Ag Tech 2024

‘You’ve got the power in your hands’

Agronomy, autonomy and drones: Pegasus Robotics remains rooted in Iowa agriculture

By DARCY DOUGHERTY MAULSBY Farm News writer

BARNUM — About 10 years ago, drones seemed poised to transform farming, with their onboard cameras, mapping technology and more. Yet this technology didn’t quite take off as expected in agriculture. All that’s changing, however, with today’s drone technology.

“When I worked with mapping drones in the past, they never really reached their potential,” said Nathan Stein, 40, a pioneer in the drone industry who farms in the Barnum/Clare area. “Today’s drones, however, are a game-changer for farmers.”

Technology companies began developing drones for agricultural uses in the early 2000s.

By the 2010s, more farmers started experimenting with drones for crop monitoring, mapping and more. Those early drones were relatively expensive, though, and required significant technical expertise to operate.

While drones didn’t become as commonplace on farms as tractors, these unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) continued to evolve. Thanks to powerful imagery technology and digital systems to define field boundaries, today’s drones allow the precise application of crop protection products, fertilizer and more.

“Now you can apply products exactly to the acres you want, where you want, when you want,” said Stein, who has worked with drones since 2012.

From the farm to Pegasus Robotics

Stein’s many years of practical experience have propelled him to the forefront of the drone industry. He founded Pegasus Robotics in 2022 with business partners Arthur Chen and Davin York (who farms in Missouri) to supply innovative, drone robotic technology for farmers.

Pegasus Robotics, which started selling XAG drones in 2023, is the exclusive

distributor of XAG drones in the United States and Canada. “XAG has about 200,000 of these drones operating worldwide,” said Stein, who noted that XAG is based in China. “They are coming to the U.S. market after being in the ag drone business for 16 years.”

XAG is one of the companies — along

See PEGASUS, Page 11D

2023,

-Photo courtesy of Pegasus Robotics

PEGASUS ROBOTICS, which started selling XAG drones in

is the exclusive distributor of XAG drones in the United States and Canada.

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They've got producers' backs

ISU’s veterinary diagnostics laboratory assists livestock farmers

By DOUG CLOUGH Farm News writer

AMES — Brian Lundell is a contract grower out of Kiron for the AudubonManning Vet Clinic (AMVC), a top-10 United States hog producer. He began his relationship with AMVC in 2012. Lundell earned the title “Master Pork Producer” from the Iowa Pork Producers Association in 2019. When Farm News spoke with him at that time, he said, “The animal’s well-being is what I have the most impact on every single day,” said Lundell. “Their overall care is what I can control: feed, water, ventilation, proper vaccination, and to sort and load in a way that is the least stressful on them.”

One of the reasons that Lundell is a happy hog farmer is that his care is backed up by AMVC.

“If there’s a health concern that the manager or I see, we get in contact with the AMVC veterinarian,” said Lundell. “The veterinarian will come through the barn to take blood or saliva samples and take them to the lab. If we have a recently deceased pig, an evaluation will be made — sometimes samples taken — to see what caused the death; the results could help us to determine what kind of medication we need to administer to the herd, if necessary, to keep an illness controlled.”

One of those AMVC veterinarians is Dr. Katie Beckman and — along with Iowa State University’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (VDL) — she assists in a portion of the care of the AMVC 900,000 market pigs in Iowa.

“The ISU Vet Lab specializes in swine samples,” said Beckman, who has been with AMVC since June of 2022. “They get a lot of swine samples from across the whole country sent to them to be tested. They have great customer service, great turnaround times and a variety of tests available. ISU really stands out by making a name for themselves with swine diagnostics.”

Beckman has responsibilities over both

sow farms and grow-to-finish operations. “Sow farm visits can be routine,” said Beckman. “Sometimes you’re going to investigate a problem. Grow-to-finish visits can be similar, but a lot of times if I'm going to a farm, it’s because the production manager or producer called me because the pigs are sick. Sometimes, something unique is noticed, and they want me to go check it out. A lot of times I take diagnostics, and then send those off to the lab. We use those results then to recommend a treatment protocol for those pigs.”

