Since 1954, the iF DESIGN AWARD has been an internationally recognised indication of excellent design and one of the world’s most prestigious design awards. The iF brand is internationally recognised as the symbol of design excellence. The award winners will be celebrated at the iF DESIGN AWARD NIGHT 2022 event at Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin in Germany on Monday, 16 May 2022.

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For the last four years, Planet and Corteva, a global pure-play agriculture company that provides a diverse mix of seed, crop protection and digital solutions to farmers around the world, have been building and providing joint solutions to growers allowing them to more seamlessly monitor crop health and boost productivity. In July 2021, Planet entered into a definitive merger agreement with dMY Technology Group, Inc. IV (NYSE: DMYQ), a special purpose acquisition company, to become a publicly traded company.

The collaboration began even before the formation of Corteva Agriscience and has grown in large part due to the collaboration and the chance Corteva Agriscience and Planet took on one another.

“If we look back at the beginning, the focus was about how we were going to create value for the agriculture industry together, specifically, for the grower. Today, we still have that same mentality that we are figuring it out together,”

said John Davidson, Senior Director of Product at Granular, a wholly owned subsidiary of Corteva Agriscience.

To date, the companies have accelerated technology offerings side-by-side, working together and co-developing big ideas and visions to create a mutually beneficial relationship.

“It’s been about collaboration and that spirit of trying to achieve and create unique value into the agriculture sector,”

said Davidson.

“It is hard to do what Planet is doing. There are a lot of hurdles to getting so many satellites in orbit. Beyond that, we have walked into this collaboration with a strong set of expectations. We have numerous use cases that echo our customers’ needs and have pushed Planet to meet the requirements for data to serve those use cases,”

said Dr. Christopher Seifert, Vice President of Data Science at Granular.

One of the ways this collaboration has grown is through the sheer scale of imagery Corteva consumes, here Corteva has played a key role in pushing Planet to expand its scale on a daily basis across all industries.

“We may not be the largest consumer, but on a daily scale basis, I think we are consistently pushing the limits of the scalability of the services,”

said Davidson.

During this time, Planet has scaled not only its offerings but also the customer base as well, serving more than 600 customers and 200 partners, always keeping the customer experience at the forefront. This relationship has enabled both companies to expand as big players in each of their respective markets. Through the years, Corteva and Planet have collaborated to optimize Planet’s products and data for the greatest output.

“We’re definitely maturing in the view of where Planet data is the best fit for much of what we’re doing. Research and development (R&D) has driven some of that, previous geographic expansion of the offerings has also driven some of that. It took us a while to get moving and really consume a lot of the Planet data and figuring out how to leverage it, and then it took off pretty quickly,”

said Seifert.

“Right now, we’re using Planet imagery in Argentina, Brazil, the EU, Canada, and all over the world with some of our seed production as well,”

said Davidson.

Since the Corteva team has shown the growers how to look at the data, the number of applications from the growers and farmers has grown substantially. As a farm operation becomes larger or more geographically spaced out, the ability to see what is going on quickly becomes important.

“A lot of our farmers have many thousands of acres that they’re working with and they may be spread out over multiple counties. They’re trying to understand and figure out what to do very quickly. Both PlanetScope and SkySat enable growers to see what is happening and detect actual problems,”

said Davidson.

“And this is what we do with our directed scouting product: enable growers to detect changes in their fields to help them understand what is going on and which ones to tend to first. Being able to go and be that trusted advisor for the farmers that they work with is critical. This is one of the tools that they must be ahead of the game. It allows them to use their time more wisely and pinpoint the areas most critical to look at,”

said Seifert.

For growers, the most crucial data to pair with satellite data is historical yield data.

“Growers can see the differences in their fields versus where it was a few days ago or a week ago and determine if the field is historically high-performing, or low-performing. Having that knowledge in Granular® Insights is exceedingly useful as well as planted data. To know what you planted in various places and see if there’s some troubleshooting you can do. Every additional data layer that you can add to Planet data is a way of troubleshooting problems that you might be seeing. You can look at Planet on one side and you can look at what crops you planted or even look at the historical harvest without ever stepping foot in the fields. It’s pretty miraculous just looking at all this data they have and being able to process it really quickly and understand how it all fits together,”

added Davidson.

“We’re tracking large swaths of the planet on a daily basis to detect changes as quickly as possible. There are parts of the world that are exceptionally cloudy and so being able to pull different data sets together creates the potential for real value. Using fusion to fix those problems could open up some very productive parts of the globe for us,”

said Seifert. He added:

“Planet, with its innovation and setting up smaller satellites to get more frequent data collection, helps boost the ability to innovate and to help provide value for farmers in a number of areas.,”

Through this collaboration, Corteva and Planet have maintained a strict focus on enabling progress in the agriculture sector. With this shared focus, Planet continues to expand its offerings to new and existing markets, making change visible, accessible, and actional to industries across the globe.

