In early 2024, tech startup visorPRO launched its “dealer-centric” Vi by VisorPRO, which compiles a digital library of service manuals and other information to help technicians not only find the best way to conduct a repair, but find it quickly.

For dealerships that have signed onto the web-based service, mechanics can find all the information they need in one digital location.

“It’s not an app; it’s a website,” says visorPRO’s industry consultant John Schmeiser. “A dealer signs up and all their technicians and parts people are given a user name and password.

“What’s loaded in there is all the service manuals for all the brands that a dealer carries, and we work with their business system provider to pull out work order information.

“We put that information into what we call the dealer vault and only the dealer has access to that vault. A Case IH dealer will not have access to like a John Deere dealer’s vault. That’s all protected. A dealer has information only on the specific brands he sells.”

As is the case with Alexa or Siri, “Vi” is the name given to visorPRO’s “bot,” says Taylor Veilleux, visorPRO’s marketing specialist.

Unlike an OEM system, which might offer online access to service data, visorPRO can be customized to contain information on all the equipment a dealership sells across all the brands it carries, including short lines.

“We’ve seen some mainline brands dabble in this just for their own system,” Schmeiser says. “Dealers said ‘We need this to cover all the products we sell.’ We had an example of a dealer saying (the mainline brand) is only 40 per cent of their service business. They have another 60 per cent for the other lines they carry. So (a mainline) solution doesn’t work for them.”

A key advantage of an AI-based system like this is speed. It provides instant access to exactly the right service manual and related information with just a few keystrokes.

“visorPRO will spit out the safety precautions needed and itemized steps needed to do that repair,” he adds. “In addition, visorPRO will also read all the service bulletins and all the previous work order information on that type of repair.

“The end result is, visorPRO is increasing efficiency in the dealership, getting answers to customers quicker and giving technicians, no matter their level of experience, an itemized list of what they need to do.

“It’s saving that technician 30 or 40 minutes reading through service manuals and the (previous) work orders let them know what parts are needed.”

Given an industry-wide shortage of mechanics, making each one more efficient can go a long way toward serving more customers in a day with existing staff.

“It’s about an hour per day of savings per tech,” Schmeiser says. “If you take a large, multi-store operation that has eight to 10 techs per location, or more, and you’re getting an extra hour out of each of them, a dealer can see the (return on investment) is pretty real and pretty substantial.

“At the end of the day, it helps us with our technician shortage.”

The system also allows mechanics to input annotations about their experiences with similar repairs, suggesting shortcuts or adding details not included in the manuals. visorPRO will include that information in a search — so the knowledge of experienced staff can be passed on to junior technicians. That also helps ensure a lot of competence is retained in a service department as older, more seasoned employees retire or move on.

With more detailed information immediately available on repairs, technicians can be more prepared before heading out for a field repair, making sure they have all the parts they’re likely to need.

Participating dealers report that has often eliminated the need to return to the dealership on a parts run, Schmeiser adds.

And visorPRO isn’t just compatible with ag equipment dealerships.

“This is not only for ag equipment. It’s construction. It’s industrial heavy duty. For any dealership that has a service department, visorPRO works.”

The post Vi by visorPRO brings repair procedures to techs quickly appeared first on Grainews.

“We have the most skilled operators trapped in a glass cage for days on end,” he says.

Saik, CEO of DOT Technology Corporation, is at the forefront of the movement toward autonomous tractors. The Regina-based startup created a U-shaped platform that attaches to existing farm equipment and uses GPS co-ordinates to turn implements into autonomous machines that help farmers boost efficiency.

Labour shortages are driving the demand for autonomous farm equipment. A whopping 16,500 jobs went unfilled on Canadian farms in 2017, costing the agriculture sector $2.9 billion in lost revenue, and the problem is expected to get worse.

The dwindling pool of farmworkers has forced farmers to turn to autonomous innovations to help plant, protect and harvest their crops.