The ISU Veterinary Diagnostic Lab originated in 1978 with updates over the years. Recently, a new facility was designed with surge capacity in mind, and VDL researchers are studying high throughput testing machines that use

microfluidics to process 30,000 tests a day compared to a standard machine’s 2,000. VDL faculty and staff began work in the completed portion of the lab’s new facility in late March.

“We use the ISU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory all the time,” said Beckman. “We submit a lot of samples to that lab to be tested. We can use the samples to diagnose sick pigs. We can use it for disease surveillance. The beauty about that lab is it’s pretty much in our backyard, so we can have results quickly. Those results help us make timely decisions on treatment and pig flow.”

In fiscal year 2023, Iowa State’s VDL processed more than 124,000 cases involving nearly 1.7 million individual tests. It marked the 13th consecutive year that the lab’s caseload has increased.

-Photo courtesy of the National Pork Board

DR. KATIE BECKMAN is shown here in an unidentified hog barn. She is a Purdue graduate who has worked for the AudubonManning Veterinary Clinic since June 2022. “We use the ISU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory all the time,” said Beckman. “We submit a lot of samples to that lab to be tested. We can use the samples to diagnose sick pigs. We can use it for disease surveillance. The beauty about that lab is it’s pretty much in our backyard.”

The increase was driven more by disease prevention than identification. Improved methods for collecting and analyzing samples have led to a boom in population-wide health monitoring.

“The industry cannot function without that diagnostic lab,” said Beckman. “Part of our profession is practicing evidencebased medicine, and we must have those diagnostics and those results to do that. What we do every day, we couldn't do without that lab.

“Sometimes they can just help us make timely decisions on how to react to a situation. The timely diagnostics help us detect early, so we can slow down or stop the spread of disease. We use those results to make sure we are picking the correct antibiotics or the correct treatments to care for those pigs. It’s one way we prevent overuse of antibiotics, so that lab is important to make sure, as an industry, we maintain goals for antimicrobial stewardship.”

Hog producer Lundell is content knowing that the ISU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory supports Beckman and his annual 20,000-count swine operation.

“The lab is a large contributor to our overall success,” said Lundell. “I just can’t over-emphasize what the VDL means to my pig’s health and our farm’s ability to be run well and profitably so.”

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Smart digital agriculture

Iowa State hosts ag-focused AI hackathon

By DARCY DOUGHERTY MAULSBY Farm News writer

AMES — Could a hackathon help unleash powerful technology like artificial intelligence (AI) to help farmers work more efficiently and make smarter management decisions, from pest management to grain marketing?

It’s a challenge that Iowa State University instructors and students embraced earlier this spring at their first “TrACathon.”

“This may be the only event of its kind in the Midwest,” said Priyanka Jayashankar, adjunct assistant professor in marketing at ISU’s Ivy College of Business. She spent months working with peers across campus, along with Madhu Viswanathan, a professor at Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles) and professor emeritus/University of Illinois UrbanaChampaign, as well as Ron Duncan, a farmer from Illinois, to prepare the first farmer-engaged hackathon at the university on March 2.

“I know of no other one like it,” she said.

During an AI hackathon, people engage in rapid, collaborative engineering during a relatively short period of time. AI hackathons enable data scientists to solve real-world data challenges using AI and machine learning. Graduate and undergraduate students with science and engineering skills and agricultural interests or experience were encouraged to participate in ISU’s TrACathon.

Prior to the ISU event, project leaders interviewed farmers across Iowa to learn about the pain points they face with crop production, marketing, weather forecasting and more.

“We worked with farmers of all sizes

BASED ON IOWA FARMERS’ INPUT, student-led teams at Iowa State University developed artificial intelligence tools for agriculture during the TrACathon, a “hackathon” competition that was held at the ISU Student Innovation Center in Ames on March 2.

and types to really understand their needs, from pest and disease management to soil testing,” Jayashankar said.

That’s why ISU’s TrACathon took a slightly different approach than a typical hackathon, which usually spans 24 to 48 hours. “We worked on this from late fall of 2023 to early March 2024,” Jayashankar said.

