Technology helping farmers operate more effectively and efficiently

Farm technology has come a long way in the past few decades! From cell phone apps to Global Positioning Systems, farmers have more opportunities than ever to incorporate the newest and best ideas into their operations.

Surprisingly, many of the newest technological advancements are common in everyday life and just used differently on farms.

Ultrasound technology is most commonly seen in doctors’ offices, but farmers have taken the ultrasound machine out of the obstetrician’s examining room and brought it to the dairy.

Cattle producers can use ultrasound machines to detect pregnancy as well as determine fetal viability, gender and calving date. This knowledge allows producers to make better management decisions for their females.

Ranchers can closely predict calving date so that females have proper caret calving time and can plan sales of animals based on gender before calves are even born.

Here in Imperial Valley, we practice this use of technology. California is the largest dairy state, and while we have only two remaining dairies here, we have a great number of cattle feed lots.

While the female stays at the dairy to produce milk, the male is shipped to a feed lot.

Beef cattle producers are also using ultrasound technology in a very innovative way. This same ultrasound technology can take images between the 12th and 13th ribs on the body of an animal destined for slaughter.

These images capture intramuscular fat, or marbling, ribeye area, and rib fat which all reflect the quality of the meat. Farmers can use this information to determine when the animal is ready to be sold and can help buyers price the animals.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, also known as drones, can play a huge role in agriculture. While the Federal Aviation Administration is still working on regulations for drones in agriculture, farmers can already see many potential uses for them.

Crop scouting to find insects, diseases and weeds in fields can be done with drones, saving farmers time, labor and money. Improvements are still needed to include real-time access to be able to use a drone for irrigation.

Farmers are also taking hold of GPS for use in precision agriculture. GPS receivers are positioned on combines, tractors and sprayer cabs.

Using this technology, farmers can avoid planting rows too close or too far apart. Farmers can also use GPS along with drones to identify spots in the field that need tillage, pesticides, or fertilizer — that way, the whole field doesn’t get tilled or sprayed. This helps reduce fuel emissions and improve efficiency by minimizing overlap of implement passes. This is a great way for farmers to save money and preserve the environment.

GPS is used here to level the field. The irrigation system is based on gravity flow.

The fields are leveled so the source of the water (the canal) is slightly higher than the other end of the field and any excess water flows to the drain.

When this leveling technique is used in flood irrigation, it is a great way to save water since the field is efficiently and effectively irrigated.

The deep-water penetration with flood irrigation increases yield, in essence “more crop for the drop”.

For farmers today, efficiency and constant improvement is crucial. Incorporating new technology is one way for farmers to change the way they operate for the better — helping them make better business decisions, be more efficient, and produce a better product. Kay Day Pricola is executive director of the Coalition of Agriculture, Labor and Business Imperial Valley. She can be reached at Kay@colabimperial.com