New precision agriculture technologies

Apr 14, 2015

Aimed at creating a more efficient farm operation

As the 2015 planting season approaches, farmers are looking for better ways to understand what’s going on underneath and on top of the soil and the proper measures to take to ensure this year is the most fruitful and profitable year they’ve had.

One of the current popular ways farmers are going about it is adopting precision agriculture – using technology to look at their farms differently and adapt their farming practices accordingly.

Here are some of the newer products on the market available to farmers who already practice or are thinking about adopting precision agriculture.

Topcon Positioning Systems
This Livermore, California operation with offices throughout the United States and abroad is helping farmers get more yields with less inputs.

It has many different options and capabilities for farmers. They can use the GPS and implement automatic steering on their combines, or their ASC-10 to control spreading and spraying for maximum efficiency and eliminating gaps.

senseFly eBee
The eBee drone, made by Swiss company senseFly (it’s available in the United States and Canada) has the ability to survey the fields and compile various data including elevation, plant counting and can use thermal infrared to perform plant physiology analysis.

With their Postflight Terra 3D software, they can take the images from the drone, download them directly, create NDVI maps and write prescriptions that can be carried out on the same day.

Join the conversation and tell us if you currently practice precision agriculture or use any of these products. If you do, how have they worked for you? If you don’t use them, would you consider doing so?

Check out the precision agriculture page for more information.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.