In precision farming, georeferencing refers to the process of associating collected field operation data (such as yield, planting or application data) with specific locations within that field.

Using GNSS to determine your location on Earth allows you to then map what actions you are taking in specific areas of your field. In order for you to receive the most benefit from georeferencing, you need to have accurately mapped information.  As we discussed in our two previous Lessons, accuracy is going to be dependant on the differential source you use.

Georeferenced data is important for several reasons. One of the main uses for your georeferenced data is to view and analyze your inputs in comparison to your outputs on your operation. If you want to know how particular practices are affecting your bottom line, you need to have a system of tracking both inputs and outputs on a common map. Georeferencing allows for you to do this. A good example of this would be if you overlaid a seed hybrid/variety map with a harvest map to determine yield differences.

Georeferencing is the starting point for several precision ag technologies, allowing you to make informed decisions for your future precision farming practices. Therefore, before we discuss these other precision farming practices in future Lessons, it is important that you understand this general concept of georeferencing. Next week, we will discuss how to organize, manage, and analyze your georeferenced data through the use of Geographic Information Systems.

Ag Leader Distributor D & E booth at ExpoAgro in Argentina.

The trade show has been a staple in the agricultural industry for over a century.  The popularity of these shows has grown over the years to the point that there is a show in every state along with large national and international shows.  Agricultural trade shows generally cover a wide range of agricultural products for a particular region but some focus on specific crops, equipment or technology.  No matter the type of show they all provide the grower with an opportunity to see the latest products as well as speak with representatives of the companies offering the products.

In several of the past international blog posts both Paul Rose and I have written about a few of the trade shows we have attended overseas.  While international agricultural shows are very similar to those in North America there are some major differences.  In North America most growers who attend trade shows are there to look at the new equipment and ask questions about how it works and the benefits it can provide to their operation.  It is a good chance to “kick some tires” and collect information, very few purchases are actually made at the show.  In contrast there are a lot of purchases made at trade shows in Brazil.  Growers purchase everything from precision farming equipment to inputs to tractors at the show.  The large OEMs and input suppliers will even have finance offices at their booth to help growers complete their purchases on the spot.

Trade shows in Europe tend to be a more formal event than here in North America.  While we stick with the more casual jeans and t-shirt approach (khakis and polo shirt for exhibitors) it is common for the Europeans to be in suits and ties, especially the exhibitors.  European trade shows also tend to be more extravagant than shows in North America.  The company booths are more elaborate with conference rooms for meetings and gathering areas with tables and chairs where wine, beer and food are served to the growers visiting the booth.  Some of the exhibitors have stages in their booth where demonstrations are given complete with music, dancers and entertainers.  These can be quite a production.

Another common aspect of the trade shows in Europe is the immense amout of business-to-business activity that takes place.  While this happens at all trade shows it seems more of this takes place in Europe.  For example, Agritechnica in Hannover, Germany is seven days long and the first two days of the show are “industry days”.  During this time admittance is limited to industry people and invited guests for the purpose of business-to-business activities.

Australia and South Africa tend to have trade shows similar to the ones here in North America.  They are more casual and focused on the grower.  They provide the opportunity to meet one-on-one with company representatives and get live demos of equipment.

While each trade show is different they all provide growers a good opportunity to see the latest products and get their questions answered directly from company representatives.  It also allows companies to hear directly from  growers and find out what is important to their operation.  I am sure the agricultural trade show will continue to be around for another century as it is difficult to replace the personal interaction between the grower and the companies that serve them.

Below is a list of some of the international trade shows from around the world and their websites in case you ever have the opportunity to attend one.  The websites are great sources of information and contain picture galleries as well.  Most have an English version in case you can’t quite remember that foreign language class you took back in high school.

Agrishow – Brazil

ExpoAgro – Argentina

SIMA – France

Agritechnica – Germany

Cereals – United Kingdom

AgroTech Russia – Russia

NAMPO – South Africa

Henty Machinery Field Days – Australia

China Agricultural Trade Fair – China

GPS & Steering – If a ParaDyme fails calibration verification can I still use it for steering?

No, if  ParaDyme fails this step it ignores the calibration and you must redo the Auto Cal.  You must pass the verification step before the system can be engaged on a line.  For details about the calibration verification step in the Auto Cal process see the current ParaDyme manual for Version 1.6.17177.

SeedCommand – When I pulled into one of my fields to plant I noticed the display was counting acres, AutoSwath was working correctly but I was not able to see my map on the display.  Why didn’t my map show up and what can I do to prevent this from happening again?

Different scenarios can cause this to happen.  The most common scenario is when the operator loads a field on to the run screen while he is at home with the planter lowered to the ground.  The monitor then logs that point as being planted in a field and it is actually miles away.  As the operator drives to the field the onscreen map will zoom out to keep the point that was logged at home.  It also keeps the planter’s current position on the map screen.  By the time the operator arrives at the field the map is zoomed out so far the field is no longer visible on the display.  The short term fix is to press the clear bounds button which re-centers the map over your current position.  The long term solution is to create field boundaries for all of your fields.

