term nutrient management plan.

“This gets back to the point of having an end goal in place,” Glanzer says. “The producers who keep their eye on their goal will end up saving money on fertilizer this year.”

Spring Nitrate Test Tips

The large amount of rain and potential leaching last year spurred many producers to use a late-spring soil nitrate test to estimate additional nitrogen (N) fertilizer to be sidedressed. The test is often called a presidedress nitrogen test (PSNT).

The test helps estimate the likelihood of yield response to any additional fertilizer when soil nitrate concentrations found in the surface are below the critical nitrate range, says Peter Kyveryga, senior research associate with the Iowa Soybean Association’s On-Farm Network.

Optimal range. A range of 20 to 25 parts per million of nitrate-N is considered optimal. Lower the optimal range, however, when rainfall in May is more than 4" and when the test is used for soils receiving manure and anhydrous ammonia. The test should be done when the corn is 6" to 12" tall.

It is a good idea to use the late-spring soil nitrate test if all or the majority of N fertilizer was applied before planting and there is concern about losses, Kyveryga says. However, just as with a traditional soil test, bad sampling for a PSNT can lead to wrong results. The largest errors often occur because the nitrate concentration of the soil sample does not represent the nitrate concentration of the field, he says.

“The most difficult fields to sample for this test are the ones where nitrogen was applied in a band as anhydrous ammonia or injected swine manure,” Kyveryga says. Also, when fields are saturated or flooded, the test can show inconsistent results, he adds.

The best way to sample fields with banded N is to collect three sets of eight cores, positioned at various distances between two corn rows. With this method, the person doing the sampling moves in a random pattern within the test area. Each time a core is collected, its exact position is selected relative to the two nearest corn rows: The first core is collected in a row; the second is collected one-eighth of the distance between any two rows after moving to another part of the test area; and the third is one-quarter of the distance between two rows after moving to another part of the test area.

The process continues until the eighth core is collected 7⁄8 of the distance between any two corn rows. Soil from all cores should be crushed and thoroughly mixed before a subsample is sent for analysis.

The late-spring soil nitrate test is a diagnostic tool that can reduce some uncertainty in N management, but it cannot predict the magnitude of yield response in individual fields, Kyveryga cautions. “Understanding what this soil test can do and cannot do is crucial when using this test during the growing season,” he adds. For more information, visit www.isafarmnet.com .

You can e-mail Jeanne Bernick at jbernick@farmjournal.com .

Gear Up for VRT

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 05:56:27 GMT

Spurred by high input prices, variable-rate technology (VRT) application of phosphorus and potassium is becoming common. VRT application of seed and nitrogen (N) has been slower to catch on. Brad Beutke, who works alongside Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie at Crop-Tech Consulting, estimates about 10% of the firm’s clients are varying either the rate of N, plant population or both.

But Beutke believes VRT application of N and seed is poised for takeoff because new affordable technology puts the concept within reach of any farmer. At last year’s Farm Journal Corn College, Beutke told attendees how to get started.

First, lay the groundwork. For variable-rate N and population to pay back, other building blocks must be in place. “You need to have a comprehensive fertilizer plan,” Beutke says. “Keeping pH in balance is the big thing. Along with a nitrate test, we use the Illinois Soil Nitrogen Test to measure the nitrogen-supplying capacity of the soil, but th at test isn’t applicable unless you have a stable pH.

“If you have soil density problems, correct them by doing vertical tillage. Know your pests and diseases; if you push population, you’ll change the
environment, and that’s where you run into pest and disease problems.

“Next, map your management zones,” Beutke says. “These are the areas where you will bump population and nitrogen rates up or down, depending on the productive capacity of the soil. Management zones may result from different soil types, poor drainage, natural or man-made problems or other factors.”

VRT capability usually begins with a yield monitor. “Your yield monitor collects data we can use to develop yield zones,” Beutke says. “Many yield monitors are VRT-capable.

“Calibrating your yield monitor is important,” Beutke adds. “It should be within 3% of the scale weight. Most of our growers calibrate with 1% or 1.5%. We recommend they calibrate at least twice, maybe three times, in corn—every time moisture drops by five points. It makes a more accurate map.”

All monitors on the market today are capable of producing yield maps, Beutke notes. However, some produce better maps than others. “For management zones, we want yield maps that show spatial variability,” he says. “For mapping, we are not as concerned with total bushels produced but with where the bushels came from in the field.”

Other components may include GPS receivers, VRT controllers, hydraulic drives and prescription maps.

GPS receivers. To make a VRT application, you will need a GPS receiver. “Your receiver doesn’t have to be expensive,” Beutke says. “Half of our VRT nitrogen applications are made using a $250 receiver with three-meter accuracy. The thing to keep in mind is whether you are going to use the GPS signal for something else, such as auto-swath, auto-steer or mapping. In that case, you would be better off with a more accurate receiver.”

VRT controllers. “VRT controllers tie everything together,” Beutke explains. “They use data from your GPS receiver and your prescription map to tell your hydraulic drive or flow controller what rates to apply and where.”

