Computers and satellites are playing an increasingly important role on farms, allowing farmers to make smarter and potentially more profitable management decisions.

Among the technological tools being used in what is known as precision farming are global positioning systems (GPS) and geographic information systems (GIS). GPS uses a network of 24 satellites to pinpoint specific locations on Earth, while GIS software gives farmers the ability to gather, store and analyse large amounts of data.

Rick Willemese and his father Simon, who farm 1,100 acres in Parkhill about 45 minutes northwest of London, have seen the value of computers since they bought their first computer, an Apple IIe, in 1981. Despite having only 64Kb of memory and no hard drive (data was stored on two floppy disks) "It gave you the ability to do calculations without having to use a pencil," Simon says.

Twenty-five years later, Rick Willemese's tractor is equipped with an HP iPAQ PDA that is linked to a GPS unit, as well as whatever implementation device, such as a cultivator or a planter, that he is working with. The three interlinked systems record all the activity from the day's work.

Photos by Mark Spowart, Business Edge
Rick Willemese loads corn seed in the planter as he prepares for another busy season at Yellowgold Farms.

The iPAQ was purchased last year after about five years of trial-and-error experimentation with equipment and data collection.

It's allowed the farmers to create GPS maps of their fields so that they know where they are and what needs to be applied. The computer then adjusts the application rate of whatever they are adding to the crops to the exact amount needed at that moment.

"The iPAQ allows me to log my inputs (seeds/fertilizer); it allows me to log where I put my inputs, so if I subsequently apply fertilizer to a specific area, I can go back later and say: 'Yup, this is where I put it and this is how much,' " he says.

"When I go to harvest, the combine also has a unit installed that logs yield ... every second. And I can take data from both (combine and tractor) and through a mapping program, lay one (map) on top of the other and see if it actually made any difference," the third-generation farmer says.

The family's farm, Yellowgold Farm, is a grain and oilseed operation that grows corn, wheat, soybeans and other edible beans.

While Rick and Simon agree that computers don't free up time, because they add a layer of paperwork and time to learn new programs, the additional information and its accuracy is the payoff for the investment.

"It is a very important tool. There is a bit of a learning curve ... a steep learning curve," says Rick, who tries to use precision farming techniques on a daily basis when he can. "Twenty years ago the adoption curve for technology was four years. Today it is about 40 minutes, because that's how long it takes the guy to drive home from the meeting where he learned about it.

"If there is a buck to be had they'll (farmers) adapt real quick," Rick says. "If they can spend $8 an acre to make $10 an acre then they'll do it."

The technology also assists the farmers at Yellowgold Farms with another critical aspect of farming - soil management.

"Before, you did soil samples and management decisions based on a whole field," Rick says. "Each part of the field has different characteristics and now with technology, we are able to manage them. Rather than going to a whole-field treatment, now we can go to a half-acre treatment."

A 'lightbar' is used assist in keeping the tractor on a straight line.

"What works on one farm doesn't work on the other," says Ivan O'Halloran, an associate professor and soil specialist at the University of Guelph's Ridgetown campus.

The university offers specific courses that deal with technology, such as GPS and grid-mapping fields, since some field areas do not produce at the same rate as others in the same field. "Typically, headlands (the area at the end of a row, where tractors turn) are low yielding and there is no sense in putting the main crop in there," O'Halloran says While precision farming allows farmers to make better use of their inputs and produce crops cheaper than in the past, the lower cost doesn't always equate to higher profits.

"Everytime we produce cheaper there is always somebody taking away at the top end," Rick says. "Margins are tight to begin with. This allows you to make fewer mistakes.

"There is no room for error in this business anymore. You are either going to be on the ball and on your game all day long or get out," he says.

The Yellowgold farmers have also sought out other competitive advantages such as doing their own marketing to sell their products, as well as using hedging strategies on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) to lock in prices.

"As soon as you adopt a new technology, you have about a year or two, if you're smart, to make some money at it. After that everybody looks at it and says 'Hey!' and they adopt it and then you have to find something else," Rick says.

"If you are going to be in agriculture today, you have to be innovative and aggressive, or you're going to be out in short order and short a lot of money," he says.

The Yellowgold farmers also use a "lightbar," a device set approximately at eye level on the front window of the tractor that has a row of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) running horizontally, along with a small monitor below the lights. It is designed to ensure that planting is done in a straight line.

"I can work in the dark without lights ... if I wanted to, but you don't want to. It's accurate to within eight to nine inches, 90 per cent of the time," Rick says.

"Every day is a research project" he says, adding that the collected information is sent to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, which then uses it to help formulate new ideas and best practices to improve farming.

"The consumer is No. 1. They are the ultimate customer. You want to make sure that what you grow is the best stuff for them," Rick Willemese says.

(Mark Spowart can be reached at spowart@businessedge.ca)