Precision Ag pays back faster than expected

Here is an interesting article put together by the precision ag institute...


Adopters Get Rapid Return on Precision Investment

A recent study conducted by independent research firm dmrkynetec demonstrates that precision agriculture adopters gaining a speedy return on their technology investment.
Higher crop input costs are accelerating the payback for precision agriculture technology and per acre savings on crop inputs have risen, according to dmrkynetec (formerly Doane Marketing Research). The project was conducted in partnership with the PrecisionAg Institute. “Research shows that growers are gaining back their investment in precision ag technology faster than we thought – often in just one to three years,” says K. Elliott Nowels, director of the PrecisionAg Institute. “And they are saving from $15 to $39 per acre by using inputs more efficiently with precision ag tools, depending on crop and region of the country.” Add in the stewardship element of precision agriculture – using inputs when and where they are needed -- and it’s a very compelling case for adoption. “There’s never been a better time to adopt this technology,” says Nowels. Additional results indicate the following: • Eighty-five percent (85%) of corn growers, 88 percent of cotton growers and 100 percent of soybean growers indicated their operation has been more profitable using precision ag technology. • The average input savings per acre for these precision ag users (inputs including seed, fertilizer, herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and time/labor) $19 per acre for corn, $18.50/A. for beans and up to $39/A. for cotton. • Fertilizer cost-savings led the way, coming in at $4 to $13 per acre depending on crop. • The top benefits growers listed from their use of precision ag technology were 1.) the ability to apply chemicals and fertilizer where needed, 2.) greater profitability due to lower input costs, and 3.) identification of poor producing areas of their fields. The research was compiled earlier this year from in-depth written responses and telephone follow-up interviews with corn, soybean and cotton growers. A pre-selection survey was used to find growers who’ve used multiple tools – GPS, controller-driven application and yield monitors -- for at least three years. Nearly half of the 66 growers interviewed had been using some precision ag technology for at least six years. In order to get the most comprehensive information, growers agreeing to the study were asked to answer written questions, as well as participate in an in-depth phone interview. “Measuring the return on investment (ROI) for individual components of precision is difficult because the tools are part of an overall crop management system,” says Nowels. “This gives us deeper insight on the ROI from those with deeper experience with it. We wanted to find out what new adopters might expect from using this technology long-term.” This contrasts, Nowels says, with earlier research conducted by the Institute of hundreds of adopters and non-adopters to gain a broader view. “We can marry the hard and fast figures we are getting in this research with some of the practices that are being adopted out there and it really helps the whole thing make sense to growers,” says Paul Schrimpf, group editor of PrecisionAg.com, PrecisionAg Special Reports and the PrecisionAg Buyer’s Guide. “We’re currently at work to incorporate this data into a special insert inside our next edition of the Buyer’s Guide coming out next month.” “Certainly results from adopting this technology will vary from crop to crop and farm to farm, “ says Schrimpf, “but higher input costs have made growers hungry for ideas on cutting costs while growing yields. I think this research will help them see some new possibilities.”

Leap Seconds

Everyone has heard of Leap Year, where we have an extra day in the calendar to keep time in sync. Did you know there are also leap seconds that are introduced at half year intervals? Leap seconds are introduced to correct time according to the earth's rotation, which is not exact from year to year, and has been on an ever so slightly slowing trend for a while.

Why is this important? GPS actually uses a very accurate time measurement that is embedded in the messages from the satelites to the receivers we use. This allows for many different things to happen, one of them being that you get a more accurate position because of the accurate time measurement from each satelite to the rover, and how long the message took to get from one to the other, therefore measuring distance.

The reason I bring this up now, is that the end of this month (December 2008) there will be a leap second added to the clock. In the past this has caused some difficulties with certain GPS units, as the time measurement didn't match what it was supposed to, and they required an update to correct the problem. I am not aware of any potential problems with GPS from this, as we just added a leap second in 2005 and that was when a few of these problems surfaced. Prior to 2005, there hadn't been a second added since 1998.

Trimble aquires Tru Count and Rawson Control systems

Over the past month, Trimble Navigation has aquired both Tru Count of Ames, IA, and Rawson Control Systems of Olewein, IA. Both of these companies will fall in the Ag Division of Trimble. This appears to be good for everyone involved from my standpoint, as both Tru Count and Rawson make very good products, but had limited budgets for expansion as they were small start up companies. Trimble has posed itself to offer a complete planter solution now, as they already have relationship with Dickey John for population monitoring. HTS is already a dealer for all three products, so our offerings won't change. My hopes on this is that the product becomes more available as Trimble can stock a bit more inventory as they have a bigger budget.
Tru Count news release can be found here: http://www.trimble.com/news/release.aspx?id=103108a

Rawson news release can be found here: http://www.trimble.com/news/release.aspx?id=120408a