Farming Edition 2016

Page 1


PageO Greenwood Commonwealth / Sunday, May 15, 2016 c^ojfkd =======================================================================================================================================================================


Higher cotton

PageP Greenwood Commonwealth / Sunday, May 15, 2016 c^ojfkd =======================================================================================================================================================================

Meredith Allen

Acreage up but nothing like glory days

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W

hen you go back to the ’50s, we were well over 2.5 million acres,” Meredith Allen said. The Staplcotn president was looking at a chart that shows the number of acres in Mississippi that were planted with cotton between 1950 and 2015. “Anyway, there is no point in talking about way back that far,” he mused. The issue at hand was the projection that the number of acres planted in cotton this year, compared to the last, will increase by 41 percent in Mississippi and 46 percent in the Mid-South. So that’s good news for agriculture, or at least for the cotton industry? No, not for agriculture, he said. That’s having a hard time.

“Last year wasn’t very good, and this year is not projected to be any better,” he explained. It’s complicated. Around Greenwood, farmers mainly will plant cotton, soybeans and corn, and the prices for all three are low. Not so long ago, soybeans were selling for $12 to $15 a bushel, and corn for $7 to $8. Corn has dropped to $3.50, and soybeans, to $9 or $10. Cotton was bringing 75 cents to 85 cents a pound, and it’s slipped to 60 cents to 65 cents. “When grains come down,” Allen said, “cotton grosses so much more money than soybeans, and it grosses more than corn.” Perhaps cotton is a better risk. The U.S. pqlov=_v=prp^k=jlkqdljbov

Department of Agriculture forecasts Mississippi cotton will cover 450,000 acres in 2016, up from 320,000 in 2015. But there are a lot of variables, and not just the weather. “Everybody’s cost of production is different,” Allen said. For example, one farmer might own land outright while another has to pay rent. And there is soil fertility. At the end of a good season, some places might realize more than two bales an acre, or even three, and others might not produce as well. What if the Delta has a bumper cotton crop? This would support employment in the Delta because of the jobs necessary to cotton ginning and


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PageR Greenwood Commonwealth / Sunday, May 15, 2016 c^ojfkd =======================================================================================================================================================================

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Helpful hybrid

PageS Greenwood Commonwealth / Sunday, May 15, 2016 c^ojfkd =======================================================================================================================================================================

Bt cotton

Kills harmful insects, increases production

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T

his year marks the 20th anniversary of Bt cotton. The hybrid, which contains the _~Åáääìë=íÜìêáåÖáÉåëáë protein, kills many of the insects that prey on cotton. Bt cotton doesn’t hurt people or beneficial insects. “It’s been a big improvement over what we did have. It has had a drastic impact on cotton production and that’s for the good. ... I don’t see any downsides,” said Leflore County Extension Agent Andy Braswell. Arch Howell, manager of Helena Chemical Co. in Greenwood, remembers the days before Bt, particularly in the hill areas. “In 1995, we had a massive outbreak of budworms. People were spraying every two to three days. Everybody remembers 1995,” he said. In 1995, in the Delta, Howell said, while spraying was less

intense, farmers still had to spray pyrethroid pesticides on a regular basis. Leflore County farmer Erle West Barham said Bt cotton gave farmers an advantage. “Well the technologies that are a big part of modern day agriculture, they’ve transformed agriculture. At the same time, there are issues, resistance with insects and weeds and the expense. “It’s been far more good than bad,” Barham said. While Howell concedes the higher cost of Bt cotton, he points out it reduces the farmer’s pesticide applications to just two or three times a year. In addition, according to Farm Journal, a national farming magazine, U.S. farmers have increased cotton yields 9 to 11 percent since Bt cotton was first introduced.

Farmers have also reduced insecticide use by 17 percent over the same time period, the magazine reported. Barham said farmers are constantly facing new threats. When one is vanquished, another one pops up. “Mother Nature never gives up. She’s always working to challenge whatever methods you use to produce your crop,” he said. Barham cites how old foes, such as mare’s tail and Italian ryegrass, have now developed a resistance to Roundup herbicides. “There’s a constant selection in nature that just doesn’t stop. It requires new ways, new processes,” and then there is the added expense if those technological innovations fail, he said. For the past several years, Bt cotton yields have reached a plateau, Barham said.

