FEEDING ABERDEEN’S GROWTH

FEEDING GROWTH ABERDEEN’S Precision agriculture is changing how farmers utilize technology and farm

by SUSAN SCRUPSKI

Matthew (right) and Scott Sperry are fourth and fifth generation farmers on their family farm in Bath, SD. Matthew is holding an iPad that is displaying field information via satellite imaging.

recently moved to Aberdeen, and I thought it would be a clever idea to pitch the editorial staff here on a tech column for this lovely magazine. I mean, I’ve been a tech writer all my life, and wouldn’t it be fun to write about tech in the Midwest? They use technology in farming, don’t they? What’s it called? AgriTech? Precision something?

WRONG! Wrong, wrong, wrong. It was not fun! This is an exceptionally deep and detailed tech sector!

“Precision ag is farming.” That was Lance Larsen, Agtegra’s Precision Service Coordinator, who set me straight at the massive co-op’s Innovation Center in Bath. He went even further, “Literally, if you’re not using precision ag, you’re not a farmer.”

Drive four miles out of Aberdeen in any direction, and you are guaranteed to land squarely in the expanse of South Dakota’s beautiful farm country. Who knew that those beautiful vistas of a crystal blue sky smiling over endless rows of healthy crops are powered by the steely precision of math, science, data, colorful LCD screens, satellites, sensors, and a whole lot more? Everyone except me, apparently. Yet, what a fascinating area of tech! Let me tell you what I learned.

For starters, the city of Aberdeen is heavily dependent on the agriculture sector. My exploration focused on the crop production community, as opposed to livestock farming which has its own rich technology story. According to the most recent USDA Census County Summary data, there are 1,034 farms (livestock and crop) in Brown County. The majority of the farms were at the extremes: $100,000 or more in sales (388 farms) or less than $2,500 in sales (376 farms).1 In total, these thousand or so family farms contributed roughly $19 million alone to the Brown County economy in 2018. There have been better years, of course, such as 2016 when that number was closer to $61 million.2

But it’s not only the farmers themselves in Brown County that fuel business in downtown Aberdeen, it’s also the extended agriculture industry with its labyrinth of ecosystem partners from tool, seed, equipment and service suppliers to the million dollar ethanol plants. In short, if ag has a good year, it has a direct impact on the city’s economic health year to year. It’s been that way since the turn of the 20th century when agriculture became a thriving industry for the county.3

And the force multiplier today behind agriculture’s success? Larsen nailed it: technology. In the ag sector, tech gets loosely lumped into “AgTech” which includes nearly everything from genetic engineering to robotics to blockchain technology. In my research, I found a Silicon Valley investor who is tracking 1,600 startups in AgTech.4 It’s a hot market. Here in Northeast South Dakota, most growers are talking about the submarket of AgTech called, “Precision Agriculture” or “precision ag” for short. There’s even a popular website with the same name I consulted to do a lot of my research. An editor there, Paul Schrimpf, kindly helped me assemble the table of information with the topmost popular key terms you need to know in this space.

It appears PrecisionAg.com grappled with some of these definitional issues itself and had to consult with the International Society of Precision Agriculture (ISPA) for an official definition: “Precision Agriculture is a management strategy that gathers, processes, and analyzes temporal, spatial, and individual data and combines it with other information to support management decisions according to estimated variability for improved resource use

Literally, if you’re not

using precision We’re fortunate here in Aberdeen to have the Agtegra ag, you’re not Cooperative, which is one of the largest agricultural a farmer. cooperatives in the U.S. It is, in fact, the largest local farmer–Lance Larsen owned ag cooperative in the U.S. Brent Wiesenburger, Agtegra’s Director of Ag efficiency, productivity, quality, profitability, and Technology Services, said he has eight million sustainability of agricultural production.” acres in his field database. That’s a lot of ground

What does that mean? It mostly means to study. Agtegra serves 6,500 member-owners that growers who depend on precision ag (743 in Brown County). A major benefit of the cotechnology are using data inputs to increase op is in its thorough field testing of new products productivity, efficiency, and increase profit. and treatments. “A lot of this technology the That’s my interpretation. Trust me, it gets growers can get themselves. Over the years, VERY complicated. But the bottom line is the we’ve done a very good job of sorting through the technology informs the grower how to make B.S. and protecting them from a really horrible more money. That’s it. Go deeper than that, and investment,” he said. you’re in some serious tech weeds. For instance, Agtegra has been looking to

