Agri-Tech Blog

A new mobile application has been released for grain commodity sellers who use iPhone and Android smart phone systems. The trading app, called DPP^SM (Dynamic Pricing Platform^SM) grain desk, allows electronic buying and selling of corn, soybeans, wheat and sorghum.  The DPP grain desk application is free, and can be downloaded from the Farms Technology, L.L.C., website.

DPP grain desk is designed to streamline sellers with buyers, making it easier to make, manage and monitor offers.  App users can monitor futures markets, view local cash bids, market commentary, and make grain transactions.  Growers can choose the bushel quantity, delivery period and desired cash price for the grain commodity.

The app attempts to connect sellers and buyers in close geographical locations to present local opportunities to market grain.  Active private bids (APB), which are typically pricier compared to public bids, are made freely available.  APB text alerts can be set up to meet immediate needs for a specific quantity or quality of grain from a desired location.

Download the free software from the Farms Technology, L.L.C., website www.farmstech.com or directly at www.dppgraindesk.com/mobile

August 30th, 2011 | Category: Agriculture Technology | Leave a comment

Trimble announced today its new high-accuracy Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) correction technology, Trimble® RTX technology. Trimble RTX (Real-Time Extended) combines real-time data with innovative positioning and compression algorithms to deliver better than 4 centimeter (1.5 inch) repeatable accuracy with as little as one minute convergence in selected areas.  The new technology utilizes real-time data from a global reference station infrastructure to compute centimeter level positions based on satellite orbit and clock information. Trimble RTX powers the new Trimble CenterPoint™ RTX™ correction service. 

Trimble pioneered RTK technology in the early 1990s, which enabled high-accuracy corrections for field applications. RTK is now recognized as the industry leading technology for centimeter-level positioning. To further improve accuracy, Trimble introduced VRS™ technology in 2000 and subsequently the Trimble VRS Now™ service. And now, Trimble continues to lead in technology innovation with the introduction of Trimble RTX technology. 

Trimble RTX Technology
The patent-pending Trimble RTX technology provides high-accuracy GNSS positioning without the use of traditional reference station-based differential RTK infrastructure. While standard autonomous GNSS position solutions provide accuracies in the 1 meter range, Trimble RTX can achieve better than 4 centimeter (1.5 inch) accuracies in real time. 

In addition to accuracy, in select areas, Trimble RTX can deliver a convergence time of less than one minute, enabling work to start immediately.  And Trimble RTX can bridge interruptions in the GNSS signals for up to 2 minutes, avoiding reconvergence delays, while maintaining the same superior accuracy performance. 

The new Trimble CenterPoint RTX correction service pairs the RTX positioning innovations with convenient, easy to access satellite delivery, eliminating the need for cellular coverage and data plans traditionally required to obtain high performance positions. The GNSS-enabled service will be available initially in central North America for select Trimble receivers. 

“With the release of Trimble RTX technology and CenterPoint RTX service, we continue to demonstrate our leadership in technology innovation,” said Patricia Boothe, general manager of Trimble’s Positioning Services Division.  “In addition, this represents the first collaboration between Trimble’s positioning technology team and the satellite delivery capabilities behind the recently acquired OmniSTAR services. Trimble is committed to offering a suite of correction technologies and services that can satisfy any accuracy, delivery and financial requirement, across a variety of applications and markets including agriculture, survey, mapping and GIS, and construction.”

August 30th, 2011 | Category: Agriculture Technology | Leave a comment

At certain points in the crop season, an idled sprayer can be a nightmare.

That’s just what can happen when you mix some combinations of herbicides, fungicides or insecticides in the wrong order. And, when it’s go-time, having a sprayer idled for even a few hours while the operator cleans out clogged lines or nozzles can have a big-time price tag.

Preventing just that type of situation was the original goal in mind for the developers behind Mix Tank, a new application for iPhones, iPods and iPads released by Waukegan, Illinois-based Precision Laboratories on Tuesday.

“More and more farmers are making their own chemical applications,” says Precision Laboratories vice president Jim Reiss. “We want to help them with those mixing decisions.”

The application pulls from a database of more than 700 chemical products from 17 companies, says Precision Laboratories marketing specialist Daniel Ori. They’re broken down by category: Herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, adjuvants and foliar nutrition. When opening the application, the user can select up to 4 of the first 3 categories, 3 adjuvants and 2 foliar nutrition products.

