Ag Leader Technology Blog

In recent years, many growers have started utilizing their precision ag displays to log hybrids in the field.  Quite often, these displays are controlling clutches to prevent overlaps, changing population on the go and even monitoring seed tubes and population. (How far we have come since those little, dim blinking lights.)
So what benefits do you [...]

In our last Lessons in Precision Ag post, we discussed the topic of yield monitoring and mapping, explaining how these maps could be used to compare yields to inputs. When it comes to the mapping capabilities of precision ag technologies, there are several other maps that can be useful when analyzing your field data.
Field mapping [...]

Last week, we introduced our “Value of Data” series where we will discuss topics to show how data has the potential to help you increase yields and profit on your operation. One such topic is your nitrogen use efficiency. Does your car or truck have an electronic miles per gallon readout?  Have you ever compared that [...]

As the use of technology continues to increase in agriculture, the fundamentals of growing food for expanding populations do not change. Similarly, the fundamental question of why you use technology on your farm continues to be essential. This is a simple question with a variety of answers. You may answer, “so I can save on [...]

Reflecting is a good exercise, so I wanted to start the New Year recapping the new products and features that Ag Leader introduced. As I began to do so, I found myself asking the question, “why do we do what we do?” This made me realize that just as important as what we’ve done is why [...]

In precision ag, we are continuously discussing the importance of analyzing data in order to make management decisions regarding your operation. One of the key pieces of data in an operation is yield maps. Yield monitoring and yield mapping have been around for many years (in fact, Al Myers developed the first practical and applicable on-the-go [...]

Farming is full of checklists and tasks to do for the day, week, month or year.  Feed the dog, clean the livestock buildings, clean up equipment before putting it away for the year, fix equipment you’re getting ready to use for the next season, and the list goes on.  Among all of the other items, [...]

Now that the crops are out of the field and fall field work is beginning, it is time for those fortunate enough to have a problem with excess moisture to get in the field and start repairing and laying new tile.  For those of you who have tiled fields in the past, you can likely [...]

As harvest wraps up and you start to read in your yield data, you might also take some time to record some of the other things that you saw while you were out in the field.  This year I’ve seen several soybean fields with SDS (Sudden Death Syndrome), corn fields that lacked nitrogen, fields that had been flooded, and even a few that had some lodging due to winds that we had last week.  Whatever the case may be for your particular farm, you have the ability to add additional documentation in SMS about these areas for future reference.

If your farm is like ours, we have a regular cycle of soil sampling our fields to keep tabs on the soil fertility we are dealing with.  Whether you are grid sampling or zone sampling, it is a good management practice to take regular samples to ensure fields don’t become deficient in essential nutrients and [...]

The fall release of SMS software – SMS Basic/Advanced Version 10.5 and SMS Mobile Version 4.5 – is here!
Before updating your SMS Basic/Advanced software, please remember to make a backup of your software by going to the Services menu and selecting Backup.  After creating the backup, I recommend burning it to a CD/DVD or copying [...]

Luke James, Software Support Specialist at Ag Leader Technology interviews Corey Weddle, Director of Software Solutions about the latest versions of SMS Basic, SMS Advanced and SMS Mobile, v10.5/v45. respectively. Watch to learn about the latest software enhancements.

Exciting news! We will be releasing the latest version of SMS Basic, SMS Advanced and SMS Mobile soon.  As you may have already read, the SMS Mobile release will include the added ability to install SMS Mobile on devices with a desktop operating system such as tablets, netbooks or ruggedized laptops.  (For more info, click [...]

A widely debated topic in the precision agriculture industry is its role in how to help you manage your farmland.  When it comes to soil sampling, I am not advocating any particular practice, or method, as your local area may have a method that works better as compared to other methods, but I will advocate [...]

As many growers head into harvest, the ability to load variety maps onto the INTEGRA display that have been exported from SMS desktop software is a powerful new tool available to you. Exporting your variety maps from SMS to the INTEGRA display is a simple process that I will walk you through in the video [...]

Using SMS Desktop software, you can now load variety maps from an array of collection devices onto your INTEGRA display. This video will show you how to use SMS to create these reference files.

I want to share a few more interviews from the educators who attended the training held at the Ag Leader Academy (previous post, click here). Many institutions are integrating real-life precision data and technologies into their classroom to teach in unique ways and use real information. The following video includes educators’ comments on how they [...]

Teaching precision agriculture is an important focus at many educational institutions, and Ag Leader is dedicated to supporting this education by working with the instructors. We recently held a two-day training with many of these educational leaders discussing how technology is benefitting agriculture and sharing ideas about how to teach this information to the next [...]

A couple weeks ago Aaron talked about using SMS Mobile for some extracurricular activities such as hunting, fishing and even golfing.  Before the crop scouting season finishes up and soil sampling starts again, I wanted to talk about how to use the navigation features in SMS Mobile.
In all five operating modes (Boundary, Soil Sampling, Crop [...]

SMS Software offers a great way to organize and manage all of your precision farming data. However, with all of the capabilities and functions offered by SMS Software, you may have some questions about what you can do with your software and how to do it. That’s why Ag Leader offers SMS Trainings – to [...]