DirectCommand – When I am spraying over 10 miles per hour I receive a message on my monitor that says, “Max speed exceeded for Automatic Swath Control with 1 Hz GPS”.  What does this message mean?

When that message appears it means that your GPS receiver is outputting strings of information to your monitor at a rate less than 5 times per second.  Check to make sure the receiver you are using is capable of outputting 5 Hz.   If it is capable of outputting 5 Hz change the receiver Hz to 5, the baud rate to 19200 or higher and the message will no longer appear.

Harvest – What is the difference between Automatic Variety Tracking and Automatic Region Changing?

For starters, both options are used to track the varieties you planted earlier in the year.  The Automatic Variety Tracking option only tracks the varieties; it notifies the operator when he/she enters  a different variety while harvesting.

To help categorize Automatic Region Changing, let’s first define a region.  A region is a way to separate data in a field…some guys separate it by truck loads, some guys define regions by varieties, others do it by bins.   When you use Automatic Region Changing you are automatically separating the data by varieties.  All other regions are logged manually.

Hope the answers to these questions will save you some time in the future.  Remember Ag Leader Hardware Training is going on around the country. Contact your Ag Leader Dealer for dates in your area; a schedule can also be found here.

One of the ways to get around this is to setup a computer network at your place of business.  This allows you to link multiple computers so they can easily share information and at the same time do it securely.  A simplified example might be a checklist for each employee that anyone can access from any computer on the network.

Projects in SMS Advanced software. Click to enlarge image.

One of the features of SMS Advanced is the ability to use computer networks to share information between different computers.  Many service providers (i.e. co-ops, consultants) that use SMS Advanced will set up a server as a data storage location.  They will then install SMS Advanced on each person’s computer who needs access to the data.  SMS Advanced has the ability to create multiple Projects (think of it like a folder for your filing cabinet) to keep each customer’s information separate.  While only one person can be in a particular Project at a time, once they close the Project, anyone else who looks at that information will be able to automatically see all of the updates and changes the previous person made.

Another feature of SMS Advanced is Project Check In/Check Out, which can be found by going to File - Projects.  This allows you to copy the information from the server to a laptop or a local computer in your office.  This allows users to download Projects to their remote computer and take information to the field to read in new files and make additional changes.  While a Project is checked out, others on the network will not be able to access it.  Once the Project is checked back in, other users will be able to see new information that was read in or any changes that were made.

Curious about networks?  Let us know if you have additional questions.

SMS Mobile PC can be utilized on PC-based devices, including laptops, tablets, and netbooks.

SMS Mobile PC offers another way for growers to collect information in the field that can flow between their mobile device and their SMS desktop software. Utilizing SMS Mobile on a netbook, tablet or laptop gives users the ability to see more information on one screen.

“SMS Mobile PC puts SMS Mobile on a larger screen so you can adjust the size of windows and their location on the screen to match the way you want to work,” says Corey Weddle, Director of Software Solutions.“The addition of support for PC-based devices also allows for higher screen resolutions, larger buttons, faster processing and more memory than the traditional SMS Mobile PDA version.”

SMS Mobile PC provides five field operations in which a user can record data: Boundary, Soil Sampling, Crop Scouting, Coverage Logging and General Logging. Ag Leader Technology offers industry leading customer support, and all SMS products are backed by our software-dedicated support team.

About Ag Leader
Ag Leader Technology, Inc. is a pioneer and recognized technology innovator of precision agriculture hardware and software. Located in Ames, Iowa the company manufactures and markets industry leading precision farming technology designed to help growers make smart, profitable business decisions. Founded in 1992 the company has achieved consistent growth and expansion by provid- ing value-based products that help growers and ag professionals achieve and maintain a successful operation.

SMS Support Specialist dual monitor setup.

Monitor and Screen Resolution:

SMS Basic/Advanced requires at least a 15” monitor with the ability to display a 1024 x 768 screen resolution or higher.  Monitors purchased over the last couple years should have no problem meeting this requirement.

If you spend a lot of time analyzing data in your precision ag software or just want more viewing area, I would suggest updating your screen to a 17” screen or larger with full HD 1080P or higher resolution.  For those of you that like to multi-task, you might even consider getting a computer that supports working with dual displays. I’m currently using dual 22” wide-screen monitors at work to do support and testing and I like it much more than the 15” laptop screen that I use at home.

