Investing in Savings

Last week, I had the pleasure of working two days in Ag Leader’s booth at the Iowa Power Farming Show in Des Moines. Despite the frigid temperatures, nasty winds and 12-inches of snow, many of you came out to talk to us about Ag Leader’s complete line of precision agriculture equipment (and we appreciate that!). The one question that many of you had was “How much does (insert specific Ag Leader product here) cost?” However, one question I did not receive was, “How much will I see on my bottom line if I start using this equipment?”

Of course, that’s a tough question to answer, since so much depends on forces outside of your own control. But, the use of precision agriculture equipment certainly can protect your seed investment.

Just the other day I read an article in the February  issue of The Progressive Farmer. Author Kurt Lawton wrote a very good piece titled, “Planter Controls Save Money.” The article provides real examples of farmers just like you who are investing in precision ag equipment to save money. Below is an excerpt from that article:

If you haven’t adopted GPS-controlled automatic planter row and sprayer boom controls yet, you’re automatically spending more on seed and chemicals.

That observation comes from growers who own the technology along with autosteer. They add that the savings occur regardless of the terrain—from fairly flat and square fields to sloping and odd-shaped fields. Doug Applegate, in his third year using planter row shutoff with the Ag Leader system in southeast Iowa, estimates he easily saved $10 per acre his first season. “Seed has gone up so much in price since then, that we could easily be saving twice that much today.”

Applegate says half their 1,600 acres is on contours and half is straight rows. “Anyone with terraces or point rows, investing in row shutoff technology is a no-brainer. Coupled with autosteer and RTK, it makes planting no-till into cornstalks so much nicer,” he says.

I would invite you to read this article in its entirety in the February issue of The Progressive Farmer, or you can find similar information by the same author at PrecisionPays.com. I know you will want to look into all of your options so that you are making the most informed decision for your operation, and I want you to walk away from this blog thinking about cost in a different light than how much is immediately going to come out-of-pocket. Instead, think about the cost of not taking advantage of the opportunities precision equipment provides to increase your productivity for years to come.  Unfortunately, that’s what might cost you the most.

More information:

“Planter Row Control Can Save You Money” – http://precisionpays.com/2010/01/planter-row-control-can-save-you-money/

Learn more about Ag Leader’s complete precision farming line here.