Agronomists specify and prescribe the best UAVs to enhance yield in specific spots after treatments for a grower’s fields by utilizing soil the field's already planted and growing. But productivity zones. Inputs like fertilizer and seed Wiesenburger recognizes there are technology can be analyzed and optimized with rates that limitations to the prevailing standards. “Right increase and decrease throughout the field. now, the industry standard for data transfer is These sophisticated in-cab data collection and a humongous file that’s hard to push through a monitoring displays connected to planters and cell[ular network].” combines allow the grower to literally see what’s He’s right about that. I also had the opportunity happening in real-time and make decisions on to sit down with a father and son team who run the fly. a medium size farm in Bath. Scott and Matthew

Lance Larsen is the Precision Services Coordinator at the Agtegra Innovation Center in Bath, SD. He works with farmers to make sure they have the equipment they need in order to farm.

PRECISION AG COMMON TERMINOLOGY

Auto-Steer A GPS guidance system that steers agricultural equipment with centimeter accuracy. This level of accuracy requires real time kinematic (RTK) correction of GPS signals. Auto-steer is an add-on component for equipment. It includes both the GPS system to receive and process the signals, software and hardware to allow the input of control maps and the mechanical equipment to actually steer the tractor. Some new tractors are available “auto-steer ready.”

Data Layer (in GIS) A layer of information on a GIS map. A map can have many layers to present different types of information. For example, the first layer of a map may be a satellite image of an area. The next layer may have only lines that represent roads or highways. The next layer may contain topographic information and so forth.

Brent Wiesenburger is the Director of Ag Technology Services at Agtegra. He oversees testing on new precision ag tech and methods.

Flow Sensor A sensor that measures the amount of flow through an enclosure (tube, pipe or housing) per unit of time.

Geographic Information System (GIS) A computer-based system used to input, store, retrieve, and analyze geographic data sets. The GIS is usually composed of map-like spatial representations called layers which contain information on a number of attributes such as elevation, land ownership and use, crop yield and soil nutrient levels.

Global Positioning System (GPS) A system using satellite signals (radio-waves) to locate and track the position of a receiver/antenna on the Earth. GPS is a technology that originated in the U.S. It is currently maintained by the U.S. government and available to users worldwide free of charge. There are 30 satellites in the GPS constellation.

A lot of this technology the growers can get

Sperry farm 2,500 acres off Highway 12. Scott’s great themselves. grandfather started the farm in –Brent Wiesenburger the '30s, so Matthew is the fifth generation to inherit the love of farming. Matthew, now a double major at South mentioned by both Agtegra’s Larsen and at the Dakota State University (SDSU) in agronomy and Sperry farm is auto-steer, which was once an precision ag, talked about drone challenges. He option, but now comes standard on all combines said you’re still subject to bad data if you have a and tractors. “It just helps you so much. Now I bad day. “If it’s windy, the image is blurry. It’s junk just watch the machine. You can drive straight data,” he said. all day long. It was probably one of the earliest

Scott, Matthew’s Dad, sees the future in 5G. technologies available after the mapping yield “I think that 5G is going to be the real thing.” monitor,” said Scott Sperry. They both commented on how with 5G you’d With the detailed prescription maps have the speed required to send the large files programmed to control the massive planters Wiesenburger was talking about to do more and spreaders, Wiesenburger describes the instantaneous uploads to a server where large accuracy and repeatability of the GPS signal, datasets could be processed and displayed on “They’re turning a corner in a rowed field, hitting an iPad or other LCD screen in the field. the engage button on their auto-steer and going

Even today, sensors are pulling a lot of data. back to monitoring equipment or checking the Matthew points out saying, “There are sensors markets, and they don’t probably even look up on every single row of the planter. There’s a until they get to the other end of the field.” monitor that runs that and iPads that sync with It’s getting sophisticated out there. Family that monitor.” With 5G we’re expecting data- farms in the Aberdeen Area are lucky to have capture devices to proliferate in every field and excellent education options here locally. In 2016, agriculture will be no exception, as sensors are a SDSU was the first university in the country to critical component of what the tech community offer a major and a minor in precision agriculture. refers to as the Internet of Things (IoT). SDSU’s Dr. Van Kelley, the department head

The first major step-change in technology there, said they’re 95% done with the $46.1