Some makers, like Autonomous Solutions Inc. and Bear Flag Robotics, work with original equipment manufacturers to integrate their self-driving platforms onto existing equipment while manufacturers like John Deere, AGCO and Case New Holland explore the possibilities of autonomous tractors.

“Finding qualified labour is a really serious problem,” Saik says. “Autonomous equipment can provide a solution to the rising constraint of lack of farm labour.”

In California, Bear Flag Robotics just introduced sensors that turn tractors from major manufacturers like Case IH, John Deere and Kubota, into autonomous machines. Farmers can plan routes, schedule jobs and command a fleet of tractors from their smartphones, freeing them up to focus on other tasks.

“Growers are asking for this tech,” says Daniel Carmichael, farming operations manager for Bear Flag Robotics. “You have the OEMs that build an amazing tractor with some incredible technology but they’re still not doing the fully autonomous… so we’re delivering the technology.”

The technology is currently offered as a service. Farmers can lease tillage equipment outfitted with Bear Flag Robotics’ sensors. Plans are in the works to add the self-driving sensors to additional implements that can be leased through the California startup.

In the future, Carmichael says, the platform will be sold as a product that farmers can use on their own equipment to turn their fleet into self-driving, super productive workhorses.

As farmers get more comfortable with the technology, tasks like seeding and spraying can be programmed to take place overnight, helping farmers become more efficient and productive.

Carmichael recalls talking to a dairy farmer who was going out to dinner with his granddaughters while the self-driving tractor tilled his field.

“Farmers are working 20-plus hours trying to get things done,” he says. “This technology is going to be revolutionary.”

Fewer skills required?

As the market moves toward autonomous equipment, manufacturers like John Deere are rolling out new tractor models that are easier for less-skilled workers to operate. One of the goals of developing the 8RX, a high-horsepower tractor, with advanced automation and self-driving features, was to address the labour shortage.

“You still have to have an operator in the cab but the more we can automate these machines, the skillset needed to get that job done changes, which helps address the major challenge of labour shortages,” says Cyndee Smiley, public relations manager for John Deere.

In addition to helping farmers manage their operations with less manpower, autonomous tractors could also improve crop health and yield.

“One of the questions I’ve been asking farmers is, ‘What would you do on your farm if you didn’t have to do it?’” Saik says. “Would you make another pass with a growth regulator? Would you go in-crop and spread granular fertilizer? Would you do more variable rate desiccation of the crop? How many things would you do if you didn’t have to sit in a machine all day?”

The post No farmworkers? No problem appeared first on Grainews.

The principal operator of Campbell Land and Cattle would like to use precision agriculture to monitor moisture levels, make decisions about inputs and improve yields on his fields of wheat, barley, oats, canola, flax, corn and pulses but broadband access on his Minto, Manitoba, farm is slow and unreliable — even cell service is spotty.

“I haven’t adopted precision agriculture because of the limitations [rural broadband],” he says. “I can’t utilize all the features of my equipment that could put me at a competitive disadvantage.”

The lack of reliable broadband isn’t just an issue in the fields. Campbell’s internet connection is too slow to follow cattle sales in other provinces or download YouTube videos with instructions for servicing equipment. The launch of 5G could be a game changer.

5G, the much-hyped fifth generation of mobile broadband, is slated to roll out across Canada over the next 10 years (though rural areas may be among the last to receive high speed wireless access), according to Rob Ghiz, president and CEO of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association.

The transition to 5G is expected to increase upload and download speeds, improve communication between devices and expand broadband access in rural areas. While 5G will offer significant benefits to all Canadians, the rollout is expected to have an enormous impact on farmers.

“Rural connectivity is a challenge,” Ghiz admits. “5G is going to make it easier for farmers to farm. As fertilizers and pesticides and cropland become more expensive, precision agriculture makes it easier for farmer to monitor those inputs and outputs; 5G will allow them to do a lot more and spend a lot less [and] enable machines to talk to each other in ways that will increase productivity and will eventually lead to things like autonomous tractors.”