“You seldom see any worm damage in cotton,” Howell said. He said farmers are great stewards of their land, and Bt cotton has made a difference in soil conditions. Bt cotton, with its reduced need for spraying, has contributed to healthier streams and lakes by limiting farm field runoff. That, in turn, has led to better fishing throughout the Delta. However, Bt cotton isn’t cheap. Howell said a 50-pound bag of Bt cotton seeds — consisting of 250,000 seeds — sells for $600. Of that amount, $200 is a “tech fee” for the Bt technology used in seed production. A typical acre requires 45,000 seeds, he said. Howell said that once the cotton has bloomed, farmers will likely have to overspray once or twice. Mother Nature is one tricky lady, Barham said.

“There’s a constant selection in nature that just doesn’t stop. It requires new ways, new processes,” Barham said. He said farmers face added expenses if the Bt cotton fails to kill off insects. The lack of overspraying has led to a rise in stink bugs and plant bugs, insects that wouldn’t have survived a pre-1996 spraying regimen, Farm Journal reported. Farmers really have only one shot per year. “Time will tell how it all works out. It’s not like baseball ,where you have three strikes and your out,” Barham said. Still, he plans to his keep cotton acreage at current levels, despite low commodity prices. “Can you afford the new technologies that are required to subdue Mother Nature? Really, all you’re trying to do is get a new grip,” Barham said. n

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In his blood

PageV Greenwood Commonwealth / Sunday, May 15, 2016 c^ojfkd =======================================================================================================================================================================

Jerry Smith

Farming just one thing that keeps him busy

J

erry Smith knows how to keep himself busy. Smith, 54, operates Smith Farms, which includes around 300 acres in Leflore and Holmes counties. “I’ve been doing it all my life. I started with my dad; it was a familyowned business,” he said. Smith has other duties as well. He has worked full time for the Leflore County Road Department for 33 years and served as Unit System manager for the last four. He also is a Sidon alderman and chief of the Sidon Volunteer Fire Department. On weekends, he works as a deputy for the Leflore County Sheriff’s Department. Smith, who attended Amanda Elzy High School and graduated from Maranatha Christian Academy, is a second-generation farmer. His late father, Elone, operated Elone Smith Farms. Farming just comes naturally to Smith. Some people like to fish in their spare time, but he likes to work on the farm, he said. “It’s a challenge, but it is something that I like doing,” he said. “I came up doing it. When I was little, I used to ride the back of that planter with him. I just fell in love with it.” When his father retired from farming in the 1980s, Smith and his brothers, E.J. Smith and Johnny B. Smith, operated under the name of Smith Farms. Johnny Smith now is deceased and E.J. Smith is disabled, so Smith works the operation mostly by himself. His son, Jermey, also a deputy with the Sheriff’s Department, works for the operation on his off

gÉêêó=pãáíÜ=áë=~=ëÉÅçåÇJÖÉåÉê~íáçå=ëçóÄÉ~å=Ñ~êãÉêK=pãáíÜ=ë~óë=ÜÉ=äÉ~êåÉÇ=~=äçí=~Äçìí=Ñ~êãáåÖ=Ñêçã=Üáë=Ç~ÇI=íÜÉ=ä~íÉ bäçåÉ=pãáíÜK=eÉêÉ=ÜÉ=äççâë=çîÉê=~=ëçóÄÉ~å=Åêçé=íÜ~í=áë=~äãçëí=íïç=ïÉÉâë=çäÇK days. “We’ve always been a family that got out and worked,” he said. Smith and his wife, Joyce, also have a daughter, Jayla. Typically, Smith plants 300 acres of soybeans, which are cut in October. He also plants 50 to 60 acres of winter wheat, which are harvested in May. Smith said planting early-maturing soybeans, such as Group IV or Group V, would be the way to go, given the amount of rainfall Leflore County has received lately. “That’s the way I like to do it,” he said. Smith said there were few black farmers when he was a youngster. “My dad used to do commercial cutting,” he recalled. “He’d cut beans for a living by daylight,

