When you think about field robots, you’ll likely bring up images of small spider-like machines that work in groups to tend the crop. At least those are the types we’ve written about in the past. But this week we got wind of a field robot that is being called “the largest in the […]

By: Matthew J. Grassi | Paul Schrimpf This may be a bit of stating the obvious here, but we’ll throw it out there anyways: as much as some of us may fight it, we journalists are unequivocal #List Nerds. Listicles, Top 10s, “Best-Ofs”. Websites like Buzzfeed and Huffington Post basically made the leap to mainstream media status all […]

UNL Mechanized Systems Management graduate student Rachel Stevens preparing to plant the next field in the research study. Announcements of emerging agricultural technologies occur more frequently with each growing season. For most producers, the biggest question about these advanced systems is “How will an investment or upgrade pay off in my operation.” Members of the […]

If you are late to the aerial imagery party and think that agricultural drones are the vehicle that are the be all, end all answer to your imagery needs, you are going to lose and lose big at that. But before we get into that, let’s take a trip back down memory lane to the […]

360 Yield Center’s 360 Y-Drop tool, attached to spray booms, drizzles nitrogen at the base of the stalk. When Illinois Grower Jeremy Wilson hit the farm conference circuit these past two years, one of his talks was always packed out — the story of his intense nitrogen management approach. His opening statement declared, “If you’re […]

A pest trap for orchards by manufacturer Semios. In-season scouting is the mother’s milk of any full-service agronomy program. It’s the component of crop production that validates the experience of individuals who know and understand the land, the crops, the climate, and the pests, as well as the interactions of all of them — and […]

A robot under development at the University of Illinois automates the labor-intensive process of crop phenotyping, enabling scientists to scan crops and match genetic data with the highest-yielding plants. Agricultural and biological engineering professor Girish Chowdhary, right, is working on the $3.1 million project, along with postdoctoral researcher Erkan Kayacan. CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A semiautonomous […]

We are entering a very exciting time in agriculture. With so many great software platforms and data collection tools we are on the cusp of unlocking some really deep, profound information and management techniques like we’ve only dreamed of before. Being able to stack several layers of data on top of each other begins to […]

Another new year is upon us! And I’m certain I speak for many in the agricultural world when I say that very few people in the industry are probably glad 2016 is done with, for a variety of reasons. But let’s not dwell upon the past and instead look to the future.  www.precisionag.com What kind […]