Precision Farming Dealer editors encounter a variety of articles, social media posts, podcasts and videos that offer a unique look at various aspects of our great agricultural industry. Here is our favorite content from the past week:

• 10 Digital Technologies Transforming Agriculture
• Don’t Be Late to the Digital Party As Ag Transforms
• How Much Do You Know About the History of Strip-Till?
• Metaverse Could Enable Equipment Sales, Increased Customer Efficiency
• Speaking of VR, Gamers May Be Your Future Precision Farming Specialists

Best of the Web This Week is brought to you by Salford Group.

As global leaders with the widest range of spinner spreaders and air boom applicators in the industry, Salford Group has got you covered. Backed by over 400 application-specific dealers, eight North American parts distribution centers and revered in-field application support, we’re the partners you need to make your business as productive as possible.

10 Digital Technologies Transforming Agriculture

Aidan Connolly, president of AgriTech Capital, lays out 10 categories of technologies that are changing the way we farm in this list from Forbes. Notably, Connolly predicts 3-D printers will provide “a clear advantage” to farms worldwide for their ability to repair machinery. “It's even clearer in times of disrupted supply chains (e.g., Covid-19) or in regions of the world with their own distribution challenges (e.g., Africa).” Also on the Forbes list are the metaverse and virtual reality (scroll down to #4 of this week’s Best of the Web to read more about agricultural applications for these technologies).

Don’t Be Late to the Digital Party As Ag Transforms

Growers, retailers and manufacturers must find profit, differentiation and competitive edge through digital tools, rather than crop inputs, argues AgVend’s Collin Phillip in this article. Failing to do so means risking getting left behind as digital tools become more prevalent across the industry. “The question really is not whether or not to adopt digital tools, but rather what price one is willing to pay should they arrive late to the digital party?”

How Much Do You Know About the History of Strip-Till?

With a homemade 12-row bar and some crude row units to clear a path in the field, Illinois farmer Rich Follmer invented the mid-mount, dual-placement strip-till toolbar used by thousands of Corn Belt farmers. In this podcast from Strip-Till Farmer, Follmer, now known as the grandfather of strip-till, goes into the history of strip-till and how it changed as GPS and RTK guidance became available to farmers.

Strip-till has become a practice that relies heavily on precision in the years since Follmer built his first toolbar, and new generations of strip-tillers are pushing the limits of technology to achieve higher yields and improve soil health. Many of today’s leading strip-tillers are speaking at the 2022 National Strip-Tillage Conference in Iowa City, Iowa, July 28-29. See the lineup here.

Metaverse Could Enable Equipment Sales, Increased Customer Efficiency

Big tech companies like Facebook and Microsoft are investing in the metaverse, a network of 3-D worlds accessed through virtual and augmented reality headsets, signaling the potential for it to become a widely used platform in the future. While the metaverse has been mainly used for gaming, ecommerce and virtual work at this point, its applications in ag could be “exciting and impactful,” writes the Association of Equipment Manufacturers in this article. “In the ag sector, the potential is there for farmers to create a digital twin of their farm to plan the most efficient harvesting. They could see how new farm equipment would boost efficiency before purchasing, revolutionizing their planning process.”

Speaking of VR, Gamers May Be Your Future Precision Farming Specialists

Precision farming truly goes digital with the new Precision Farming Free downloadable content (DLC) for Farming Simulator 22 video game. John Deere and a project funded by the European Union initiated the April release that adds soil sampling, RTK, crop sensors, variable-rate application, John Deere’s See & Spray, economic analysis and a sustainability score. FarmCon 22, the annual convention for Farming Simulator players, might be the new place to recruit precision farming specialists. 

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Best of the Web This Week is brought to you by Salford Group.

At Salford Group, we have range - in our product lineup and when it comes time to apply. As global leaders with the widest range of spinner spreaders and air boom applicators in the industry, we’ve got you covered. Salford’s BBI and Valmar applicators are proven over millions of acres and range from simple, durable fleet spreaders to precision, variable rate machines engineered for high acreage, custom application. Backed by over 400 application-specific dealers, eight North American parts distribution centers and revered in-field application support, we’re the partners you need to make your business as productive as possible.

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