and at night we would cut our beans by moonlight.” Elone Smith was so successful in his commercial cutting business that he owned three combines — an essential and expensive piece of equipment. Today, Smith owns one combine and several other pieces of specialized equipment. He farms the Gladney Estate off County Road 512, farms along Pine Bluff Road and owns 100 acres in Holmes County. He serves on the Leflore County U.S. Department of Agriculture Advisory Board and the YazooMississippi Delta Levee District Board. In addition, he attends Bell Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, where he is a deacon and a member of the Trustee Board. Smith’s farming

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prowess was recognized by a special order issued by 2nd District U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, DMiss. Smith was recognized as a Small Business Farmer Extraordinaire in January 2014. He said the challenge of farming is the same as it was in his father’s day. “On a year-to-year basis, you never can tell,” he said. “Some years you have good years; some years you have bad years. You have to prepare for the bad years.” He said if a soybean farmer can make $10 a bushel, that’s pretty good. When prices fall to $7 or $8 per bushel, the farmer is barely breaking even. Still, despite all the uncertainty, farming is in Smith’s blood. “Between me and the good Lord, we’ll be able to make ends meet,” he said. n


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Moo-ving exhibit

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Loo-Loo Leflore

Model cow helps teach kids about ag products

L

oo-Loo Leflore causes a stir everywhere she goes. The almost threedimensional handmade wooden cow is part of Ag in the Classroom, an educational program sponsored by the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation’s Women’s Committee. While most Mississippi Farm Bureaus have similar cow displays, Loo-Loo is a unique part of the Leflore County organization — and not just because of her cute, catchy name. Loo-Loo Leflore was designed and created by Pillow Academy elementary school art teacher and artist David Taylor in 2013. “Typically, the cows are not as realistic as Loo-Loo,” said Gail O’Neal, Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation Women’s Chair for Leflore County. “I approached David about helping with a cow. I actually got the pattern from the wooden cows in other counties and asked David if I got that made, could he paint the face for me. He said he would just rather make one. ... It’s the same concept, but this is more realistic looking.” Loo-Loo is white with black spots. She has a long black tail and a pink nose. Just like any other dairy cow, Loo-Loo even features a tag on her right ear. Loo-Loo Leflore is not only a dairy cow display, but she’s an educational tool, too. Loo-Loo has a lifelike udder under her wooden belly filled with colored water resembling milk. The udder is made with real calf nursing bottles, so students can get hands-on experience of actually milking a cow. “The idea behind this was also to help promote Farm Bureau’s Commodity of the Month,” said O’Neal. “We started this in June, which is dairy month.” The Farm Bureau Women’s Committee, which presides over Ag in the Classroom, kicked off the Commodity of the Month promotion in Leflore County in June 2013 with the unveiling of Loo-Loo Leflore. About 90 children attended the event and took turns “milking” the dairy cow. “When you pull on (udder), the milk comes out, and it’s how you would actually milk a cow,” said O’Neal. “You use the same motion — squeeze and pull. ... The kids sit on the stool or get on the ground and start milking.” The main goal of the Loo-Loo Leflore display is to educate children about where milk comes from. “Kids today are so far removed — about five generations — from agriculture, and so few are connected to farming,” said O’Neal. “Many of them just don’t have any knowledge about farming. ... It’s important that children know that milk doesn’t come from a shelf in a grocery store or cotton candy is not made out of cotton, because the majority of children now do not know that. They do not know where their food is coming from or where the fabric for their clothes is coming from.” O’Neal and Loo-Loo — hitched to the back of her vehicle in a trailer — have traveled around Greenwood to daycare centers, schools and other venues. O’Neal presents a program about dairy, which usually consists of a story, facts about the commodity and other activities, such as coloring sheets or making a paper cow mask. One of the main questions children

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ask O’Neal during the program is how cows make chocolate milk?’ “They really thought that if a cow is brown it can give us chocolate milk,” she said. “I tell them that if you want chocolate milk, you have to add chocolate flavoring. The cow doesn’t give you chocolate milk. ... That’s one thing Ag in the Classroom focuses on is doing away with myths.” After the program, the children will line up to learn how to milk a cow.