Controllers fall into two groups. Those that come as standard equipment on tractors are called OEM (original equipment manufacturer) controllers. The second option is aftermarket controllers, which are made by a number of manufacturers.

“OEM controllers have wiring integrated into the equipment, so there’s less cab clutter,” Beutke says. “You can transfer a monitor between tractors just by unbolting it from the first one and plugging it into the second. Many of the components are included with the tractor. The up-front cost is less. They usually are multifunctional—for example, the same monitor display may be used for VRT and for tra ctor functions, such as hydraulic flow.”

The downside of OEM controllers is limited compatibility with other manufacturers’ components. “It’s getting better,” Beutke says, “but it’s still limited compared with controllers available on the aftermarket.

“OEM desktop software to support these controllers is also limited. The software from equipment manufacturers usually is not geared toward creating management zones. However, aftermarket solutions are available.”

Aftermarket controllers can be as simple as handheld personal digital assistants (PDAs). “For a simple system, you can load programs, such as FarmWorks VRT software, into a PDA, plug it into a flow controller and you’re ready to go,” Beutke says.

Aftermarket controllers usually are the most user-friendly, he says. “They are less brand-specific and usually can be made to work with any tractor or implement. The aftermarket controllers usually are multifunctional. The most common one is a yield monitor.

“Support from aftermarket manufacturers tends to be good,” Beutke says. “Most of them accept standard file types, or they have easy file conversion software. On the other hand, they require their own wiring, so you have a little more cab clutter.”

VRT planting equipment. The majority of the variable-rate planter drives are hydraulic-based and require an adequate amount of hydraulic flow from your tractor.

“Hydraulic drives must be calibrated before you go to the field,” Beutke says. “Some aftermarket hydraulic drives let you shut down the controller and go back to ground-drive if anything goes wrong.”

VRT nitrogen equipment. With liquid N fertilizers, variable-rate can be accomplished with a flow controller, a control valve and meter and a hydraulic-driven centrifugal pump. Another system uses a ground-driven variable-rate piston pump. “It drives like a regular pump,” Beutke says. “It has an electric servo, which attaches to the pump stroke adjuster and adjusts the piston pump on the go.”

Ferrie’s staff has worked with several fertilizer dealers to equip rented toolbars for VRT application of UAN solution. “The grower owns a flow controller and pressure relief valve, which he swaps out with equipment on the toolbar, using quick-attach connectors,” Beutke says. “The operator sets the ground-driven pump for the maximum rate he wants to apply. When the controller calls for a lower rate, a control valve closes to feeds extra solution back through the pressure-relief valve.”

A system from Capstan Ag Systems ( www.capstanag.com ) uses a Redball monitor-type manifold with a solenoid control for every knife. “It can hit a wide range of rates over a wide range of pressure and speed,” Beutke says. “But it is more expensive and complex than other systems.”

“With liquid VRT, remember that pressure increases four times as the rate doubles,” Beutke says. “So you need to use VeriFlow nozzles (from SprayTarget, www.spraytarget.com ) if you don’t want to change groundspeed as the rate changes.”

Capstan also makes a model for VRT anhydrous ammonia. “It can handle ammonia rates below 60 lb. per acre, which you sometimes want when sidedressing VRT nitrogen,” Beutke says.

Most ammonia bars are set for higher application rates, he notes. In a VRT N system, you can get around that by applying more ammonia at sidedressing and less at preplant.

Before you move. Take time to think about your long-term plans before you invest in a VRT system. “If all you want to do is VRT application, you can get by with a used PDA, WAAS GPS and VRT software,” Beutke says. “But if you decide later to add features, such as auto-steer, automatic swath control and remote sensing, it can be expensive, and you may end up with multiple monitors in the tractor cab.”

Evaluate the equipment you already have, such as GPS receivers. “A lot of it is already VRT-capable if you just add a couple components,” Beutke says.

“Consider the longevity of your current equipment. It makes no sense to spend a lot to buy this technology for a planter or sidedress bar you’re going to trade off next year. Wait until you’re buying a new applicator or planter.”

Smart advice. Discuss your plans with whoever will be making your VRT maps. “Each brand of controller usually requires a different file type,” Beutke says. “The shapefile is an
industry standard file type for GPS mapping. The cost of VRT prescription maps usually depends on the time and software needed to convert shapefiles to the file type required by your VRT controller.”

Ask VRT equipment dealers for references. “Make sure you buy a system based on what it can do now, and not what it will be capable of with an update in the future,” Beutke says.

“Too often those updates never show up. Talk with other growers who are using the equipment. Ask what problems they have had and what shortcomings they have discovered.”

Ask about the quality of local support your dealer will provide. “Good support is more important than a cheaper price,” Beutke cautions. “Also, call the manufacturer’s support hotline. Find out how long you’re going to be on hold when you have a question. In 2008, we usually didn’t get more than 1½ days of good planting weather at a time. If you can’t get your equipment to work, you can lose out big time.”

