HILLSBORO, N.D. - They called it the FarmLogs Roadshow, and it drew about 50 farmers and others to a Red River Valley farm shop to learn about the impact of one of the players in the high-tech data technology field. The first-of-its-kind event for FarmLogs was held at the farm of Jon Bertsch, 29, of Hillsboro, N.D., who has taken the reins at the family farm after his father died in 2012. Bertsch thinks the return on investment for embracing FarmLogs will be a 1.5 to 2 times the investment, depending on the price of the commodities. Related content Jesse Vollmar, co-founder and CEO of FarmLogs in Ann Arbor, Mich., says the company started in 2012 to help farmers “leverage technology” better on the farm. FarmLogs is among a growing list of companies trying to develop the market for production and other advice for farmers based on the satellite or remote-sensed data collection. Other companies recently working to reach farmers are Agrible, FarmDock and GrainBridge, and some on the marketing side, such as Growers Edge and others, are competing in the space. FarmLogs measures and monitors how a crop is performing using satellite imagery, Vollmar says. “We can get that feedback in-season on how our crops are responding, how we can react to weather that has been given to us,” he says. Some of the companies competing in the market have grown from the tech world or big agriculture companies that like to sell through their channels. FarmLogs goes directly to the growers and promotes a strong privacy policy. Vollmar, who grew up in his family’s farming operation, says his company is different because it doesn’t require farmers to have a lot of data initially, but uses six years of satellite data from “every field in the country” already loaded into FarmLogs. “This technology isn’t going away,” Bertsch says. “Let’s get it going now. The more that we use it, we’re going to see in certain fields where it’s going to shine.” He thinks maybe one in ten farmers are embracing this kind of technology. The technology is important on corn, but he also identifies weed and disease trends in soybeans. He also raises wheat and sunflowers as rotation crops. FarmLogs uses data from a constellation of five small satellites called “RapidEye,” which captures both visible and infrared data. Among other things, the images can show the plant is absorbing light or producing chlorophyll through photosynthesis. “Nutrient stress and equipment patterns in the field can be detected at a five-meter resolution,” Vollmar says. Yield maps available in the past were the width of a combine header, which can be up to 30 or 40 feet. Vollmar says FarmLogs gives information at 15 feet. “We’re already at a greater precision with satellite imagery today than we were at yield monitors, to get feedback from the crop,” he says. FarmLogs had been a customer of BlackBridge, which owned the RapidEye that take images of North America once per week, sometimes dependent on cloud cover. “Our technology automatically filters those clouds so we know we are delivering quality measurement of the crop,” he says. RapidEye, since July 2015, has been owned by Planet Labs of San Francisco, which purchased BlackBridge, based in Berlin, Germany. Planet Labs uses data from other sources, including the Landsat 8 imagery. FarmLogs has a free product - FarmLogs Standard. With that free program, the farmer who provides an e-mail address can map out their farm, keep track of all operations, scout, and take note of planting dates and inputs. The company offers an upgrade of one field for free to capture imagery to see what the business value is. Added products In 2016, the company added its FarmLogs Advantage package for $2.50 an acre, which gives satellite monitoring of all fields. It offers automatic nitrogen monitoring, which means various soil type data information, and calculates - based on weather - how much nitrogen that was applied is still available to the plant. They offer an automatic activity recording function, allowing farmers to keep track of activities, when anyone runs a tractor on the field. It includes a free field rainfall marking product. The company also has launched a seeding and nitrogen prescription package for $8.50 an acre, which uses six years of image history on the field. “We have been able to figure out, through the imagery, where the higher and lower production areas are on the field and build those precise management zones to control for the environment we’re dealing with,” he says. The system then uses the nitrogen data and organic mineralization data to calculate the correct rates for the spot. “You can use that throughout the whole season if you want to do a side-dress application, if a big weather event comes through,” Vollmar says. Several North Dakota State University agricultural economics faculty were on hand for the discussion about the products. Market decides Howard Olson, senior vice president of insurance and communications at AgCountry Farm Credit, based in Fargo, N.D., says his company sponsored the meal at the FarmLogs Roadshow, in part because they are anxious to see how farmers themselves sort out the advantages and disadvantages of this kind of data. “Are there implications and applications that can be used in the crop insurance field, as well,” Olson says. “They’re putting all these fields in these systems. They’re logging activity on them. Is there a way to get that data and integrate it directly into our crop reporting system for acreage reporting and other areas? We need to let the public decide, let the market decide what works for them.” Kevin and Sandy Harstad, farmers from Stanley, N.D., came to the event after being subscribers for the past two years. Along with their son-in-law J.C. Koester, and daughter, Alexis “Ali” Koester, they raise wheat and canola, but also flax and soybeans. Harstad says he farms in locations that are 50 miles apart and the app helps him track rainfall and whether he should be working in one area or another. “Lots of advantages,” he says. He likes the auto-logging for field activities and the new yield monitoring for harvest applications. “With the hired men, you know where they’ve gone, what they’re doing, where they’ve finished,” says Sandy, who does all of the combining at the farm. “It helps keep track of everybody.” Everyone has to have phones that download the