Crops still need to be produced in those areas. Australia is one such place. A long history of drought has ushered in stringent regulations on how much water farmers can use for their crops. John Gates, CropX chief revenue officer, says farmers there are enthusiastic about using technology to be more efficient and sustainable. CropX has a significant presence in Australia because the farmers there need irrigation and soil-sensing technology to get a crop out of the ground each year.
Many expect a similar near future. For growers in the U.S., smart farming technology is going to be critical to help farmers get every drop of water for their crops and livestock. “You’re up against changes in weather, changes in seed genetics, changes in water resources; as a row crop grower you’ve got new and better genetics coming out every year, and you’re not going to know ahead of time that interaction with water necessity and demand,” Gates says. “You need tools, data, and technology.” All the issues Gates addresses also impact sod producers.
Grassi’s Stated Benefits of Using Smart Farming Technologies
• Reduced costs and increased farm profits.
• Improved workplace safety conditions and an enhanced quality of life.
• Reduced negative environmental impacts.
Te autonomy of technology is the focus of another
agweb.com article, this one from March 13, 2024. In “Autonomy In Ag Is Firing On All Cylinders Right Now, And It Looks Different Depending On Where You Live,” Tyne Morgan wrote, “Autonomy in agriculture is starting to fire on all cylinders across the U.S., but the size—and capabilities—depend on geography.” And “… a transformation in ag equipment is unfolding right before our eyes.”
Morgan’s article reported the big-picture vision from multiple ag sources. In the article section, “Changes Over the Past Five Years,” Aaron Wetzel, vice president of production systems for the production and precision ag business for John Deere, says in his 35-year career with the company, he’s amazed with the amount of change he’s seen in equipment and ag tech in just the past five years. “Tat's fueled by things like artificial intelligence, its machine learning capabilities, that is fueling our ability to be able to offer more to customers and allow them to realize this productivity advantage that we see through the utilization of technologies,” says Wetzel.
TPI Turf News May/June 2024 19
It's clear ag technology is driving changes in equipment today. Curt Blades, senior vice president at the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), says as he looks across the entire equipment landscape, trends are unfolding quickly in ag tech. “I don't think we can quite comprehend how different the space is going to look 10, 20, 30 years from now,” says Blades. “Whether it's bigger and bigger machines that have elements of autonomy built into them to solve for labor shortages, maybe it's using sensors that let you see and detect, and then react and do something different, that's the kind of autonomy that we're absolutely seeing today, because it's addressing both labor shortages, and also creating some real operational efficiencies for all those machines.”
Technology as a Tool Morgan’s article further reported, Kubota is another company embracing the changing world of ag equipment today. During the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, a premier show focused on the latest tech in more
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
