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24-hour field check-ins

An ag technology specialist says in-field remote sensing is a game changer for farmers.

Chad Colby with Colby Ag Tech tells Brownfield remote sensors in the ground and scattered throughout fields will be able to monitor fertility, moisture and soil health like never before in the next few years.  “If you have pivots and irrigation, if you have a drainage problem, and then if you’re fighting disease in the field or fertility—that’s tremendously exciting over the next two to three years because simply we’ve never listened to the soil except when we did a soil sample every two or three years, now we can listen to the soil from our smart phone 24 hours a day.”

Colby says one of the hardest parts of adapting new technology is getting started and the easiest thing he recommends is farmers upgrading mobile and tablet devices.  “When I talk to a farmer, and say he has a nice $300,000 combine but his iPad is four years old – trust me – the best $500 you’ll spend on your farm in the next three months will be upgrading to the new one and you won’t know that until you get it into your hand, and it’s so much better.”

He says the speed ag technology is advancing is only getting faster and will continue to help farmers manage crops in real time.

Colby spoke with Brownfield during this weeks the Great Lakes Crop Summit in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.

AUDIO: Interview with Chad Colby

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