View From the Cab

DECATUR, Ill. (DTN) -- August sometimes shifts farm life to a slower gear. It can be a time to step back and simply watch the crop do its thing.

But for Ethan Zoerb, it felt more like a white flag was being waved to signal the last lap of a race when what he really needed was a yellow caution flag to slow things down. This week, the Litchfield, Nebraska, farmer found himself working through unexpected issues with a new spray drone while hungry spectators cheered on in the form of Western bean cutworm.

"I wasn't depending totally on the drone for application, thank goodness," said Zoerb. "I'd planned to use it in a few awkwardly shaped fields and those fields where we can't use chemigation. It was frustrating because I thought I had worked all the kinks out!"

Stuart Sanderson was in the field monitoring an irrigation pivot when DTN called this week. The northern Alabama farmer spent the earlier part of the growing season swimming in rainfall, so irrigation has been limited this year.

"Where we got planted, we have a heck of a crop coming, but it's dry now," said Sanderson, who farms near Madison. "Our late-planted double-crop soybeans, in particular, really need a drink."

Sanderson and Zoerb are reporting this year as part of DTN's View From the Cab project. This is the 21st year the feature that follows two farmers from different regions of the country to obtain perspective on crop growing conditions and rural life.

While Sanderson can monitor irrigation rigs through his phone, there's no substitute for putting eyeballs on the crop. This week, he and Zoerb discuss what ag technology tools they depend on most. Read on to learn what's new in the field this week, too.

STUART SANDERSON: MADISON, ALABAMA

Hot and dry is typical for northern Alabama this time of year. Sanderson and his farming partners at Henderson Farms have finally worked their way to normal. The pivots have been running hard for the past few weeks.

"I wouldn't mind getting a rain, so we could cut the water off for a bit," Sanderson said on July 31.

DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranack said a front has stalled out in Sanderson's region this weekend and the remnants of it will hang around long enough to cause pop-up showers and thunderstorms throughout the week.

"It's not a particularly high chance every day, but it would be weird if they didn't get a couple of days of some moderate rainfall," Baranick noted. "Temperatures are nice and mild with low 80s for highs to start the week. They should gradually rise throughout the week and probably head toward 90 by the end of the week."

Much of the corn in this area is dented and some is already at black layer. Early planted soybeans are beginning to drop leaves and could be ready to cut by late August, Sanderson observed. Double-crop soybeans planted in late June are flowering and beginning to pod.

With nearly 2,000 acres of prevented planting this year, the farm has had a weed crop to take care of too. "We've been running a vertical tillage tool over those acres," he said.

Tending irrigation pivots remains a legitimate chore but gone are the days of constantly driving to each unit to make a well-check. "Text notifications tell us if water pressure gets low or one gets out of alignment or stops for any reason," Sanderson said. "That technology saves so many headaches."

The farm has played around with agricultural drones, mostly on an experimental basis. Sanderson doesn't see them becoming a substitute for aerial application or high clearance sprayers for this farm. For one thing, farming in proximity to the Huntsville, Alabama, airspace makes operating any kind of drone problematic. When it comes to scouting by drone, he said recognition software will have to improve before it beats farmer boots and eyes in the field.

The one technological advance that he'd never want to lose is autosteer. "Our cost of operation would increase significantly if we lost that tool," Sanderson said.

The efficiencies are particularly apparent when operating the sprayer, he noted. Sanderson's records show that one recent season the farm's two John Deere sprayers, both with 1,200-gallon tanks and 120 ft. booms, had covered 40,000 acres in that crop year alone.

"I can't imagine going over that number of acres if we were physically driving at all times," he said. "The accuracy we get with RTK (real-time kinematic positioning) and the reduction realized in product overlap is enough to pay for guidance."

He also appreciates the ability to better compensate for the differences between combine head widths and tillage equipment, for example. "Equipment just runs better with guidance. You can get a little more speed out of it and it does a better job more efficiently. In my opinion, autosteer revolutionized agriculture," he added.