Based on the farmers’ input, studentled teams developed AI tools for agriculture during the TrACathon, which was held at the ISU Student Innovation Center in Ames. Each team was allowed to select one area to work on, including:

n Computer vision for plant disease detection.

n Computer vision for plant pest detection.

n AI for agriculture weather prediction (precipitation, soil moisture, drought, snow cover, etc.)

n AI for crop yield prediction.

The teams’ projects were judged by a diverse group of farmers and agribusiness professionals from across Iowa. The event helped connect real-world farming needs with potential AI solutions that can be integrated into agriculture in the future.

is, what if technology could determine whether that insect is a friend or foe in crop production?” Ball asked. “This technology could be used with a drone that could spot-spray insect pests as the drone flies over a field.”

More than 60 faculty members from a variety of disciplines within ISU, from mechanical engineering to computer science to agronomy and animal science, are affiliated with TrAC.

“Innovation shouldn’t happen in a silo,” Jayashankar said. “Partnerships are key to connect the dots and develop practical, affordable, scalable solutions.”

Farmers judge teams’ solutions

TrAC sponsored the ISU TrACathon, which ran from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and included approximately 18 to 20 students.

As the students worked in eight teams, they were encouraged to consider the needs of a diverse range of farmers, from a 2,000-acre corn and soybean grower to an immigrant farmer/refugee from Africa who is interested in raising casava in Iowa.

“Never underestimate Iowa farmers,” said Jayashankar, who has been researching AI and agriculture since 2016. “They’ve always been ahead of the curve and have been among the early adopters of many technologies, from hybrid corn to precision ag.”

Translational AI Center connects research, real-world uses

The March 2 hackathon included ISU’s College of Engineering, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the Iowa State University Translational AI Center (TrAC).

“We work closely with business and industry as we translate AI research into real-world applications,” said Jessica Ball, assistant director of TrAC, which was established about two years ago. “Faculty members work on research that’s relevant to the needs of business today, including AI tools for farmers.”

That might mean taking an insect identification mobile app to the next level, for example.

“While the technology already exists to have an app analyze a picture of an insect to determine what the insect

“We want to make technology relevant and accessible to everyone,” Jayashankar said. “This challenged students to think outside the box during the hackathon.”

When students pitched their concepts to the judges, the farmers and agribusiness professionals could ask the students questions about their technology solutions, many of which involved mobile app development.

Professor Madhu Viswanathan led a market immersion session to give a bottom-up perspective toward innovation, which lent a unique dimension to the hackathon.

The top three winning teams earned cash prizes. Many of the winners were international students, Jayashankar noted. Judges included Reed Burres, 28, a third-generation agriculturalist and principal agent with AgriPeril, a crop insurance and risk-management business in Humboldt.

“I utilized my perspective as not only a farmer, but someone who is actively looking for ways to utilize technology further and more effectively in our

-Photo courtesy of Iowa State University

Priyanka Jayashankar

“The most Economical and Farmer Friendly Tender on the market.”

Educating the market

By DOUG CLOUGH Farm News writer

DES MOINES — Stephen Moldovan, biological product manager for Iowa’s division of Growmark FS, knows that agricultural biologicals are not a new thing, but he still uses a significant percentage of his time educating the market.

“Biologicals, overall, are a confusing topic because there is no real definition. Generally, you've got two categories of biologicals: there are products with living organisms, and then you’ve got biostimulants which are substances that, when applied to seeds and plants, stimulate natural processes to enhance or benefit nutrient uptake and yield. Most biostimulants are either extracts or natural derivatives from living organisms; they’re not necessarily alive, but they are derived from a biological source.”

Biostimulants make up 80% of the biological products that Growmark FS finds are successful with improving customers’ yield.

“A biostimulant is basically any product that’s naturally derived that we’re trying to apply to get a response from a plant,” said Moldovan. “For example, we have a product that we put on with the fungicide pass, late in the corn life cycle, and the ingredients in that product increase the amount of sugar moved from the leaves of the corn plant to the ear, so we see an increase in yield.

“Basically, when we’re applying a biostimulant, we’re trying to elicit a response from the plant that is favorable to give us more bushels, which is going to make that grower more money.”

Hackathon

“Basically, when we're applying a biostimulant, we're trying to elicit a response from the plant that is favorable to give us more bushels, which is going to make that grower more money.”