A Qualcomm 5G Economy study notes that 5G sensors allow for connectivity in remote locations and the ability to monitor multiple facets of equipment from tank levels and chemical content to soil moisture. The report notes that 5G will also make it possible for farmers to operate autonomous agricultural vehicles, increasing agricultural output an estimated 5.3 per cent by 2035.

In Saskatchewan, adopting precision agriculture, which would be made possible through 5G, would save the average oilseed farmer upwards of $40,000 in input costs, according to a CWTA report.

Doug Sauder, director of digital project management and analytics for John Deere believes there are countless benefits for farmers who can access connected equipment and farmer-facing digital tools from allowing two pieces of equipment to “talk” to each other and providing dealers with machine trouble codes or access for remote software updates.

“We’re advocating for 5G,” Sauder says. “Faster latency is great but first we need [to bring] the breadth of coverage to rural areas because all of the benefits we talk about with connected equipment require fast, reliable connectivity.”

In Minto, Campbell is waiting.

“As [your farm] becomes larger, you need to have data built-in to your machines and that requires reliable, dependable internet access,” he says. “Otherwise, you’re running by the seat of your pants and not using the best potential for your land.”

Without data, he is unsure whether increasing inputs from 65 pounds of nitrogen per acre to 80 pounds of nitrogen per acre would lead to subsequent increases in yield. Unreliable access to high-speed internet leaves him without the technology to find out, and that could hamper his productivity.

“It’s not worth it to spend money on precision agriculture and find out you’re not quite there in terms of access,” Campbell says. “For rural people to stay in the landscape, we need the most modern capabilities. People will leave without it. It’s integral to the fabric of our farms.”

The post 5G could be a game changer for farmers appeared first on Grainews.

“Some of the tools are maturing to the point that the value is pretty obvious,” he said when speaking to ag machinery journalists at the company’s ISG facility in Des Moines, Iowa, in August. “They’re pretty quickly tying into value and money.”

Telematics options are steadily increasing the range of functions and quality of data they provide. And in recent years, the speed at which data is delivered has also improved.

“In the past we got things (data points) every 30 minutes, because the bandwidth didn’t allow anything more,” Olson continued. “Now we’re getting things every six seconds. Now I get an immediate response from a machine. I don’t have to queue something up. (In the future) the amount of data that will provide to AI or machine learning is going to draw us toward insights we can’t get today. We anticipate the data will continue to grow as we get into this AI space.”

AI (artificial intelligence) is set to become a key component in many of the high-tech products John Deere is offering on equipment. By monitoring system functions closely, machines are beginning to have the ability to very accurately predict pending machine component failures before they result in breakdowns in the field. AI and machine learning abilities will continue to improve that aspect even further.

But there is an even more basic element to advantages from telematics, especially for large producers, noted Olson. And at Deere, dealers are part of the equation, with their ability to take on the role of monitoring machines for trouble codes and pending failures for any customer that authorizes them to, allowing local service departments to see trouble codes as they come up.

That helps producers deal with a common problem: inexperienced on-farm labourers.

“This is true in construction and forestry as well as ag, the operators typically— I don’t want to be too general — but many of them (hired operators) just don’t care,” explained Olson. “They’re doing their job for eight or 10 hours, whatever it is, then they go home. It’s somebody else’s machine. They’re not very well versed in what some alerts might mean. A red alert, does that mean I should stop or should I just keep going? Am I going to get in trouble for stopping? So dealers have really taken that role for the customers that have more than one machine to monitor. Frankly that’s the role of all of these products. Provide the data to someone that can do something with it to keep these machines up and running and take the burden away from the farmers.”

Deere’s JD Link offering also allows owners to look at machine usage in conjunction with agronomic field maps to see if equipment features are providing a payback.

“They can start to tie those things together with actual productivity in the field, where I can see, for instance, where I’ve used AutoTrac and how my seed population is emerging,” says Olson. “They [farmers] can start to tie together the way the machine technology is being used along with the agronomic outputs they’re expecting.”

