All Blog Posts (111)

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Are you a little unclear when it comes to understanding cloud computing? Partly cloudy on the cloud? You're not alone. A Google search of "What is Cloud Computing?" returned 245 million results. People want to know about the cloud.

Cloud computing — or the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a local server — has been gaining serious momentum in the last year in many data-driven industries. And agriculture…

I’m winging my way back from Albuquerque from a conference of ag media professionals – it’s a great opportunity to chat with other editors to find out what’s working for them, what the trends are in media consumption by growers, retailers and consultants, and for me, to enjoy a city I have never been to before.

It was also an opportunity to connect with a number of manufacturers and suppliers who were represented on an exhibit area, including some interesting technology folks. From…

The specter of the “Great Midwest Drought of 2012” hung over Sioux Falls as more than 200 equipment dealers, customers, and media types gathered at Raven Industries’ world headquarters for the company’s second Raven Innovation Summit.

The overarching discussion, as it often does in a roomful of stressed out aggies, was all about what’s going on with the crops, and the news was not good. In this area and south toward Omaha where we drove in along I-29, the corn looked every bit as…

The 11th International Conference on Precision Agriculture is past, and the three days of immersion in technology people and topics has given me a lot to contemplate and digest. I think the best way for me to share my thoughts is to simply stream consciousness, and allow you to pluck out whatever you think is of value. I wish we could have a real two way conversation about it (although you're always free to send me an email or drop a comment in the box at the bottom) but seeing as that's not…

Last week, we were invited by John Deere to attend an event for both financial analysts and the media, focused strictly on the company’s technology strategy. It was said at least a couple of times by speakers that this was the first time the company ever did a deal like this where the iron was not in the spotlight, making it extra intriguing for me going in.

As an aside, sitting on a bus to the demonstration farm I got a chance to be a fly on the wall as analysts “compared notes”…

A few months ago I wrote in this space that an upstart technology company called Solum had a bead on a soil testing breakthrough that would be a game changer in agriculture, That little news item generated enough interest in our humble blog that we termed it "blowing up" by our standards. Clearly, there's pent-up demand for a better way to test soil, and…

We're putting the finishing touches on the annual PrecisionAg Buyer's Guide that will be published next month. If you'd like one, drop me a line (paul@croplife.com) with your address and I will be happy to send it when it's ready. Anyway, it's also the second year that the Guide will feature an "Experts" section where we ask folks much smarter than us (and in some cases better looking) to weigh in on the biggest opportunities and challenges that…

I was enjoying a bowl of Total Raisin Bran on Wednesday morning at the Hampton Inn in Mitchell, SD when my email pinged with the news: Precision Planting had accepted an offer to be purchased by Monsanto for $210 million, with performance incentives that could take it up to a quarter million. The deal is expected to be completed this summer.

For the two of you who missed it, here's a link to the…

We've been covering the Lightsquared vs. GPS story since it broke in early 2011 when the FCC granted the company permission to begin testing its 4G LTE wireless internet service on a bandwidth precariously close to GPS. The threat to GPS integrity unleashed a torrent of objections from the GPS industry, as well as companies and governmental agencies that rely on GPS, against the Lightsquared system moving forward.

After government agency testing determined that the interference was…

I am hoping to develop a network base in Latin & South America.  Can anyone recommend companies or individuals that i might reach out to in order to learn more about the regions?  I appreciate any assistance you might provide.

I’ve been fascinated with the rapid adoption of mobile technology, most recently driven by the tablet computer, since last July during the InfoAg Conference. In 2009 the iPad was still coming off the drawing board when the previous InfoAg Conference was happening. But by the 2011 event it was everywhere, seemingly surpassing laptop use in almost no time at all.

More recently, I was bumping around some ag technology blogs and came across a piece on mobile technology by Steve Cubbage.…

Precision technology has revolutionized practices throughout agriculture, from field guidance to application to planting. But while electronic connectivity and overnight delivery improved the soil testing process, there hasn’t been a major challenge to the way soil tests have been conducted since the proliferation of the dry test in the late 1980s.

A young company called Solum, Inc. is aiming to change that in the very near future. Founded by a group of Stanford physicists with ties…

Note: I recently researched and compiled a list of the best mobile ag apps for 2012, a few of which can be directly applied to precision agriculture. Here is the first part of the article, with a link to read the entire post on CropLife.com.

Ag retailers — and agriculture professionals at large — are starving for mobile agriculture apps that can help them do their jobs better. They can't get enough them.

I can certainly relate. I recently attended the National…

A few years ago, we wrote about the emergence or radio frequency identification, or RFID, for use in managing equipment location and movement. It seemed that rolling stock-intensive operations from high value crop growers to cooperatives and ag dealerships would find the technology useful for locating and tracking equipment, and might at last lead to some growth in this technology.

Intelleflex, the company that deployed the technology, continues to provide RFID for this purpose, but…

Several precision agriculture technologies were featured in the recent article "12 Most Advanced Agricultural Technologies" by Brian Scott. Autosteer, swath control, VRT and telematics were a handful of some of the precision ag technologies that made the cut. Take a look at for yourself, and let me know if you think any are missing or some that shouldn't have been included. Follow:…

Our friends at the American Soybean Association sent along the following regarding comments that several ag groups sent to the FCC regarding Lightsquared. Well done! Here’s a summary and link to the full text of the comments:

"In a filing with the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) International Bureau, the American Soybean Association (ASA) and other organizations representing farmers and agribusinesses in all 50 states today declared that “high-precision GPS technology is…

It's no secret that dicamba tolerant biotech crops are on the near horizon, promising a new mode of action that will hopefully take a bite out of the weed resistance issues that are wreaking havoc on cropping plans throughout the country.

But that doesn't mean we're simply trading out glyphosate for dicamba and cruising the fields using the same nozzles and running and the same speeds to which we've become accustomed. It means new formulations, new tank mixes, new nozzle…

At the recent Commodity Classic meeting in Nashville, I got caught up with a lot of folks about what's happening in the world of precision ag. One of my stops was at the Topcon booth to find out more about the release of SGIS farm, the first software release following Topcon's purchase of AGCO's long-time geographic information system program SGIS.

Traditionally a high-powered and deeply complex data and decision management software solution reserved mostly for service providers like…

Received the following from the Coalition To Save Our GPS looking for individuals and businesses to send in comments during the latest FCC comment period regarding the Lightsquared situation. Here is the communique and call to action:

HELP SAVE OUR GPS!  Please Submit your Comments to the FCC by March 16 (deadline extended)

Background: We have very important, and encouraging, news to report on the LightSquared saga. On…