From time to time, I trade phone calls with an old acquaintance, Carl Palmquist. Carl served as a Commissioner of the Soil & Water Conservation District in Woodbury County (Iowa) during the time I worked for the Soil Conservation Service (now the NRCS). Carl and I often lament the decline of two very important federal programs, the Flood Control Act of 1944 (PL-534) and the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act of 1954 (PL-566). The Flood Control Act of 1944 authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to install watershed …
More hired men or more tractors?
Hybrid corn, a one-row corn picker and a hand-tied pickup hay baler were just a few firsts pioneered in Shelby County, Iowa, by my grandpa, Will Buman. By 1950, Grandpa, was farming over 1,000 acres of land. For one farmer with 3 sons and one hired man, that was a lot of land. But let me qualify that. Grandpa also owned 6 tractors; more than one tractor per field hand. And at the time, six tractors definitely exceeded the average farmer. Grandpa understood that technology, not workers, increased production. Grandpa also understood farming …
I hope to see you at the InfoAg Conference
If you have an interest in precision agriculture, you should attend the 2016 InfoAg Conference. I will be at Booth #11.InfoAg features an educational program that includes plenary and breakout sessions. There is also an extensive exhibit hall of leading hardware, software, and vendors to precision agriculture. The educational programs are perfect for learning new perspectives about how to put technology to work in the field. It is also a great place to hear more about new products and services as well as the unique perspective on the global …
Putting the Data to Work
The talk today is about Big Data. The question is, will we use what we collect? It reminds me of the 1990’s tagline, “Data Rich, Information Poor.” In the mid 1990’s, USDA NRCS Chief Paul Johnson commissioned a Blue Ribbon panel to study NRCS data collection named “Data Rich, Information Poor.” As you can guess from the title, the conclusion of the report found that NRCS had a huge storehouse of natural resource data that was never converted into useful information.Organizations produce data every day. However, many companies fail to turn …
A Farm Kid’s Perspective
There is not a farm scene more beautiful than fields of uniformly tall, tasseled corn, butting up to waist high, weed-free soybeans waving in the breeze, set against carpets of well-manicured road ditches and close-clipped waterways. From the perspective of this Iowa farm kid, southern Tazewell County, Illinois is simply beautiful to behold; a vision straight out of a children’s storybook. Tazewell County is neither flat, nor steep. The area is dominated by row crop in an almost level landscape with gently sloping rises. There are no visible …
Tools of the Future
I have had the pleasure of being a part of Successful Farming’s Tools of the Future event this past week. The event featured the newest ag tools that can make farming more profitable. The technology ranged from automated soil sampling to drones. The first day’s program was in Des Moines, IA. From there the show traveled to Bloomington, IL and West Lafayette, IN. Each event included demonstrations and hands-on exhibitions. Below are my top tech picks from the tour. Google Glass A new wearable computer that, once in the hands of farmers, …