17 The Business of Ontario Agriculture Better Farming | December 2023 motor to the steering wheel in the cab or add upgraded equipment at a lower price point.” Ag Leader also offers two levels of systems, says Ben Vaarkamp, GPS specialist at O’Neil’s Farm Equipment in Binbrook. “SteadySteer is a motor drive system that is mounted on the steering wheel. It physically turns the steering wheel,” says Vaarkamp. “The motor is quickly removable when producers don’t need guidance, like if they are pulling wagons and they don’t want to wear out the motor. That’s the entry level for steering and it has a very good success rate. I have lots of guys running them. “Next step is full hydraulic. With that, you have vehicles that are guidance ready, and that is mostly plug and play, but older tractors might need more components to make it steer hydraulically.” After looking at system type, producers should evaluate what accuracy they need for their management practices. Accuracy When determining the accuracy needs of their farm, producers should consider which management practices they would like to implement and if they will need the system to be accurate year-over-year. “Either hydraulic or electric systems can be calibrated or tuned to be accurate from an operation standpoint,” says Quandahl. “A lot of people are looking to increase accuracy to make better use of ground and make sure they know exactly where they are.” Many upgrades to GPS accuracy are based on subscription systems and will come at an extra cost. “On the Trimble side, there’s RangePoint RTX, which has six-inch passto-pass accuracy and 15-inch year-toyear accuracy, and that runs around $630 a year,” says Wallace. “CenterPoint RTX is the next step up, with one-inch pass-to-pass accuracy and one-inch year-to-year accuracy, and that subscription is $1,300 a year.” Wallace says that improved year-toyear accuracy is key for some tasks that require precision. “Pass-to-pass accuracy would be the accuracy within 15 minutes, but the guidance world really opens up in year-to-year functionality,” explains Wallace. “A small beef farmer who is just spreading fertilizer and harvesting hay probably won’t want to pay for signal, but a strip-till guy probably wants the year-to-year accuracy because you want that fertilizer to come in where you’re banding. If you’re off fertilizer by three inches you will lose 15 to 18 per cent of yield potentially. If you’re a foot off- line you can lose 70 per cent of yield.” Vaarkamp says that another way of looking at accuracy, specifically for those with fruit and vegetable crops, is at how slow of a speed the system will remain accurate. “With SteadySteer, you can go as slow as a mile per hour. You can go from basic accuracy, all the way to RTK sub-inch accuracy at that speed,” explains Vaarkamp. “With a hydraulic system, you can go as low as a half-mile an hour and go up from there. One product we offer is DualTrac, which is a double antenna for ultra-slow operations. It goes as slow as 80 meters an hour, and that can hold sub-inch accuracy. It’s great for guys doing transplanting, because they are going so slow and want to keep that straight line.” As technology evolves, many dealerships offer guidance systems that come with additional features. Additional features One common additional feature offered with some guidance systems is end-of-row turning assistance. Ag Leader has offered this feature with both their SteadySteer and hydraulic systems since November 2023. “TurnPath looks to be a very promising feature for steering assistance,” Guidance Systems A fully automated tractor at work. Jordan Wallace photo FARMERS LOVE MAGAZINES 92% of farmers use ag magazines monthly, compared to 44% for websites, 43% for radio and 10% for farm shows. (Verified Readex Research study)
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