“The younger ones look at it and try to figure out if it’s real or not,” said O’Neal. “Then the older ones just want to see if they can milk it, and it’s not as easy as you would think it is.” Milking Loo-Loo requires about the same amount of effort needed to milk a real dairy cow. “When they get it, they are so excited,” said O’Neal. “They will try to help the others learn how to do it. They definitely like the hands-on activities, and the

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more hands on you can get with it, the more excited they are.” O’Neal’s granddaughters, Mia and Millie O’Neal, gave Loo-Loo Leflore her name. O’Neal said the two got the idea for “Loo-Loo” from the sound a cow makes — “moo moo.” “They said that since she is from Leflore County, ‘let’s go Loo-Loo instead of moo moo.’ It just stuck with her,” said O’Neal. “They are my little helpers.” While Loo-Loo is ideal for children in


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4K to fifth grade, O’Neal said even adults are interested in the dairy cow. “I’ve had adults ask to milk her,” she said. Loo-Loo Leflore isn’t O’Neal’s only program. There are 11 other commodities Ag in the Classroom provides education on, including sweet potatoes, beef, peanuts, horticulture, poultry and eggs, catfish, cotton, rice, grain, equine and forestry. “On beef, I have this program on by-products of beef, and the kids will sit there and act like they are going to be sick when they find out JELL-O has a byproduct of beef in it and lipstick has a byproduct of beef in it,” she said. Ag in the Classroom also has an agriculture-related bean bag toss game, fishing pond and farmingthemed children’s books. Each month, a Commodity of the Month display is set up at the Greenwood Farm Bureau office. The display features facts, colorful graphics and a chance to win a door prize related to the commodity. At the beginning of the school year at Pillow Academy, O’Neal presented a program about seeds. “We planted cotton seeds, soybean seeds and rice seeds, and we watched them grow in cups at school,” said O’Neal. “I had so many students come back to me and ask if they could take seeds home with them.” O’Neal said last week at Pillow she still had some seeds left. “I had about 10 kids ask to take some more seeds home. So I divided up the seeds that were left there for them,” she said. “I do think there’s an interest in farming and agriculture. They just don’t have the opportunity to see it and get involved in it.” Ag in the Classroom provides that opportunity. The program allows children to acquire broader knowledge about one of the most

d~áä=lDkÉ~ä=éêÉëÉåíë=~=Ç~áêó=éêçÖê~ã=íç=píK=gçÜåDë=råáíÉÇ=jÉíÜçÇáëí=`ÜìêÅÜ éêÉJëÅÜççäÛë=PJóÉ~êJçäÇ=Åä~ëëÉëK= important industries in Mississippi and learn how it directly affects their world. It also exposes them to new experiences that make a lasting impression. “I love doing these Ag in the Classroom programs,” said O’Neal. “My husband farms, so it directly affects my life, and the kids are just so excited to hear even the books I read to them. This month, I’m read-

ing ‘Millie’s Chickens’ because it’s poultry and eggs month. We’ll just read it, and the kids will want to talk about it. Then, we’ll do some kind of activity. They just get excited about it, especially if it’s something they can touch, do or participate in. Sometimes, I’ll make puppets and they can act out the book after I’ve read it. They just get excited, and I enjoy doing it.” n


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Back to the farm

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Young Farmer of the Year Justin Jefcoat

