GPS technology
helps farmers produce their best ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY ALICE KEMP
Jay Hundley, left, and Ian Watkins use GPS to map cornfields on Cloverfield Farms in Essex County.
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he world is becoming increasingly high-tech as industries adopt new technology to meet demand and improve their efficiency—and farming is no exception. In the age of precision agriculture, Global Positioning System technology is enabling farmers to make the most of their time and money.
‘Maximize our return’
When you ask about Virginia farmers who use GPS, the name Hundley comes up—a lot. Since 2008, the Hundley family has invested heavily in technology to help maximize their operation at Cloverfield Farms in Essex County. They raise corn, soybeans and small grains on around 8,000 acres, and GPS plays a part “in pretty much every aspect of it,” said Jay Hundley, Essex County Farm Bureau president. “It goes from steering to yield 14
VIRGINIA FARM BUREAU NEWS
monitoring, section control, variablerate planting, variable-rate fertilizing,” he said. Using GPS, Hundley maps specific zones in his fields. Soil, fertilizer and yield data he’s collected over the years is compiled and analyzed by precision software, which shows him the highest- and lowest-performing zones. Ian Watkins, one of Hundley’s employees, said this allows them to determine the best way to plant the individual zones—concentrating their efforts to reduce overages and save on cost. “If there’s a spot over here that’s only going to produce 100 bushels an acre, you plant and fertilize for 100 bushels,” Watkins explained. “But if this spot over here is doing 300, you plant and fertilize it for 250.” Hundley and Watkins said customization also can be applied to planting different seed varieties. On a
Hundley points out areas in a field with varying pH levels, as indicated by GPS.