PRECISION AG COMMON TERMINOLOGY

Precision Farming Managing crop production inputs (seed, fertilizer, lime, pesticides, etc.) on a site-specific basis to increase profits, reduce waste and maintain environmental quality. Prescribed Application The dispensing of a material or chemical into the field on a prescribed or predetermined basis. A prescription map is generated by an expert (grower and/or agronomist) based on information about the field in use before an application. The prescription determines how much of something will be applied. Soil Map A map that indicates differences in soil properties (texture, fertility, organic matter, pH, etc.) within a field. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone and also referred by several other names, is an aircraft without a human pilot aboard. The flight of UAVs may be controlled either autonomously by onboard computers or by the remote control of a pilot on the ground or in another vehicle. In agriculture, UAVs are typically used to survey crops. The available two types of UAVs – fixed-wing and rotary-wing – are both equipped with cameras and are guided by GPS. They can travel along a fixed flight path or be controlled remotely. Variable-Rate Technology (VRT) System of sensors, controllers and agricultural machinery used to perform variable-rate applications of crop production inputs. Yield Map A map that indicates differences in crop yield within a field. Data is usually collected by a yield monitor on a combine over one to three second intervals. million Raven Precision Agriculture Center. Once that is operational, they will be considering graduate Precision degrees in precision agriculture. According to Larsen at Agtegra’s agriculture is Innovation Center, Lake Area Tech and Mitchell Tech both have just the way we excellent programs, too. “Mitchell and Lake Area Tech propel the kids farm today. It’s quicker. They let their kids out in March to do internship work to an evolution get the hands-on. SDSU kids don’t get out until May. By that time, of agriculture. precision agriculture hardware has already been installed, and we’re –Dr. Gregg Carlson already in the field. The two-year grads are way ahead,” he explained.

Dr. Gregg Carlson, who’s now retired but still been doing this since '96, and our adoption in teaches a few classes in precision ag at SDSU, Brown County is second to none when I go other says a lot has changed over the 45 years or places.” A familiar refrain he hears is, “You guys so he’s been at this professionally. “From my have it so good out there.” perspective, precision agriculture is just the way When I asked him why that is, in true South we farm today. It’s an evolution of agriculture.” Dakota fashion, he pointed not only to his Yet he cautions, “It’s incredibly great technology own team, but to his competitors. “I think that is improving our accuracy in farming, which [the growers in this area] have had access to is both good and bad.” Carlson explains that really good companies that were aggressive as the efficiency, effectiveness, and price of in getting the technology out there. Agtegra, technology decreases, it creates surpluses. RDO Equipment, Titan -- all have good support And that hurts the ag economy in aggregate. networks. Early on, there were some pioneers “It’s almost a Catch-22. As an individual farmer, that really saw the need for service in the ag you have to be as good as you can be, but when technology space. I think the growers had you have more farmers getting better and access to a lot of talent over the years that could better and better, you increase the supply of help them through some of the decisions that the grain, which reduces the price. But as an had to be made. In a lot of other areas, they leave individual farmer, you don’t have a choice. You’re the grower high and dry,” he said candidly. competing for your ability to produce products,” He said there’s still a lot of work to do in he said. Carlson is looking to innovation and new precision agriculture. His focus right now is markets to solve that problem. He mentions providing an indisputable, clearly understood hemp as a possibility. return on investment for the grower. “We haven’t

One thing is for sure. If the ag business is been able to execute on that,” he admitted. going to evolve into new areas, chances are Dr. Carlson understands that motivation. Northeast South Dakota will be leading the way “Profitability of agriculture is incredibly in innovation. I heard from nearly every source important to all South Dakotans. It’s the very in this column that the Aberdeen, Brown County basis of our economic model for the state. It’s region has a reputation as a leader in adopting the profitability that pays for the electricians, new technologies. Wiesenburger, who ranks the teachers– everybody indirectly is impacted, in the top ten most influential precision ag even though they don’t know it.” The same is true experts in the country5, says he travels around for the City of Aberdeen. If the ag sector is doing the country in his position. “I have many peers well, the city is doing well. And, rest assured, in this business. I’m part of many social groups. technology will continue to drive growth and We get together, talk shop and challenges. I’ve innovation in agriculture well into the future. //

1. The National Agricultural Statistics Service 2017 Census of Agriculture. 2. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Gross domestic product (GDP) by county and metropolitan area 3. Brown County History, History Committee of Brown County Museum and Historical Society, 1980 4. Better Food Ventures 5. The Top 10 People in Precision Ag Technology, PrecisionAg.com, 2016