Return on investment (ROI) is the bottom line for technology investments on the farm, Sanderson said. Big expenditures over the years on this farm have come in grain infrastructure.

Those bins are now being readied for the coming crop. He still has about 70,000 bushels of old crop corn to move out. Combines will be rolling into the shop this week to be given a once over in anticipation of harvest.

ETHAN ZOERB: LITCHFIELD, NEBRASKA

Normally, Zoerb enjoys the challenge of figuring out a new technology tool. But this week he found himself frustrated as he tried to put a spray drone into action for the first time.

He's previously flown a drone to get a bird's eye view of the crop. But this year he upped his high-flying game with the purchase of a DGI Agras T50. He got licensed to fly it. He built a docking station out of an old car trailer. He studied and worked at getting the feel of operating the larger machine.

When Western bean cutworm showed up in his cornfields, it seemed the perfect time to use the drone on a few acres. When Western bean cutworms hatch, they move to the whorl or tassel to feed on tender leaf tissue or the tassel itself. If the tassel has already emerged, larvae move to feed on green silks until they reach the ear tip. If treatment is warranted, timing is important.

Battery issues were the hold up for Zoerb this week. Falling back on the race car analogy, batteries are the equivalent of getting new tires swapped out when you come into pit. Constantly keeping the drone powered with fresh batteries is the key to flying efficiently.

At this stage, Zoerb doesn't see drones replacing traditional chemical application methods in row-crop production on his farm. "My best productivity so far is 20 to 25 acres sprayed per hour," he said. "Swarms of drones may one day increase efficiency and change things. But for now, I don't seem them challenging aerial application, high-clearance sprayers or chemigation," he said.

"I do think a drone is a good fit for that weird-shaped field or where overhead lines are an issue," he added. Commercial drone applicators may fly multiple machines and gain efficiencies that he doesn't have with a single drone, but cost remains a factor.

As with most things, Zoerb figures more practice will eventually streamline his methods. "I've gotten better at swapping out batteries and doing the refill by myself. But there is a learning curve," he said.

As for other technology advances, he agreed that autosteer and all the things it touches would be hard to do without. "It's best not to see me drive in a field without it," he said. "The efficiencies we gain with the sprayer because of it are huge." He also appreciates being able to monitor irrigation via phone.

Irrigation duties have been much lighter than normal this year for Zoerb Farms, too. Another inch of rain dropped this past week. Recent storms rolling across Nebraska arrived with plenty of wind, he noted. A few fields have experienced slight green snap. One custom farm field experienced some hail damage.

DTN's Baranick said pop-up showers are on the radar for the Litchfield area. "Several weak disturbances move through the region throughout the coming week. Nothing looks overly organized and they could get missed by all of them," Baranick said.

"Temperatures will be very mild to start the week with highs around 80 degrees but gradually increase throughout the week with 90s in the forecast at the end of the week. That should be brief though as a front is likely to come through over the weekend and bring some rain chances and a drop in temperature again," he said.

Overall, Zoerb feels good about the current condition of the corn crop. Corn has finished tasseling and pollination checks indicate ears are filling.

"I've been watching a couple of hybrids that had some wrapped tassels, but they seem to have grown out of it," Zoerb said. "Some of our most mature corn appears to have a little tip back, but nothing that has me too worried."

Soybeans are another story. A few fields he was concerned about earlier in the season are still on the struggle bus. "Now it appears the roots don't seem to have as many nodules," he said.

One crop that is doing well is sweet corn. Zoerb remembers selling it along the roadside as a youngster. These days, the stand runs on the honor system. A dozen ears costs $4. Staggered planting keeps it available to the public for several months each summer. The third planting went in around July 4.

"That planting only has four or five leaves on it, so we're going to have corn for a while this year," he said.

Pamela Smith can be reached at pamela.smith@dtn.com

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