“Those technologies are what are going to help farmers do more with less,” said John Stone, senior vice president of John Deere’s Intelligent Solutions Group, at the same event in Des Moines. “John Deere’s strategy is to be the world’s leader in precision agriculture.”

“I was visiting some farmers in North Dakota last week. And they described it to me as in the past 10 years we’ve gone from having equipment operators on our farm to now we just have drivers, because the skill level of people they can find is reduced. That means our equipment has to become smarter. It has to become more automated. It has to take that very low-skilled operator and make him perform as if he was a 20-year expert at operating that machine.

“The climate is changing. The available window to get your seeds in the ground no matter how big your farm is can be as short as six or seven days. So we need to be able to go faster but keep the level of precision.”

According to Olson, Deere will continue expanding its line of digital products, including widening the range of JD Link offerings and compatible machines.

“That spectrum of (telematics compatible) machines we cover is continuing to grow,” he said. “You’re going to see the same progression on the ag side in the 5 and 4 Series tractors, etc. So the progression of connected machines continues to grow.

“In fact it’s our desire to offer it on older machines and even from competitive environments. Most farmers run a multi-coloured fleet. We want to support that as well.”

The post Telematics offers value to owners: Deere appeared first on Grainews.

This new telemetry solution, which the company is just rolling out, offers the company’s best-yet suite of capabilities, and it gets a new name to go along with it: AGCO Connect.

“We’ve had telematics for a number of years and this is our latest version of it,” he added. “We’ve really upped the ante with new capabilities. The existing customers on Ag Command will continue to use Ag Command but will slowly transition to AGCO Connect. Every new customer will be fired up with AGCO Connect.”

Like competing digital products from other brands, AGCO Connect allows for remote viewing of many tractor functions from a computer or smartphone. And the layout of the online page can be created under any of AGCO’s brands, Fendt, Massey Ferguson or Challenger.

“It allows them to see stuff like the fuel and DEF level, location, working efficiency and much more,” Uilk said. “AGCO Connect will be available as a branded solution, so the customer can pick their preferred brand, such as Challenger Connect, Fendt Connect, etc. It’s also going to provide some agronomic data as well, such as on our harvesters. It has near-real-time remote viewing. There is no limit to how many machines you can register. We’re not going to charge more for more machines.”

For quicker diagnostics dealers can log in to that remote viewing service as well, if a customer allows it, to look for trouble codes, or they can use it to be proactive in maintenance scheduling.

Some existing equipment from previous model years is compatible with the new service; customers who want to subscribe to the new telematics system can go online to get.AGCOConnect.com, enter their 17-character VIN number and see if their existing machine is capable of using the technology.

“It depends on the platform, what machine it is,” notes Uilk. “We’re going back five or six years, easily. But on some equipment, it’s going to be (only) the last couple of years. Depending on the machine we offer a one-year free subscription, it could be up to three years for others, depending on the platform.”

The post AGCO updates its digital product with “Connect” appeared first on Grainews.

Brent Nicol of Xarvio Digital Farming Solutions describes how its scouting app uses photo-recognition to identify early-stage weeds, diseases and measure leaf damage using images taken with your smartphone. Xarvio is currently working with technology-maker Bosch to develop ‘Smart Sprayer’ technology that will allow operators to spray individual weeds on-the-go with a targeted herbicide application.

Xarvio won the innovations award in the Plant and Soil Science category at Ag in Motion 2019 earlier in July.

The post VIDEO: Xarvio aims to shoot weeds by camera, then a targeted herbicide application appeared first on Grainews.

For the development team at DOT Technology Corp., fields at the University of Arizona’s ag research station at Maricopa was the ideal setting to put their autonomous “power platform” to work through the winter.

“Thank goodness we have Arizona,” said Leah Olson-Friesen, CEO of DOT Technology Corp. “The real objective there is to validate the hardware and software, so for our spring release we have done a lot of hours (of testing). We’re doing our operations 12 hours a day, six days a week.”

