The technology revolution in agricultural production

Monday, April 6, 2015

Electronic and GPS monitors have come a long way in 20 years. Today, farmers have much greater computer capabilities available to them than the large computer room at the University of Toronto used to have. What will the next 20 years bring?

by RALPH WINFIELD

In April of 1997, I purchased my first yield monitor for the combine. It was a major step forward in viewing yield responses as I operated the combine. But the fact that I could not draw yield maps to show others limited its real usefulness.

I was doing some custom combining at that time. Harvested area was determined by a combine wheel-driven distance that was calibrated each year on a measured length of grass laneway, and the header width was inputted to the yield monitor.

The observations were great from the combine seat. I remember one wheat field where the yield varied repeatedly from 85 to 100 bushels per acre across the field. Unable to draw a yield map I finally determined that the variation was consistent with the fertilizer spreader width-pattern – a common problem if "father" did not keep the PTO speed up!

By December 1998, the next purchase was made – a global positioning unit or GPS  to work with the yield monitor. It would permit the drawing of yield maps for each field.

Some of us older combine operators will remember that those early GPS units required the unit to see a land-based beacon in the United States in order to correct or stabilize the satellite signal. This was not a major problem since our farms were all relatively close to the U.S. border. However, when operating the combine adjacent to a woodlot or a heavily treed fence line, the correction signal was often lost temporarily. The yield map would show very erratic combine travel paths when that happened.

In the early 2000s, the United States quit scrambling the GPS signals. That was when portable GPS units became popular in cars as navigational aids and many automobile companies started providing navigational units as optional equipment.

This change also caused a major revolution in the farm equipment industry. Previously all of us used foam markers for our field sprayers. The foam system worked reasonably well for swath widths of up to 60 feet. However, many commercial custom applicators were using boom widths of 90 to 120 feet. They bought into the GPS guidance systems almost immediately.

Many farm machinery operators with wider tillage equipment soon equipped their tractors with GPS systems that used a light bar on the dash to advise the operator of the desired path to prevent skips and overlaps. As wider planting units became available, the GPS monitor soon replaced those long, cumbersome, mechanical, hydraulically-activated marker systems.

As GPS technology improved, newer technology permitted the use of guided steering systems that would permit hands-free steering across the field. Manual override was necessary for the U-turns to bring the planting/tillage system back on track.

Could variable-rate fertilizer application and adjusted planting populations be far behind? You bet not. The yield maps from the combine yield monitors provided the data input required to set the fertilizer/plant population rates, thereby maximizing yield for individual fields or farms. Many fence bottoms were removed to accommodate the use of larger tillage/planting/harvesting units.

From my early experience with the yield monitor, this advancement was not unexpected. I was always amazed at the yield variations across or along fields. Interpreting those variations and their causes was not simple. For example, applying more fertilizer in low yielding areas does not often produce increased yields.

Using the yield maps to establish soil test areas (or drainage patterns) within fields or farms became a very important procedure. The high-yielding areas actually required the additional fertilizer to replace the removal created by the higher yields! This was an initial shock to many of us but a realistic result, advised by competent soil fertility experts.

Planting row run-outs. Very few fields are perfect squares or rectangles, so at one edge there will be row run-outs as the headland pass is approached. Well guess what? The GPS system can actually determine when the run-out rows should start to occur.

If the planting unit is equipped with the appropriate row/section shut-offs, planting can be stopped to prevent overlaps. As we all know from past experience, overlap or double planting causes stunted plant growth and difficulty harvesting. Those stunted plants that do not match up with the harvesting heads tend to cause plug-ups and operator frustration. By not planting those overlapping rows, seed and fertilizer are saved along with the reduction in operator frustration at harvest time.

Harvesting. Many of us older operators were comfortable with 10-to-20-foot-wide rigid and flex headers for cereal grains and soybeans. When we passed the 15-foot width, road travel became a problem. At 20 feet, the header should be removed and carried on a trailing wagon.

In the last five years, we have been seeing many 25-to-35-foot draper-type headers. These wide headers have created problems for the owner/operators in more ways than one. Firstly, they do have to be trailered all the time. Secondly, how do you keep a full cut width without the risk of leaving uncut streaks in the field?

Well, the GPS auto steer system again saved the day. The desired swath width can be set accurately to a few inches or centimetres and the combine is auto-steered just like the sprayer and planter with a high level of accuracy.

But wait. When the header width is increased, so must the unloading auger length be increased to permit unloading the grain bin on the go.

Unloading on-the-go is a real challenge for all operators. You want to fill the buggy without spillage but this requires great coordination by both the combine and the buggy operator. The old hand signal method to tell the buggy operator to speed up, slow down, or pull away is just not feasible any more. And, yes, we are seeing a goodly number of two-buggy work units to keep a big combine going and also be able to fully load a semi-truck upon arrival at the field to minimize turn-around time from the field to the elevator.

So "harvesting systems" are becoming much larger. Some custom operators are sending three combines to one field or farm. The harvesting rate/capacity as compared to the pre-GPS days is incredible. The rate, in acres per hour or day, for grains and soybeans is beginning to match up with those of the pea and edible bean harvesting systems that some of us have observed over the years.

Product dependability is becoming an increasingly important factor in these mega-harvesting systems. Some pre-owned large combines are now being sold with like-new warranties – after appropriate inspections.

Conclusions. Does anyone have a crystal ball to predict new technological changes that will occur in agricultural production over the next 20 years?

Some of us remember when farm equipment companies tried to make every 100-acre farm self-sufficient in machinery. Those days are long gone! However, those of us who were studying engineering back in the 1960s also recall very vividly when computer technology was in its infancy.

In my fourth year at the University of Toronto, I had to take a course called Computer Appreciation. To pass that course I had to program, with step-by-step instructions, the largest IBM computer installation in Canada. I had to provide a set of manually prepared punch cards to tell that monster how to optimize the shape of a hydraulic water flow channel! It was a long and challenging process, but I passed the course.

At that time, I also made a prediction that computers would never replace the trusty old log/log slide rule out in the field. Fast forward to 2015. We have much greater computer capabilities in our offices, our tractor/combine cabs and our pockets than there were in that large computer room at the University of Toronto.

How many of you have looked at a Google map of your farm recently? If you haven’t, you should.

Do you realize that those maps are in the public domain and are used by municipal building officials to determine the existence of pool fences and new or recent construction? We should be concerned about the security of competitive farm production data if it is in the Cloud.

A few weeks ago, my wife Joan was playing a CD on the stereo system. She asked me what the song was. I said I had no idea. She suggested that she would ask "Siri" – that person in the wherever.

She asked Siri using her iPhone. The response was: "Just a minute, let me listen." Within seconds, Siri verbally gave her the name of the song and the singer! My wife also uses her iPhone to tell me from the backseat of the car if I’m speeding.

Now that is incredible – but something to think about! BF

Agricultural engineer Ralph Winfield farms at Belmont in Elgin County.