Kelly Robertson Farms

Was cleaning out a bunch of junk from under my desk trying to find a bunch of other junk when I came across a milk crate full of old equipment manuals.  I had took them out of the shed when we cleaned the shed out last winter and had forgot all about them.

There is a manual for just about everything it seems.  All of them for equipment we don’t have anymore.  Technology changes, thank goodness.  I would hate to have to harvest on a combine with no cab!  Not only that, but our efficiencies and our productivity increases when we adopt new technologies. 

So, it is still amazing to me when some of the older generation out there doesn’t get it about technology.  Yes, it costs money.  But just because something worked then doesn’t mean it works now.  Or maybe it works but it is not efficient or as productive.  Maybe we didn’t have a choice “back then” and we do now.  Maybe to be competitive we don’t have a choice but to adopt the newest technology, no matter short lived it might be. 

GPS is one of those technologies that has brought about change.  Chemicals are another.  Things have changed greatly, but in some respect they haven’t changed all the much lately.  You don’t see many cultivators anymore.  You don’t find anyone with a rod and chain for measuring off acres.  Yet there are those who say that cultivation is better than chemicals.  There are also those who say that we don’t need all this GPS stuff to farm with either. 

Those few loud voices are right to some extent.  We don’t need all of the latest and greatest technology to farm.  But it sure makes it much easier.  And it makes it more productive.

There is a lot of press on RTK right now.  RTK is that super accurate GPS correction, survey grade, to plus or minus a half centimeter.  It is pretty impressive.  It is also pretty expensive.  It is also, in my opinion, being over sold.

Accuracy is addictive.  Just ask any target shooter.  I admit that accuracy with a rifle is addictive.  Being able to cut the same hole at 100 yards with my rifle is a goal.  Its more about the man than the machine with a firearm.  Yes the tolerances in the action and barrel along with the consistency in the load help to get better accuracy, but its more about if you can hold still, hold that same point of aim, and control the trigger than anything else.

With GPS, it’s all about the correction signal, not the GPS signal.  It is all the machine and nothing to do with the man, minus the initial calibration, which a lot of people don’t do correctly.  The more accurate the correction signal to the GPS unit, the more precise your implement will be in the field….assuming you calibrated it correctly. 

And what are you doing with that level of accuracy?  If you are not saving A B lines and moving them from machine to machine, or if you’re not employing management practices that require you to be that accurate, like ridge till, or you’re not using the mountain of data that is collected by the controller with that type of accuracy, then you have just blown a bunch of money for something that is underused. 

I use the analogy that its like using a Barret .50 cal Sniper Rifle to shoot chipmunks.  Impressive, but a bit of overkill at $10 something a shot vs. a .22 at something like $0.10 per shot.  Yeah, you have to be a little more accurate with your .22 than the .50 cal, but the chipmunks can’t tell if they have been shot by one or the other. 

So, why then do so many farmers bypass the WAAS system with its lower accuracy level to do RTK when they don’t do anything other then drive straight?  Like the illustration above, you have to be a bit more precise in you calibrations but no one can tell the difference in +-.5 cm vs. +-3 inches at 6o mph while driving by your fields.  A lot of times that pass-to-pass accuracy is even better with WAAS, than what is advertised.  Again, it’s in the calibration of the machine, not the correction signal.

Don’t get me wrong, when it is properly employed, RTK can make your life and farm more profitable.  But I have yet to see a farm that exploits RTK to its fullest potential.  Most of the time, its just used to match up equipment of different widths for convenience of planting or harvest.  And if that is the only use you have for RTK, you’re losing out on a bunch of real benefits other than being able to run your 12 row planters and combine with your 8 row head. 

He who learns to exploit the accuracy and data goldmine of RTK will win the race to greater profits.  And those that don’t are shooting chipmunks with a .50 cal, impressive but wasteful and expensive toys.