In March DOT Technology Corp. organized a public demonstration event at the U of A facility to showcase the current state of development of the autonomous power platform to a large group of farmers and ag industry people, including representatives from other manufacturers who may be considering building DOT-ready implements.

“The objective for today was to showcase some of the development,” said Olson-Friesen during the event. “This is a great place for us to demonstrate in the field what DOT is capable of doing…”

DOT Technology has already started commercializing the DOT power platform with an initial limited sale offering. The first machines went out to customers in April and will make history as the first group of autonomous machines to seed prairie fields on a scale never before seen.

The early-adopter producers who’ve decided to take the plunge and buy a DOT will be getting a lot of extra product support from the company, as it moves toward full commercialization. If you wanted one but didn’t get in on that initial release of units, don’t despair. The company will be releasing another batch this summer.

“We do have a second release (of DOTs). That will be at the end of June, early July,” said Olson-Friesen. “We’re giving farmers a choice of a variety of support, either remote access or in-person support. And that will be the farmer’s choice.

“We do have power platforms available with sprayer units from Pattison as well as our SeedMaster drill. We’re continuing to evolve our grain cart. But there will be a limited number of SeedMaster grain carts available this summer, too.”

Currently DOT is capable of working with a SeedMaster drill and Pattison Liquid Systems 120-foot sprayer body. At the Arizona event, New Leader announced it would begin producing a dry box spreader system that is specifically designed for DOT, further expanding its range of functions.

“We’re very proud and excited to be able to work with New Leader,” Olson-Friesen said.

Agriculture 5.0

Rob Saik, who founded the consulting firm Agri-Trend, is now working with DOT Technology Corp., and he thinks this range of implements and the technology and data capture associated with them may well open up new opportunities for producers to consider seeding, fertilizing and crop protection functions in an entirely different way.

“Today we’re in what I call Agriculture 5.0,” he told the crowd at the U of A. “This is the era of convergence where biosynthesis, market segmentation, sensors, 3D printers, robotics, water precision all wrapped into data is upon us. At one time if I talked to you about auto steer, it was a single conversation. Today as you’ll see in DOT, all these technologies are mashed together.”

He thinks applying fertilizer incrementally in season without greatly increasing labour needs may be one of the benefits DOT power platforms offer.

“Right now it’s about a five-to seven-minute process to pick up or switch an implement,” added Norbert Beaujot, inventor and founder of DOT. “So it’s just as quick to hook up to the back of a tractor. With time that will become quicker, because we’ll be able to move into the target (implement) autonomously.

“My overall concept for the design was based on, in our world, trying to satisfy about 3,000 acres of farmland for each DOT unit, being able to seed or plant, spray and look after the harvest activity for 3,000 acres.”

Research into creating other implements to work with DOT is also continuing.

“We’ve done a 41-foot land roller that we’re experimenting with,” said Beaujot. “It’s not farm ready yet.”

In the near term, sales of DOT power platforms will be handled by the company on a direct-to-producer basis.

“What we’re wanting to do for the initial 50 to 100 sales is we want to have direct feedback,” said Olson-Friesen. “We will work with others in sales as Rob (Saik) develops the longer-term strategy. But with the amount of information we need to gather as we continue our longer-term strategy, we feel the best way to do some of these sales is direct to farmers. The company has set pricing for the initial production units, but they expect that will change as manufacturing ramps up and suppliers come online.

“We’re selling the power platform for US$260,000,” she adds. “You can buy the full package for just over US$500,000. That includes the power platform, a sprayer and a drill. We’re now working with our suppliers to get prices nailed down and ensure our supply chain is strong.”

The post DOT spends the winter in Arizona appeared first on Grainews.

That “camouflage” kept curious passersby from getting a sneak peak at what the red brand was about to debut in a few weeks at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky.

These were the new AFS Connect Magnum models in disguise.

“The beauty of this tractor is so much more than skin deep,” said Matt Boom, a high horsepower tractor specialist. “It’s down into the mechanics of the tractor.”