Returned at invitation of father-in-law J

ustin Jefcoat grew up on a family farm in Shaw, but he wasn’t encouraged to go into the business. His stepfather, Milton Jefcoat, wanted him to do something else, so he chose landscape work. But after working in that field for a short time, he was invited by his father-in-law, Ray Makamson, to join a farming operation — and he went for it. Now the Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce 2015 Young Farmer of the Year has been managing his own operation since 2006 and has been based in southern Leflore County since 2009. The business, Lakeside Planting Co., has more than 2,000 acres. Jefcoat said that even after he had spent years focusing on a career in landscaping, it didn’t take long to get reacclimated to farming. “Once you learn and get to experience the farm and that kind of life, it kind of stays with you,” he said. “I’m doing what I want to do right now. It’s good.” v v v

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Jefcoat, 41, said he started working on the family farm around the age of 12, mostly cutting grass and doing other “menial tasks.” As he got old enough, he started driving tractors and trucks and hauled water tanks or whatever else was needed. There were three boys in the immediate family who could have gone into farming, but they were always advised to find other careers, he said. Jefcoat graduated from Indianola Academy in 1993 and completed a degree in landscape contracting at Mississippi State University in 1998. He got to travel while doing internships at MSU, including spending one summer in Montana, one in Oregon and one in Florida. But he eventually realized he preferred being in Mississippi. “I got to see all these places, and I just realized that this was home for me,” he said. “I’d been around and seen a lot of the country and just knew that I wanted to settle down here.” He began working for Makamson around 2000. He knew he had a lot to learn, but it helped that he had grown up on the farm around equipment and labor. “I think he saw I was struggling with the landscape business, and he needed some help, and it was a no-brainer for me,” Jefcoat said. “I was ready to go to work.” Makamson said he had never thought Jefcoat was interested in farming but suggested that he give it a try if the landscape work didn’t pan out.


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“Once you learn and get to experience the farm and that kind of life, it kind of stays with you. I’m doing what I want to do right now. It’s good.” gìëíáå=gÉÑÅç~í

gìëíáå=gÉÑÅç~í=í~äâë=ïáíÜ=çåÉ=çÑ=Üáë=ä~åÇäçêÇëI=gçÉ=`çâÉêK=^äíÜçìÖÜ=êÉíáêÉÇI=`çâÉê=ïçêâë=é~êí=íáãÉ=Ñçê=gÉÑÅç~í=ÄÉÅ~ìëÉ=ÜÉ=Éåàçóë=Ñ~êãáåÖK “He’s a good young man, and he’s a hard worker, and he’s very intelligent,” Makamson said. Makamson said his son-inlaw always carefully studies what he’s doing and keeps up with the newest technology. “I couldn’t be prouder of him,” he said. Jefcoat said his father-in-law has been a good role model over the years. “Anybody who knows him knows the way he farms, and it’s neat, and it’s kept well, and it just really impressed me,” he said. “I try to keep my place like that, but I’ll probably never get there. But he taught me a lot. I’m very grateful to him for the opportunity to start, because everybody needs help in farming to get started.” The ultimate goal, though, was to eventually go out on his own, so he soaked up all the information he needed to prepare. When the time came, he knew it was a big step and had some reservations, but he pushed ahead. “A lot of people don’t make it,” he said, adding with a laugh, “I’m still not sure I’m going to. But it’s been good to me and my family.” In addition to his father-inlaw, he said he also has gotten

advice from consultant Bruce Pittman and from Buzz Handwerker of Sanders. “I’ve called on all of them and still do,” he said. v v v

Jefcoat started with 1,050 acres in one place in Itta Bena before moving south to some family land in Morgan City. He estimated he now has 2,100 to 2,200 acres, owning 270 of those and renting the rest from family and four other landlords. Of that land, 700 to 800 acres usually are devoted to corn, about 400 to soybeans, about 400 to cotton and the rest to peanuts. “We’ve been raising peanuts since 2012, and they’ve been a challenging but interesting crop,” he said. “We’re sticking with them for now.” He has three full-time employees: George Campbell, who has been there since Jefcoat started 10 years ago, and Jose Zuniga and Rudy Pitts, who have been there about five years. In that kind of operation, everyone has to know how to do everything, and it’s worked out well, he said. “My hat’s off to them, too, because my operation wouldn’t work without them,” he said.

