67 Better Farming | December 2023 Ontario Ag Marketplace By Morley Wallace Morley Wallace ARE YOU GETTING READY FOR AUTONOMY? GPS Ontario, a longtime supplier of precision ag product and innovative product, started getting ready for autonomy back in 2000. First with Trimble products, and later adding Dakota Micro and Ag Cameras. Then we added Drone products for scouting crops. Through this time the creation of a new way of strip tilling, and a fertilizer application applied to the strip came to be. This is now showing great success. Our latest claim to fame is Innovative Fertile Stripping, combining the workings of a Montag Air Cart with the DAWN Strip Till Units, for an unbeatable unit solution for crop reproduction. What’s next? We are now asking our customers “ARE YOU READY” for a full level 5 Autonomy system on your farm tractors. We at GPS ONTARIO have installed, and put together a combination system, creating the first fully autonomics working in the field, tractor in Canada. We are using a Kubota M5-111 tractor with the SABANTO platform Kit. This is a hydraulic auto steer system with a diagnostic computer controlling the tractor operations. This system is very similar to the Platform kits that we have been installing for the past 20 years from Trimble, with a few specific additions for obstacle detections. This could be an add on to your already existing tractor. Your farm is already better than half way to autonomy. This Tractor, the Kubota M5-111 with the SABANTO platform Kit has been working this fall in the field tedding and raking hay. We have used it to demo cultivating and discing land for farmers. With a rotary bush hog mower, we have mowed fields of weeds. We have jobs lined up to rake stones, in the whole field, not just parts. We will be mowing at a golf course, mowing the fairways at night. These are all examples of jobs, which like many jobs, are boring and time consuming. But as we all know, they have to be done. As the fall season moves forward, we will use the Kubota tractor to do our Innovative Fertile Stripping for our 2024 crops. Where on your farm or business could you use a self-driving system? This tractor with an operational brain, is an employee. We gave ours the name “Deacon”. Deacon will work without complaining. He won’t quit. He will available whenever we need him. Show up to work long boring hours, and as long as you feed him fuel, he will work in hot, hot weather and through the coldest weather. Deacon does not require a salary every 2 weeks. There are no EI, CPP, WSIB, payments to the government. There’s no time and a half for working more than 8 hours. We don’t require a 2nd driver, to work the 2nd eight hour late shift. When the job is done he will let us know. Then we will move Deacon to the next field or job, and have him continue working. While Deacon is working, we can be doing jobs Deacon can’t, do like ordering or planning fertilizer and seed programs for the farm. Or milking and feeding livestock. Even better, having time for that all important breakfast that we never quite get to. The list goes on. We all ask for, and never seem to have enough hours in a day. With an Autonomics tractor as part of your farm fleet you might get that extra time that you are looking for! While you think about your 2024 cropping year, adding this to your business investment plan will pay big ROI in a very short time. ARE YOU GETTING READY FOR AUTONOMY? Morley is the owner of GPS Ontario established in 2000. With his son Jordan, they provide sales, service, tech support, and training for Trimble Inc. products. GPS Ontario has customers all across Canada, but mostly in Ontario. Morley’s vision of success is to help farmers nationwide, the agricultural crop reproducers, adopt a working program with a positive ROI. In other words Lets “Grow More With Less” Morley J. Wallace Owner of GPS Ontario Grow More with Less for Sustainable Farming morley@gpsontario.ca 613-489-2932
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