The tractors won’t be wearing last year’s clothes when they hit the market, but arguably it is in the digital component rather than their new appearance where they have the most to offer, hence the AFS Connect Magnum name, referencing the brand’s existing telematics products.

“We’ve changed some stuff on the exterior of the tractor too,” added Bill Weber, high horsepower marketing manager. “It looks a lot like the autonomous tractor we launched back in 2016. The reason it looks like that is because this is the next generation going toward autonomy. It pulls all the tractor electronics together so it can communicate, connected, so you can control it throughout the field.”

“Being that this is the AFS Connect Magnum, the tractor itself is only part of the solution,” Boom went on. “We know what our customers want. We’ve kind of adjusted how we’re taking this to market, from a technology standpoint.”

The difference in the cab

The new Pro 1200 monitor in the cab greatly expands on the functions of the previous Pro 700. In fact, most of the tractor systems can be controlled through it, and it makes guidance inputs much simpler.

The software that runs the Pro 1200 is based on the same Android technology most people are familiar with in their mobile devices. And that didn’t happen by accident.

“Vision Pro utilizes an Android-based operating system in order to control this tractor,” said Weber. “The global market share for Android is 88 per cent as of last spring. So the reason we ran Android is because of the similarity with hand-held devices. So it’s easy for out customers to get onto the technology and use it.”

But to avoid shocking previous Magnum owners who are used to the previous control layout, the new AFS Connect versions will have two or three ways to activate systems. Those who are familiar with manual controls on the armrest will still find them there, although some will be in different locations.

“(There is) Freedom to customize controls,” Weber went on. “We have maintained the old and jumped to the new. You can run this tractor old school or new school, meaning all the buttons and switches of the old model are still in the tractor. (Or) Everything can be run the Pro 1200.”

“We’ve retained all those buttons, the tactile feel, for customers that like that,” said Boom.

The new system now lets farm managers remotely monitor the tractor and see what the operator sees on a mobile device. It can also facilitate mobile diagnostic efforts by a mechanic directly from a dealership.

“We have three main areas of AFS Connect: fleet, farm and data. Farm, being agronomic visualization; fleet, being unit visualization,” said Boom. “That can be anything from location to fuel level to fault codes or some of the issues you may see in the field, as well as notifications. For example if I have an operator in the field pulling a planter and I don’t want him going faster than six m.p.h., I can set an alert. If he does that, I know immediately.”

“And of course data transfer takes a big leap forward with the Pro 1200. Even guidance lines can be transferred between machines wirelessly.”

These digital features won’t remain unique to model year 2020 tractors; the technology is backwards compatible. So it can be retrofitted onto existing late model Magnums as well.

“As we continue to develop our products moving forward, we’re not forgetting about the products we already have in the market, making sure we have a solution that allows those products to be monitored remotely as well,” said Boom. “Everything I’ve shown you so far is not just applicable to these tractors, it’s everything back to the Tier 3 time period. Anything that currently exists, we can retrofit this on there.”

And guidance is run through a new receiver that incorporates all the necessary guidance correction hardware into it, eliminating the need for a second computer inside the cab to facilitate corrections.

“Our receiver does a better job. It moves terrain compensation to the top of the cab and does a better job holding the line,” said Weber.

Hardware changes too

When it comes to the tractor itself, there is a lot to mention there too. New hood and cab designs in particular. Slimmer cab pillars and a new, brighter interior colour along with more creature comforts give it an updated feel.

“Freedom from cluttered cabs,” noted Weber. “We have a brand new cab on this tractor. There is better storage and more visibility out of it. We now have a full door. There is no longer a B post. The full glass door is easier for entry.”

And the Magnum further addresses operator comfort with updated suspension designs.

“To address ride with our Pro 1200 operating system, we came up with adjustable front axle suspension, controllable through the monitor,” he continued. “New with this tractor, we came up with a semi-active cab suspension.”

