The advancement of precision agriculture technology, such as drones, can provide an efficient solution for early-season field scouting. In contrast to traditional scouting, drone scouting can be less time-consuming, have more thorough field coverage, and be less labor intensive.
Recent conversations and sightings of drones in rural areas have producers raising questions, such as “what can I do about suspicious drone activity” and “can I shoot down a drone over my property?”
Dealers gathered for a 60-minute roundtable discussion to share some of their top precision revenue opportunities. "Drones are one of the fastest growing segments in application and agriculture. There are massive revenue opportunities with sales and repair."
Today, there are more than 400,000 spray drone operators globally, and an even greater network of partners has emerged to train, service, and sell products to these operators.
Most no-tillers (70.5%) will use a tractor with GPS-guided auto-steer and capture their yield data with a yield monitor (61.4%). Over half of no-tillers will also use field mapping (56.1%) and auto-seed shutoff (51.6%). Adoption of all four technologies is up from 2024.
Strip-tillers continue to be heavy users of precision technology, according to Strip-Till Farmer's 12th annual Strip-Till Benchmark Survey. 89% of strip-tillers who responded to the survey will use GPS tractor auto-steer in 2025, 74% will use yield monitor data analysis and 68% will use field mapping.
There’s a lot of buzz among farmers about the buzz of drones coming from the air. To convert some of that curiosity into actual sales, dealers need a certain level of expertise — and a certain willingness to do a little hand-holding.
“It’s a way to bring customers onto our service team and teach them what we know. They won’t grasp everything, but they’ll take some knowledge back to their own operation and it will give them confidence in what they’re doing.”
The latest Day in the Cab installment takes us to the northwest corner of Illinois, where precision specialist Dave Thompson holds down the fort for Johnson Tractor in the small town of Amboy — one of 11 locations for the Illinois and Wisconsin Case IH dealer.
Adam Gittins cautions farmers to control their natural reaction to “sticker shock” when shopping for precision agriculture technology, and to realize the rapid ROI such tools can provide.
From technician to service manager to now chief technology officer, Layne Richins has pretty much seen it all in his 20-plus year career with Stotz Equipment. And now he’s at the forefront of implementing AI at the 24-store John Deere dealership.
DigiFarm VBN is a proven leader in providing RTK Correction Services across the Midwest and beyond, via cellular based RTK network. We have been in business since 2011 working with farmers, Ag retailers, and precision Ag dealers
We leverage our years of experience and industry knowledge to deliver solutions that keep you moving forward. For more than 30 years, our team of entrepreneurs and technicians have focused on understanding the hurdles you face. Then we brainstorm possibilities. Whether it’s offering a replacement part, repairing parts that aren’t working or creating custom solutions for your challenge. We’re experts in ag equipment electronic parts and systems. But more importantly, we make connections to keep your operation moving forward.
Hexagon is the global leader in digital reality solutions, combining sensor, software and autonomous technologies. We are putting data to work to boost efficiency, productivity, quality and safety across industrial, manufacturing, infrastructure, public sector, and mobility applications.