As the dust settles on the dissolution of John Deere’s planned acquisition of Precision Planting, there is plenty of speculation and rumors on who will emerge as the next viable buyer.

If you haven't heard from now, Monsanto has terminated its agreement to sell its Precision Planting division to John Deere.  Only those inside these companies really know what led to the end of this agreement, but the press releases help us piece together what happened.

It’s easy to view IoT as an abstract concept, but precision dealers don’t have this luxury. Understanding and then explaining the practical value of data-driven tools to customers is increasingly essential.

As we are in the midst of putting our crop in this year, there are a few things that some of us take for granted. One of those is straight rows, which most any system can deliver.

Frustration if often a byproduct of progress and as any precision specialist will tell you, helping customers integrate new technology into their operation comes with a hitch or two.

Dicamba drift issues are a big concern this summer, making me wonder how willing farmers will be to trust the recommendations from their ag data platforms on when it is OK to spray. An even better question is: what happens if the platform's recommendation gets it wrong, resulting in Dicamba drift and nearby crop damage?

Having visited with dozens of precision farming specialists — often at their dealership — one of the things I take note of is their interaction with customers, fellow employees and me.

We’ve all probably been in the situation where casually committing to an obligation is a short-term way to delay dealing with it. I can recall at least a few occasions where procrastination seemed like a good idea at the time.

All too often, in Precision Ag, we get drawn in by the shiny new objects. The newest gadget or widget on the market garners all of our attention, and we wait to learn more and learn its ROI. And when this happens, all too often we forget about some of the older players on our bench.

Despite forecasters calling for brief, but unwelcome snow showers this week in our area, I’m still ready to ride the wave of annual motivation that is spring cleaning.