Then, once all the products being applied have been selected, the user can see the specific order for mixing, thereby avoiding the reactions that can follow when chemicals are mixed in the wrong order, which can result in crystallized or solidified liquids that can cause sprayer system blockages, breakdowns and valuable time lost in the field.

“The purpose is to eliminate costly mixing errors and provide the right mixing orders,” says Precision Laboratories marketing specialist Daniel Ori. “It reduces compatibility problems, decreases lost spraying time and eliminates cross-contamination problems.”

An added piece of the application is a sharing function. It allows the application user to share — via e-mail, Facebook, Twitter among other means — the chemical mixing order. This could enable a farmer or farm manager to send that mixing order electronically to the sprayer operator if the app can’t be used in the field, Ori says.

That latter concern is a common one in a lot of rural areas where smartphone data services fall short. Ori says the Mix Tank app was designed with that circumstance in mind. “It’s very light on the data transfer, a benefit in low-service areas,” he says.

August 30th, 2011 | Category: Agriculture Technology | Leave a comment

Earlier this year, the Federal Communications Commission allowed a satellite company, LightSquared, to build a ground-based wireless network (for the 4G network) using its satellite frequencies. This new wireless network will operate in the same frequency band immediately adjacent to the GPS band.



And there in lies the problem because this wireless network is much more powerful than the GPS signal, which means it has the potential to interfere with or completely block many GPS receivers across the country. The result? GPS equipment would be inoperable and useless, which would be a damaging outcome for a multitude of applications in agriculture as well as aviation and construction.



Foreseeing the potential threat, key players of a wide variety of industries and companies, including agriculture, gathered and created Coalition to Save Our GPS (www.saveourgps.org). The group includes names like Agco, Case New Holland, Caterpillar, John Deere, OmniStar, Topcon, Trimble, and the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM).



Problem resolved – not quite



While LightSquared offered up a solution this past week, the initial response from the Coalition left members baffled. In an attempt to stop the continued threat posed by LightSquared, one of the Coalitions founding members, AEM, called on Congress and the Administration to stop plans for disruption of GPS. 



The statement by Dennis Slater, AEM President, notes that not only would the 40,000 ground stations LightSquared is proposing likely render GPS signals unreliable and in some instances useless, allowing them to implement their plan would also add unnecessary burdens to the U.S. economy.



“A study just released by the Coalition to Save Our GPS reveals that the stakes in this issue are very high and very real for our struggling economy,” Slater’s statement reads. “The numbers are staggering: more than 3.3 million jobs depend on GPS technology and the direct economic cost to U.S. commercial GPS users and manufacturers could be $96 billion. Allowing LightSquared to move forward with its plan would heighten uncertainty at a time when we are already economically challenged. Implementation would hurt two key machinery manufacturing areas represented by AEM, agriculture and construction.”



In fact, one AEM-member company claims that LightSquared’s plan could degrade most if not all GPS receivers as far away as 22 miles from one of the 40,000 transmitters.



“The harm to highly-productive precision agriculture is clear,” Slater notes. “Farmer business plans depend on GPS information such as yield data, harvest weights, moisture data, and other precision agriculture data. Interference with GPS signals up to 22 miles away would devastate productivity and impede U.S. agriculture’s ability to help meet the compounding worldwide demand for food.”

Stay tuned to this very volatile issue continues to unfold and evolve.

August 30th, 2011 | Tags: GPS | Category: Agriculture Technology | Leave a comment

A flying robot monitors the growing condition of the crops over farmlands in Ili, a Kazak autonomous prefecture in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, July 25, 2011. With camera equipment and an automatic fertilizing system in the front, the robot can fly autonomously and apply fertilizer independently. It is made by the national key laboratory of robotics of Shenyang Institute of Automation of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

August 5th, 2011 | Tags: Agricultural robot | Category: Agriculture Machine | Leave a comment

FOUR-WHEEL DRIVE PIONEERS

Olmstead and Nelson introduced the first 4WD tractor in 1912. But the 1950s saw the beginning of the modern 4WD with the Wagner Brothers’ WA-14. From then on, a chain reaction of 4WDs came to the market, each outdoing the last in power.

June 29th, 2011 | Category: Agriculture Machine | Comments (97)

Brent Schmitz owns Schmitz Ag Products (217/357-5010), Niota, Illinois. He has several ventures including building fertilizer applicators and strip-till machines. Last year, he built a liquid sidedressing machine to rent out, but ended up using it for custom application instead.

June 29th, 2011 | Category: Agriculture Machine | Comments (166)