As he talked about the capabilities of the new tractors, Chris Dempsey, AFS Connect marketing manger, said he sees it this way: “It’s not just a tractor and it’s not just the software part of it. It’s a true, complete solution. Now we’re offering integrated technology and proven horsepower in one package for a true solution.”

That one solution aspect will form a major part of how marketers at the red brand present this tractor, and all the rest of the product line, to potential buyers in the coming months.

Says Boom, “It’s the largest technology launch we’ve had in the last 10 years, arguably. So we look forward to expanding on this and seeing where it takes us.”

The post PHOTOS: Case IH debuts the AFS Connect Magnum tractor appeared first on Grainews.

In the past, new technologies presented to farmers were extremely complex and promised to change the way we farm forever. Unfortunately, a lot of these gadgets proved too difficult to use on a day-to-day basis and did not follow through on the promises they made. Ashwin Madgavkar, CEO of Ceres Imaging said, “There are so many agricultural technology products that overpromise and underdeliver. They also had very little understanding of growers’ unique needs. As a result, many farmers have been left with a bad taste in their mouths.”

Information You Can Use

Ceres Imaging is an aerial spectral imaging company. They use low flying airplanes equipped with specialized imaging technology to detect irrigation, pest, fertility, and disease issues weeks before the problems would be noticeable by the naked eye. The technology can be used for any crop and the real-time delivery of the information can be instantly given to the farmer.

Madgavkar says, “We have refined algorithms, together with artificial intelligence and analytics, to show important trends during critical points of the growing season. Multi-year trends allow farmers to adapt and optimize their organization in the face of increased market pressures.” But farmers do not need to worry about the advanced mathematics as all of the date is transferred to an easy-to-use and understand application for phone, tablet or computer.

Data collection is critical to making informed and accurate choices on the farm. Farmers who have utilized Ceres Imaging have seen a consistent four to six times return on their input investment.

A Network of Ducks

A large hurdle for introducing new technologies to the farm has been the limitation of Wi-Fi and internet strength out in the fields. How can data collection and measurements be done out in the field if there is no internet strength? The answer: Ducks. No, not that kind of duck.

Will Topping, an electrical engineer, founded Brand x Technologies in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Brand x Technologies prides itself on creating simple solutions to complex problems.

Topping uses metaphors to describe what his Ducks, do for a farmer, “Think of something as simple as measuring the moisture and temperature in a grain bin. We install a Duck, which is a small sensor, and program it to complete a simple action and report it. Wake up, measure, quack, go to bed, and repeat.” The data is collected and is transferred to a simple app that a farmer can access at any time.

Instead of Wi-Fi or radio frequency, the Ducks work off of Long Range Low Power frequency (LoRa). LoRa gateways allow for very low data messages to be sent an extremely long distance. Essentially, they facilitate a smaller amount of data than a text message.

LoRa gateways were developed in 2008 and thousands are currently used in many major cities, but is only just beginning to make its way to Western Canada. Topping says there are only two gateways in Saskatchewan, one owned by himself and one owned by a hops farmer in northern Saskatchewan who uses them to measure the humidity of his crops.

Topping expects that LoRa gateways will be quickly popping up across Saskatchewan, so his Ducks will be quacking across Western Canada very soon.

The post New tech: Simplifying complex issues on the farm appeared first on Grainews.

When people think about data, they often think about how to get a better prescription or make something narrowly useful on the farm, says Charles Baron, co-found of Farmers Business Network (FBN).

“And we challenge everyone to think of data in a new way, which is how can your data actually not only help you on the farm, but actually create a better farm economy?”

FBN has launched in Canada and bought Yorkton Distributors, giving Canadian members access to ag inputs. FBN is trying to solve the most difficult and costly problems for farmers, says Baron. Those include opacity around prices, a lack of price competition and practices such as hidden discounts. Those practices cost farmers “enormous amounts of money,” he says.