Jefcoat said it takes a lot of acres to make a farm work now, so he would like to add more acreage at some point, although he has “no aspirations to be a huge farmer.” Buying the newest equipment is expensive, but he said he has efficient equipment that meets his needs, and he’ll try to make it last as long as possible. “If I grew, I would have to have more equipment,” he said. “But I’d really like to grow just enough to have my same labor and my same equipment — just maybe grow a couple of hundred acres and spread that cost over more acres with less overhead.” He’s used to the long hours required in farming, and he says that doesn’t bother him at all. “It’s just the way it is,” he said. “It’s the way I watched my family as a child.” It helps to have support at home — and he said his wife of 16 years, Amanda, and his 14year-old daughter, Ann Lamar, have provided that. “If it dries up, we may be working for weeks at a time, and I don’t see my house much in the daylight,” he said. “But their understanding and their patience — I couldn’t do it without them.” n

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What’s next?

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Agricultural technology

Innovations bring big changes to farming

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ohnny Marshall’s specialty is helping John Deere customers keep up with the latest farming technology. That makes him a busy man for Wade Inc., as there seem to be big advances in agricultural technology each year. “The new technology wave really started in 2001 with GPS and auto tracking for tractors to get straight rows. Since then, it’s blown wide open,” said Marshall, Wade’s integrated solutions manager. “Everything has become much more advanced. Now that farming has gotten tighter (financially), the use of all this technology can be even more important if used correctly.” Marshall hesitates to guess how advanced farming may become in the next 10 years. “That’s hard to even guess because I would have never imagined two years ago things being where they are now,” Marshall said. “I don’t think we will ever see equipment run without a person in it, mainly because of legal issues if something went wrong. But the technology will be there to do it.” The absolutely newest thing on the market this spring for John Deere is its JDLink, a telematics system connecting all make/model machines in the field with the office and mobile devices. The technology is based on a modular telematics gateway controller that collects and transmits data via a cellular network to manage and maintain a mixed fleet of farm equipment. Marshall said the system was initially “cumbersome for customers” and that a new program has recently been written that the company is currently beta testing — the last stage of testing a computer product. The program, which for the meantime is being called a fleet efficency report before it is officially named, should be available to all customers in a few weeks. An iPad app is also in the works, according to Marshall. The program enables customers to keep track of their fleet, monitor work progress, manage logistics, access important machine information, analyze and optimize machine performance, receive alert SMS or email messages, perform remote-operator support and automate data exchange. “It’s very specific. You can track how different seed varieties do in different places in a field. This is a per-acre tool, not a perfield tool,” Marshall said. “You can monitor yield rates, highs and lows in a certain part of a field. Then the farmer can try to figure out why a certain area isn’t producing as well as others.” The new technology can also be used to view machine utilization data and monitor engine hours and maintenance needs. It can break down the total operation hours for a piece of equipment into three categories: working, idling and transporting. “It’s a great overall tool for helping boost efficency, which is bigger than ever in these tight years of farming, Marshall said. “The biggest thing is getting the work force trained because most people don’t use a tenth of what they have at their finger tips. “There is a lot of info out there, but the challenge is helping our customers best use that info.” Larry Smith, a farm manager in Glendora, uses the JDLink technology

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and says it’s proving to be a valuable management tool. “There have been a few initial setbacks, but on the whole, it’s been a big help for us. It’s a great time saver,” Smith said. Case IH has a similar advanced farmmanagement system in place, called AFS Connect.

Eddie Galey, a precision farm specialist in Greenwood for Case IH, sid his customers are just a click away from total control over their farm data. “Our system provides you real-time dashboard access to your equipment on any device. So you have instant access to location, diagnostics, fuel and engine stats — just like you would see it in the

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field — plus, the power to decide who can see or can’t see your data,” he said. AFS software enables farmers to view, edit, manage, analyze and utilize their precision farming data. “The better we can help farmers get information translates to better yields, because that’s the main thing they are looking for,” Galey said. n


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