programs.HILLSBORO, N.D. - They called it the FarmLogs Roadshow, and it drew about 50 farmers and others to a Red River Valley farm shop to learn about the impact of one of the players in the high-tech data technology field.The first-of-its-kind event for FarmLogs was held at the farm of Jon Bertsch, 29, of Hillsboro, N.D., who has taken the reins at the family farm after his father died in 2012. Bertsch thinks the return on investment for embracing FarmLogs will be a 1.5 to 2 times the investment, depending on the price of the commodities. Related content Jesse Vollmar, co-founder and CEO of FarmLogs in Ann Arbor, Mich., says the company started in 2012 to help farmers “leverage technology” better on the farm. FarmLogs is among a growing list of companies trying to develop the market for production and other advice for farmers based on the satellite or remote-sensed data collection. Other companies recently working to reach farmers are Agrible, FarmDock and GrainBridge, and some on the marketing side, such as Growers Edge and others, are competing in the space.FarmLogs measures and monitors how a crop is performing using satellite imagery, Vollmar says. “We can get that feedback in-season on how our crops are responding, how we can react to weather that has been given to us,” he says. Some of the companies competing in the market have grown from the tech world or big agriculture companies that like to sell through their channels. FarmLogs goes directly to the growers and promotes a strong privacy policy.Vollmar, who grew up in his family’s farming operation, says his company is different because it doesn’t require farmers to have a lot of data initially, but uses six years of satellite data from “every field in the country” already loaded into FarmLogs.“This technology isn’t going away,” Bertsch says. “Let’s get it going now. The more that we use it, we’re going to see in certain fields where it’s going to shine.” He thinks maybe one in ten farmers are embracing this kind of technology. The technology is important on corn, but he also identifies weed and disease trends in soybeans. He also raises wheat and sunflowers as rotation crops.FarmLogs uses data from a constellation of five small satellites called “RapidEye,” which captures both visible and infrared data. Among other things, the images can show the plant is absorbing light or producing chlorophyll through photosynthesis.“Nutrient stress and equipment patterns in the field can be detected at a five-meter resolution,” Vollmar says. Yield maps available in the past were the width of a combine header, which can be up to 30 or 40 feet. Vollmar says FarmLogs gives information at 15 feet. “We’re already at a greater precision with satellite imagery today than we were at yield monitors, to get feedback from the crop,” he says.FarmLogs had been a customer of BlackBridge, which owned the RapidEye that take images of North America once per week, sometimes dependent on cloud cover. “Our technology automatically filters those clouds so we know we are delivering quality measurement of the crop,” he says. RapidEye, since July 2015, has been owned by Planet Labs of San Francisco, which purchased BlackBridge, based in Berlin, Germany. Planet Labs uses data from other sources, including the Landsat 8 imagery.FarmLogs has a free product - FarmLogs Standard. With that free program, the farmer who provides an e-mail address can map out their farm, keep track of all operations, scout, and take note of planting dates and inputs. The company offers an upgrade of one field for free to capture imagery to see what the business value is.Added products In 2016, the company added its FarmLogs Advantage package for $2.50 an acre, which gives satellite monitoring of all fields. It offers automatic nitrogen monitoring, which means various soil type data information, and calculates - based on weather - how much nitrogen that was applied is still available to the plant. They offer an automatic activity recording function, allowing farmers to keep track of activities, when anyone runs a tractor on the field. It includes a free field rainfall marking product.The company also has launched a seeding and nitrogen prescription package for $8.50 an acre, which uses six years of image history on the field. “We have been able to figure out, through the imagery, where the higher and lower production areas are on the field and build those precise management zones to control for the environment we’re dealing with,” he says. The system then uses the nitrogen data and organic mineralization data to calculate the correct rates for the spot. “You can use that throughout the whole season if you want to do a side-dress application, if a big weather event comes through,” Vollmar says.Several North Dakota State University agricultural economics faculty were on hand for the discussion about the products.Market decidesHoward Olson, senior vice president of insurance and communications at AgCountry Farm Credit, based in Fargo, N.D., says his company sponsored the meal at the FarmLogs Roadshow, in part because they are anxious to see how farmers themselves sort out the advantages and disadvantages of this kind of data.“Are there implications and applications that can be used in the crop insurance field, as well,” Olson says. “They’re putting all these fields in these systems. They’re logging activity on them. Is there a way to get that data and integrate it directly into our crop reporting system for acreage reporting and other areas? We need to let the public decide, let the market decide what works for them.”Kevin and Sandy Harstad, farmers from Stanley, N.D., came to the event after being subscribers for the past two years. Along with their son-in-law J.C. Koester, and daughter, Alexis “Ali” Koester, they raise wheat and canola, but also flax and soybeans. Harstad says he farms in locations that are 50 miles apart and the app helps him track rainfall and whether he should be working in one area or another. “Lots of advantages,” he says. He likes the auto-logging for field activities and the new yield monitoring for harvest applications.“With the hired men, you know where they’ve gone, what they’re doing, where they’ve finished,” says Sandy, who does all of the combining at the farm. “It helps keep track of everybody.” Everyone has to have phones that download the programs.