Baron describes FBN as a grower network that connects producers digitally. For a fee, farmers can access FBN’s platform. Members then get access to pools of aggregated data. The network analyzes chemical and seed prices, providing input price transparency to members. Members can also analyze their farm agronomic data to benchmark operations and optimize inputs. For example, Baron says farmers could use FBN to figure out which canola seeds perform best in their areas based on the yield performance analysis in the network.

Members can buy inputs online or through Yorkton Distributors. Members can also apply for financing. Baron compares FBN’s e-commerce system to any other online purchases a person would make in his daily life. The no-haggle prices are available 24/7, he adds.

“So the price that a 100,000 acre farm could get at FBN, a 5,000 acre farm could get as well.”

FBN also offers a live pricing feed and a profitability analysis from several Canadian elevators, which covers several crops. It’s not yet developed to the same degree as the U.S. marketing platform, “but it’s something we’re expanding rapidly.”

Canadian members can also access satellite imagery and data processing at no extra cost.

Know your data agreements

There have been discussions around data usage and farmers owning their own data. But what does that mean on a practical level?

Baron says the first data-usage questions should be who am I doing business with and what is the company’s ultimate aim and interest.

“The purpose of FBN is to make our members more profitable. We do that by networking them. We do that by allowing them to share information. And then we do that by creating new businesses that help them take advantage of that information.”

Farmers join FBN and share their data explicitly to access aggregated data created by all the other FBN members. The data is anonymous in the sense that members can’t see what specific farms are doing.

“But you can access those aggregated data insights that are produced by the FBN analytics and sharing system that we created.”

Farmers can remove their personal data from the FBN system. But FBN also create an aggregated data set from member data which remains within the system.

By creating a sub-account, members can provide access to third-party advisers such as independent agronomists or accountants. Baron adds that FBN doesn’t sell memberships to entities such as seed dealers, seed companies or grain traders.

The Ag Data Transparency Evaluator has also bestowed its seal of approval on FBN’s ag data contracts. Ag Data Transparency is a non-profit based in the U.S. that includes board members from farmer-led organizations and ag-tech provides. Companies submit their contracts and a third-party evaluator looks at 10 criteria, including whether the company will get the farmer’s consent before giving other companies access to their data and whether the company will notify the farmer if the agreement changes.

Attorney Todd Janzen of Janzen Ag Law administers the project. So far 18 organizations are certified Ag Data Transparent, including Farm Credit Canada and John Deere. For a complete list of companies visit www.agdatatransparent.com/certified.

Baron says Ag Data Transparent’s core principles line up with FBN’s core principles. He sees Ag Data Transparent as a good initiative.

“We’re very supportive of the principles of transparency and making it easy for farmers to understand terms of service and what’s involved in the use of ag data,” says Baron.

Another headline-grabbing technical issue is data breaches from high-profile companies such as Facebook. Baron says protecting data goes beyond data security. It includes considerations such as controlling who can access data internally, guarding against malware and hacking attempts, and chain of custody, he says.

Security has to be part of a company’s DNA, he adds.

“You can’t be lax about it. You have to design security into your system as you build up the company, as you grow.”

Disruptive tech in seed breeding

In 2019, U.S. members of Farmers Business Network will be able to plant seed from FBN’s F2F Genetics Network.

Independent breeders develop F2F seed. U.S. farmers will be able to share performance data with other growers. They’ll also be able to feed data on variety performance back to the breeding network so they can develop better seed for farmers, Baron says.

The idea is that breeders will then be able to use that information to develop better-performing varieties at a lower cost. Farmers effectively turn their data into a “massive saving” on their seed crop, says Baron.

F2F is launching with five conventional corn hybrids and four glyphosate-tolerant soybeans, Business Wire notes. Soybean growers will also be able to save and replant F2F soybean seed for a fee. Varieties are bred for growing conditions in Nebraska to Ohio. The FBN website lists corn at $105 a bag and soybeans at $31 per bag as of October 17.

F2F won’t be available to Canadian members for 2019, but Canadian growers may want to keep an eye on how it plays out south of the border.

The post From Silicon Valley to Yorkton, Sask. appeared first on Grainews.