STEPHEN MOLDOVAN Biological product manager, Iowa’s division of Growmark FS

And while biologicals aren’t necessarily new, Moldovan says, there are a lot of new technologies that have allowed companies like Growmark FS to produce better products.

“We look at biologicals similarly to the way we looked at fungicide 20 years ago,” said Moldovan. “The farmer who’s applying fungicide on all his acres at that time was looked at as kind of out there — it wasn’t as common as it is today. Now, as the markets develop, we see over half of growers applying fungicide on all their acres. Similarly, it used to be rare to see people use biologicals, but — as we’ve seen improvements — more farmers are using them.”

Moldovan says that advances in biologicals are occurring due to the ability to sequence genetics of plants.

“We can sequence the genomes of these plants, whether it’s kelp or another living organism,” said Moldovan. “The genetics can be sequenced, so we can identify the gene that controls drought tolerance, using that information to create

Continued from Page 5D

operation,” Burres said. “The main criteria that I analyzed was viability of the teams’ AI solutions and how significantly these might improve decision making on our operation.”

Burres was pleased to see the different approaches each team took with their AI applications and presentations. He was especially interested in the team that focused on applying technology to

Biologicals complement corn, soybean and alfalfa care

a product which works for the soil and the corn and soybeans. Finding out what genes control those characteristics, and harnessing it, is one of the key drivers to the biologicals boom.”

Moldovan said the market is growing for two reasons: users are having success in growing their yields and, secondarily, success has led to additional marketing.

“Marketing of biological use is different from company to company,” said Moldovan. “There are some independent companies that are out there that want to use biologicals to replace traditional fertilizers. Growmark sees biologicals as a value add; as we see it, you’ve got your traditional fertilizers, and you’ve got your herbicides that you need to control weeds. These products are a key addition to helping manage stress in a plant and improve the farmers’ bottom line. We look at biologics as an additive to what we’re doing that’s already successful. We know that biologicals can increase the successful program of already successful farmers.”

Moldovan uses biologicals in the high yield programs he promotes through Growmark FS cooperatives.

“I give 20 to 30 talks a year on our high-yield programs, using biologicals to increase yields in corn and soybeans,” said Moldovan. “We start the presentations with getting the basics covered first; you want to do all the basic agronomy, the fertilizer, picking the right seed, getting your pH in the soil right. You want to have those things under control and then you move to biologicals as the next step to go for higher yields.”

Moldovan’s conversations then turn to four-pass programs: a planting pass, two herbicide passes, and a fungicide pass.

“We don’t want to have the grower incurring extra expense of driving over the field an extra time. The products we choose are ride-alongs; they go in with your regular pesticide application or they’ll go in at the planter pass or they’ll go in with your fungicide pass,” Moldovan said. “A typical program that we would include is a nutritional that goes on the seed at planting. When you go to spray your post-herbicide pass, we’ll put a biostimulant in to help either reduce stress or increase the speed of growth. We also include a foliar nutritional to help the plant absorb nutrients.”

Moldovan noted that the micronutrient paired with the biostimulant really allows for an increased response since the combination is telling the plant to get bigger and then feeding it the nutrients it needs as it grows. As the fungicide pass comes, Moldovan usually adds in a kelp extract that helps transport sugar from the leaves of the plant into the grain, increasing efficiency and yield.

financial/economic issues in agriculture.

“Grain marketing is by far one of the most important aspects that determines whether we’re able to turn a loss into profit or not, so that team’s approach was interesting,” he said. “I enjoyed the numerous agronomic AI applications, as well.”

The ISU TrACathon offered an excellent opportunity for the judges to

get a first-hand look at some of the innovations that might soon impact agriculture, Reed added. “AI will one day help aid us more significantly in our risk-management decisions, whether that be agronomic or economic.”

The ISU TrACathon sparked a lot of interest among students, ISU staff and farmers.

“We hope this encourages further

innovation,” said Jayashankar, who added that ISU plans to continue offering this unique competition and learning opportunity.

Burres looks forward to the ways technology will continue to transform farming and agribusiness. “As a young person in agriculture, I’m excited to see what opportunities we’ll have in the next 25 years.”

