Let me start by telling you a bit about myself. I have worked in the precision ag industry for nearly 8 years now as a combination of a technical support technician for Ag Leader Technology, and also as a precision ag consultant for Heartland Technology Solutions, or HTS for short. That is where I currently work, in addition to farming with my uncle in southwest Iowa using a wide variety of precision ag equipment in our operation.
HTS is one of the largest Ag Leader Master Service Dealers in the United States, and we are also a Trimble reseller, and one of the largest Garmin distributers to the Ag industry. We also offer GPS solutions for nearly every type of combine sold in the US today.
So what is Precision Ag? That's a good question.
Wikipedia explains it as follows:
Precision farming or precision agriculture is an agricultural concept relying on the existence of in-field variability. It's about doing the right thing, in the right place, in the right way, at the right time. It requires the use of new technologies, such as global positioning (GPS), sensors, satellites or aerial images, and information management tools (GIS) to assess and understand variations. Collected information may be used to more precisely evaluate optimum sowing density, estimate fertilizers and other inputs needs, and to more accurately predict crop yields. It seeks to avoid applying inflexible practices to a crop, regardless of local soil/climate conditions, and may help to better assess local situations of disease or lodging.
