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Join Us for our Precision Farming Meeting 2/20/18

New Holland Precision Land Management (PLM) representative Britney Salmon will be on hand to discuss several of the latest topics on precision farming, including:

This meeting will be a great opportunity to learn about the latest in farming technology, how you can save time and money on these products while increasing your bottom line, and ask any questions to the experts in precision farming!

  • Who: Anyone interested in precision farming as none of the discussion topics are brand-specific
  • When: Tuesday, Feb. 20th, 2018, 9-11am
  • Where: Ag Technologies Inc., 1268 E 100 S Rochester, IN 46975

This meeting is open to the public and is in conjunction with our Open House event. Please RSVP to Ag Technologies at 574-224-8324 to help us accommodate for attendance.

 

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How can a Pacesetter 2 Drone help your Farming Operation?

From spring to harvest, you can utilize drones to help make sure you are making data-driven decisions on your farming operation to help generate the best possible yields on your fields. Here are a couple of examples we have used the Precision Drone Pacesetter 2 to accomplish that:

Precise Yield Estimations

The Pacesetter 2 is also a great tool to help you market your crop and create a strategic game plan long before harvest. Simply fly your fields and create an NDVI geo-referenced crop health map so you can identify healthy, moderate, and struggling areas of your fields. These values are represented in the NDVI image as colors of green, yellow, and orange/red using the Precision Vision software that comes with the Pacesetter 2 package. With that NDVI map you created, pick a GPS point that represents each color of the map and conduct a physical yield check in the field for those spots. Import this NDVI map into any farm software of your choice to determine the percentage of healthy, moderate, and struggling crop in your fields.

Here are two pins of GPS points where yield estimations were taken based off of the NDVI map created by the drone.
Here are two pins of GPS points where yield estimations were taken based off of the NDVI map created by the drone.

Using the yield check estimates gathered in the field and the percentage of each crop health color derived from the NDVI map, you can determine what type of average yield to expect per field. Here is the actual data from the physical yield check where we came within 0.5% of what the actual yield monitor showed 2 months prior to harvest: 2015 Pacesetter Drone Yield Estimation

What the Naked Eye Can’t See

The Pacesetter can also help you find many issues in your fields throughout the growing season, such as the one in this NDVI map, where the tank ran out of anhydrous before the end row was reached.

The Pacesetter helps you identify problems in your fields. Here is an actual example of an NDVI image shown from the Pacesetter software indicating where the tank ran out of anhydrous during side-dress application.
The Pacesetter helps you identify problems in your fields. Here is an actual example of an NDVI image shown from the Pacesetter software indicating where the tank ran out of anhydrous during side-dress application.

The red arrow shows where corn was ran over and knocked down at the field entrance when NH3 nitrogen was being side-dressed. Also visible, is the variation of soil types and how they are affecting crop health. The orange areas of this field show you where the sandy soil is causing the corn plants to struggle more than the rest of the field. The Pacesetter does not only let you see the health of your crops, but can also be used to help you:

  1. Create variable rate fertilizer and/or seeding maps using any major farm software
  2. Find replant opportunities and determine how many acres are affected
  3. Determine amount of crop damage for crop insurance purposes
  4. Find planter and/or applicator malfunctions
  5. Monitor specialty crops and/or seed variety test plots
  6. Spot where weed pressures are hurting crop health
  7. Locate disease and/or insect pressures

If you would like additional information about the Pacesetter 2 drone and how this innovative product can help you make better management decisions during the next growing season, call Eli Fred at 574-224-8324 today!

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Precision Proves to be a Worthy Spin-off

Our precision farming specialty dealership, Ag Technologies Inc., was recently featured in the latest edition of the Precision Farming Dealer newsletter. Here is the featured video that goes with the newsletter:

Click here to view the full article. We appreciate the great people at Precision Farming Dealer coming to our location to visit with us to help promote our expertise in precision farming.

To learn more about precision farming services, give us a call at 574-224-TECH.

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Farm Equipment February 2013 Article

Farm Equipment magazine featured New Holland Rochester in their February 2013 issue. The article talks about our New Holland Rochester dealership, owner Jim Straeter’s decision to establish Ag Technologies to meet precision farming needs, and other aspects of our company that make us fit to meet every farmer’s needs. Check it out here:

NHR Farm Equipment Feb. 2013 Article