How to Make Management Zones

Management zones are areas within a field with similar productive capacity—maybe high and maybe low. “To make a management zone map, we start with a soil map,” explains Brad Beutke, who works with Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie. “Soil maps contain lots of valuable information, such as slope, drainage, waterholding capacity and erosion, all of which provide insight about fertility and yield potential.

“GPS-referenced soil maps are free on the Internet, from a USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Web site,” Beutke adds. “The URL is http://soildatamart.nrcs.usda.gov .”

“We try to keep management zones from three to seven acres, or sometimes a little smaller,” Beutke says. “You can divide soil types into smaller zones based on slope, elevation or other natural breaks. To break zones down further, lay the soil map over a yield map and create zones based on yield. If yield maps aren’t available, you can use Normalized difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) maps and create zones based on crop health.(For more information about NDVI maps, see “New Yield-Boosting Tool” in the Mid-February 2009 issue of Farm Journal)

“When you overlay a soil map over a yield map, you will find that most areas respond by soil type,” Beutke continues. “But there are exceptions; when we find an exception, we try to figure out what’s going on. For example, a low-yielding area may be wetter than other soil in the field or it may contain nematodes.”

“We wait until we see a problem repeat itself on a yield map before we designate an area as a management zone. If a problem only shows up once, the low yield may have been caused by an insect or disease problem that is only present for one year. We also want to see which crops are affected because some problems are crop-specific. Finally, we visit the area and ground-truth the problem—you can’t leave it up to your software to make the decision.”

After you have established management zones, you can begin soil testing by zone and you can seek recommendations from seed and fertilizer dealers about the best rates and management techniques for each zone.

For more information about creating management zones, visit www.farmjournal.com , and click on the Corn Navigator icon. Then click on “Route 10: Road Map to Bigger Yields.”

For additional information on variable-rate nitrogen, visit www.farmjournal.com , and click on the Corn Navigator icon. Read Route 4 “On The Road To Variable-Rate Nitrogen.”
For tips on calibrating yield monitors, click on Route 1 “Yield Monitor Secrets.”

You can e-mail Darrell Smith at dsmith@farmjournal.com .

Wheat Breeding Advances

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 05:58:40 GMT

Researchers tackle the tough wheat genome

Wheat truly feeds our world. It accounts for 20% of the calories we consume, and 35% of the Earth’s population depends on it for their very survival.

Yet the crop has remained relatively elusive to scientists, partially due to its complexity at the genetic level. The wheat genome has about 17 billion paired DNA bases, which makes it even more complex than the human genome. Because around 80% of the genome contains repetitive sequences, it has been difficult to interpret readouts and determine whether a particular sequence is unique.

However, a recent breakthrough has allowed an international team of scientists to complete a “shotgun sequencing,” breaking up the wheat genome into smaller, more workable segments.

Shahryar Kianian, professor of plant sciences at North Dakota State University and one of the collaborators, says the project has been in progress for several years. Generating the necessary information was a fast, relatively inexpensive process, he says—but assembling and arranging this information required quite a bit of brainpower and computer processing.

“Essentially, we put together the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle,” he says.

Why go through all the trouble? Researchers hope the study will lead to multiple positive outcomes. For example, the sequencing project greatly multiplied the number of genetic markers for plant breeders to use, Kianian says. They could be used to more effectively breed and adapt wheat to parts of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa to improve drought tolerance, or create varieties that are more resistant to disease.

“Fifteen years ago, we had about a thousand markers,” Kianian says. “This breakthrough put us in the millions. Now, if you are targeting UG-99 resistance, for instance, you can transfer genes more easily and more cleanly.”

Not there yet. There is still much work to be done. Bikram Gill, distinguished professor of plant pathology and director of the Wheat Genetics Resource Center (WGRC) at Kansas State University, says the next step is to develop a “gold standard sequence” for wheat. Scientists will anchor the complete sequence to a genetic map of agronomic traits important to the wheat industry.

Researchers at WGRC and elsewhere are also studying wheat’s polyploid properties, which could lead to breakthroughs in other food crops such as cabbage and broccoli.

“Polyploidy is both a curse and a blessing,” Gill explains. “It provided the evolutionary novelty that made wheat the world’s most important crop, but at the same time it made the genome more complex and a hard nut to crack.”

For now, the gene sequencing of wheat has allowed researchers to identify, categorize and record individual genes and gene cluster locations. Gill considers it a rough map, but loaded with points of interest for future studies. Like his collaborators, Gill says his focus is still on the true prize—the gold standard sequencing.

“With funding from the USDA and the National Science Foundation, center scientists have made sequenceready physical maps,” he says. “But lack of funding is hurting the U.S. effort for gold standard sequencing of the wheat genome.”

Top Wheat Producing States in 2011
(millions of bushels)

1 Kansas 276.5
2 North Dakota 199.9
3 Montana 175.0
4 Washington 167.9
5 Idaho 116.0
6 South Dakota 104.8
7 Colorado 81.8
8 Oregon 74.5
9 Minnesota 70.5
10 Oklahoma 70.4

You can e-mail Ben Potter at bpotter@farmjournal.com .