CD/DVD/Blu-ray Burner:

As with any record keeping system, it’s important to make backups of your information. Your precision farming information should not be treated differently.  Burning backups to a CD (up to 700 MB) or DVD (up to 8.5 GB) is a very cheap way to ensure your data’s safety.  For those of you that need more capacity, consider purchasing a Blu-ray burner (up to 50GB).  Making a backup of your precision ag software data and saving it to your computer’s hard-drive is simply not enough.  I’ve heard of hard-drives crashing, computers getting viruses, basement offices flooding, laptops being stepped on, and even where a computer was thrown half-way across the room!!  You depend so much on the information that you’ve spent time collecting in the field, organizing and analyzing it – it would be a shame to have to redo it or worse, lose it altogether.

Card Reader:

Card readers are what you use to transfer the data from many precision ag displays into your precision farming desktop software.  If you have an Ag Leader Edge display, you will need a card reader that can read Compact Flash (CF) cards.  If you are running an Ag Leader INTEGRA display, you do not need a card reader as the INTERA uses a USB stick which can be inserted into any empty USB port on your computer.

Additional add-on’s worth considering:

• Bluetooth module
• Built-in WiFi card – b/g/n support
• Gigabit Ethernet connection/card

Hopefully you now feel more informed before purchasing your next computer.  If you have additional questions on computers, I would recommend working with your computer provider to find out more about the different options that you have.  Good luck!

Recently, I spent a day or two in Sweden attending the Borgeby Field Days and also meeting with our distributor for that area Datalogisk who also had a stand there. The event is not too dissimilar to the Cereals show that Dave King visited a few weeks ago but on a slightly smaller scale. Having said that, Borgeby’s visitor numbers were up again this year to well over 14,000 in two days, which is a new record for this event. I suspect the warm and sunny weather played a part in this though!

One of the nice things about this event was the live demonstrations of various equipment such as seed drills, cultivators and combine harvesters. The organisers had to desiccate the barley crop two weeks prior to the event so the harvesters could run through it, but nonetheless if gave people an idea of what they were capable of.

CLAAS Lexion 600 with 10.5 meter header.

At the other end of the scale, the Sampo Rosenlew 2065. This is a Finnish built machine.

It was quite interesting see these machines all working away, especially when they all started off down the field at the same time!

Here's the starting line up!

Since then, I have managed to spend more than just a few days at home for a change. During this time, I have been to visit some customers and also fitted a yield monitor kit to a grower who has been trialling the OptRx sensors for us. Once they could see what the potential for real-time VRA nitrogen, they made the decision to buy a yield monitor to help verify the results. I think there a lot of people looking forward to seeing the results of the OptRx wheat trials, including myself.

Thankfully we have also had some rain. It had been 57 days since I had actually seen the rain and what a welcome sight it was! I can’t imagine what it must be like to live in places that have very little rainfall. But it has also come just in time for my working holiday – volunteering for the National Trust for Scotland. Hopefully the rain will cease by then!

Operating System:

Like most other precision ag desktop software programs, SMS Basic/Advanced is designed to run on a Microsoft Windows operating system (OS).  Currently SMS Basic/Advanced Version 10.0 supports running on:  XP (SP 3), VISTA (SP 2), and Windows 7.  (Note:  You can update the Service Pack (SP) on your computer for free by going to the Microsoft Windows Update page.)

One of the benefits of newer computers is you have the ability to get a 64-bit OS, which gives you added processing efficiency, as well the ability to use 4 GB or more of RAM.  Be aware that older software programs or computer hardware may not be compatible with a 64-bit OS, so talk to your local computer/electronics provider before upgrading if you wish to use those older items.

Processor:

Any processor that was factory installed with your computer will run your precision ag software.  For those of you that are looking for a way to speed up performance with a new computer, consider getting a multi-core processor with a higher GHz rating.  Just as important is to consider getting a processor with a larger cache size.

Motherboard:

The motherboard BUS speed is also something to take into consideration.  Since we are looking at this from a data processing standpoint, the higher the BUS speed the better.  Ideally this would have a similar MHz rating as your RAM.

RAM:

SMS Basic/Advanced will work with the minimum RAM (memory) requirements for the OS’s listed above.  A cheap way to speed up how fast your computer runs is to upgrade the RAM.  I recommend 3 GB for 32-bit computers or 6-8 GB if you have a 64-bit machine.  I would recommend getting RAM with the fastest MHz rating; such as 1066 or 1333MHz.  Check with your computer manufacturer or local computer shop for details on the amount of RAM your computer supports.

Graphics Card:

When ordering a graphics card, you will most likely have the option to choose between an integrated or dedicated graphics card.  While SMS does not benefit directly from a dedicated graphics card, I would recommend getting at least a 256 MB dedicated card.  This allows for the computer to keep up with other items your computer may be doing, especially if you run multiple programs at once.  A dedicated card also allows for cheaper repairs and upgrades in the event the graphics card goes bad.  It also is more likely to support multiple display screens and higher screen resolutions.

Due to the number of items to consider when purchasing a new computer, I will continue this post tomorrow and discuss other items that you should consider when purchasing a new computer.

Computer considerations for precision ag software (Part 2)