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with DJI — vying for a bigger share of the ag drone market in America. DJI started as a camera company that evolved into drones, Stein said. XAG, however, was developed as a spray-drone company from the start.

“XAG drones are tough, sturdy vehicles, compared to DJI drones,” Stein said.

XAG’s durable, efficient, easy-to-repair drones start around $34,900. A dry spreader can be added for an extra $2,400. Each drone is backed by comprehensive training and support, Stein added. “You can easily go from spraying to spreading with an XAG drone. The technology provides advanced solutions to equip farms of all sizes for the future of precision agriculture.”

Drones can fly

31 miles per hour

XAG drones are changing the way producers farm, Stein noted, in terms of efficiency and precision. The Pegasus Robotics XAG P100 drone has been billed as one of the fastest, largest drones on the market. It can hold up to 14 gallons. It flies 31 miles per hour while spraying and weighs 210 pounds fully loaded. It takes about 10 to 12 minutes to recharge and refill one of these drones.

“We’re licensed applicators who use drones to apply products to our own acres, and we fly drones for other farmers,” said Stein, who has used drones to spread urea and other crop inputs. “We do everything by the book, the way the Federal Aviation Administration wants things done.”

Pegasus Robotics also has spray drone trailers that provide automatic chemical batching and more.

quickly and swap the batteries, but there’s a huge safety benefit. This system limits chemical exposure and reduces overmixing.”

Another thing that sets XAG drones apart from the competition is the way their batteries charge in water. This helps the batteries cool down a lot faster, especially on hot days. The rechargeable batteries on XAG drones have a long life, Stein said.

“We’ve been running batteries that are three years old.”

Pegasus Robotics covered 10,000 acres with spray drones in 2023. One drone can handle approximately 500 acres a day, and the Pegasus team usually operates two drones per field.

“Today’s drones offer great opportunities to enhance farm productivity and crop yields. You’ve got the power in your hands.”

NATHAN STEIN Founder, Pegasus Robotics

available through Pegasus Robotics, suits a wide array of needs, including Midwestern corn and soybean growers, California grape growers, Christmas tree growers in North Carolina, and wheat producers in the Great Plains and southwestern United States.

Iowa,” Stein said. “There’s no problem going up and down hills and terraces.”

president of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation. They also met with representatives from Rep. Randy Feenstra’s office and Sen. Joni Ernst’s office.

“We talked a lot about data privacy, international grain trade and more,” said Stein, who hosted a dealer training session at Lizard Creek Ranch while the company representatives from China were in Iowa. “We also got a great tour of the Cargill corn processing facility at the ag business park west of Fort Dodge.”

Pegasus Robotics, which has 50 XAG dealers across the United States, is setting up a warehouse by Barnum. The company is recruiting more dealers and other talent to handle a variety of jobs within the company, from customer support to marketing.

Stein wants to help American farmers maximize useful technologies like drones to remain competitive in the global marketplace. “Brazil and Mexico are adopting this technology much faster than the United States,” he noted. “They are leapfrogging ahead.”

The advanced technology in modern drones offers U.S. farmers a powerful, efficient tool, whether they need to terminate a cover crop with herbicide or apply crop protection products and fertilizer with greater precision.

Drones can also be an asset to the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy.

“We run our trailers like a NASCAR pit spot,” Stein said. “Not only can we fill the tank

Drones boost farming efficiency

XAG’s drone technology,

“We’ve sprayed in the Loess Hills in western Iowa and in the hilly acres of Tama County,

Stein recently hosted four guests from the XAG team in China when they visited America for the first time in midMarch. The team spent several days in the Fort Dodge area and visited the Manson-area farm of Brent Johnson, the founder of Labre Crop Consulting and

“This technology has a lot of potential to address environmental issues,” Stein said.

Stein also believes the agricultural drone market is poised for exponential growth.

“Today’s drones offer great opportunities to enhance farm productivity and crop yields,” he said. “You’ve got the power in your hands.” Pegasus Continued from Page 1D

-Photo courtesy of Pegasus Robotics

XAG COMPANY REPRESENTATIVES from China visit the Manson-area farm of Brent Johnson (second from left) earlier this spring. Johnson also serves as the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation president.

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