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Precision technology could aid farmers during future ag input spikes
Sky high ag input prices are top of mind for most farmers right now, but new sprayer technology has one farmer hopeful for the future.
Northeast Iowa farmer Carl Dodge tells Brownfield just like everyone across the country, ““We are dealing with insanely high fertilizer prices and chemical prices.”
He says that had him thinking about ways to better manage his input use even before an eye-opening demonstration of vision-based technology at the Precision Planting Winter Conference in Tremont, Illinois this week.
“When he slid that waterhemp plant underneath the sprayer and it just spot sprayed t just like that with one nozzle, I was thinking about what could be done if you’ve missed some weeds with an earlier pass or the weather didn’t time your residual properly. What if you could go back with the sprayer and use a tenth of the chemical per acre to take care of those problem weeds? That would be a huge savings.”
Dodge says a promising pipeline of precision technology like spot spraying has him more optimistic that the next time the industry sees a spike in input prices or supply shortages, farmers will be better equipped to work more efficiently with less product.
More information about the pipeline of Precision Planting technology Dodge is referring to can be found on the Brownfield Innovations page.