The post Future of Farming: Driving Farmer Value through Satellite-Powered Directed Scouting appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

The traditional approach for farm supply cooperatives is to save above-average profits when times are good (like now through the next 12 months) and then manage costs rigorously during the inevitable downturn, which we expect will begin in 2023.

Unfortunately, this approach exposes cooperatives to revenue volatility and declining earnings during down cycles, often lasting five or more years. We see an alternative path forward for ag retailers: expand their delivery of precision agronomy tools, services and processes, and earn fee income for doing so. Putting technology and information to work to help farmers manage their inputs and production is where farm supply co-ops excel. The current upturn in the crop cycle provides a timely opportunity to make the necessary investments in technology-experienced staff who can develop revenue sharing partnerships with partners across the value chain.

Farm supply cooperatives are enjoying success given current favorable U.S. farm economics

Ag retailers have enjoyed three consecutive profitable agronomy seasons and generally appear well positioned for fall 2021 amidst high grain prices and favorable farm economics (the partial risks to this outlook include weather volatility, expected shortages of certain crop production chemicals, and high fertilizer prices that may cause growers to ration purchases).

Notwithstanding the known risks, three factors support a continued favorable environment for input spending:

1. Cash corn, soybean, and wheat prices. Grain prices are currently well above the 2014-19 averages of $3.77 for corn, $9.56 for soybeans and $4.98 for wheat.
2. Strong net income. Industry sources estimate that U.S. net farm income will reach $111 billion for 2021 and $104 billion for 2022, versus average net farm income of $79 billion between 2014 and 2019 (i.e., the period prior to the recent “grain run”).
3. Favorable cash flows. Cash crop receipts, a cash flow proxy, are forecasted to reach $216 billion for 2021 and $221 billion for 2022, versus an average of $196 billion between 2014 and 2019.

Tight stocks-to-use in 2022 should support higher corn and acres and therefore, continued above-average crop prices and input demand

U.S. corn and soybean stocks remain very tight (at or near levels last seen during 2012- 14), a situation that we see continuing for the near future. What led the industry here was a combination of 1) strong domestic and export demand (especially from China) for food, feed and fuel, coupled with 2) lower production in Brazil, Argentina, and China in 2020 and 2021 resulting mainly from adverse weather (drought and freezes). What will keep the industry here is continued strong exports (see next page) and growing demand for oilseeds. Considering all factors, we see the demand imbalance in grain stocks and usage persisting until at least 2023.

Looking out several years, ag retailers will face increasing pressures from all sides

Ag retailers are facing risks that will only increase over time including the consolidation and growing market power of agro-chemical and seed suppliers and the maturation of ag tech startups. Another growing risk is the blurring of the lines between farm equipment dealers and agronomy providers as larger farmers demand advanced digitally enabled precision tools and services.

Two recent examples of this include CNH Industrial’s acquisition of Raven and Deere & Co.’s acquisition of Bear Flag Robotics. Both will help the original equipment manufacturers accelerate their offerings of autonomous and precision farming services, something that will compete with traditional agronomic advice provided by ag retailers.

The consolidation of U.S. farms into larger farming enterprises is a long-term structural risk for retailers

The number of U.S. farms continues to decline via consolidation as family and non-family farms seek greater economies of scale to boost profitability. While the total number of domestic farms dropped by 7.8% between 1997 and 2017, the number of large farms (defined as 2,000 or more acres) rose by 14.4% during this period.

We see these as the associated risks as this trend continues: 1) Retailers could lose their “agronomy edge” as the new class of commercial farming enterprises hire their own agronomy staff and demand more data-intensive precision ag services. 2) The larger the farm, the more likely the customer will demand volume-based discounts creating a double-edged sword for the local cooperative: selling at a discount depresses margins, but refusing to discount may force customers to purchase elsewhere.

So how should ag retailers increase their relevance to larger farm customers? More precision agronomy services

The 2021 CropLife magazine/Purdue University Precision Agriculture Dealership Survey confirmed that ag retailers continue to embrace data and digital tools (at some level) as part of their precision agriculture service offering to farm customers. While the survey indicated already strong adoption of certain sensing-technologies (such as grid or zone soil sampling) and variable rate technology (VRT) for fertilizer application, there are still tremendous growth opportunities for retailers for other technologies. Examples include unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)/drone imagery sensing for crop scouting and analysis, VRT pesticide applications, and precision seed recommendations and prescriptions. Longterm, several new technologies offer exciting growth potential, such as crop inputs applied using UAV/drones, and robotic crop scouting and weeding.

The business case for adding software income is financially compelling

Based on our analysis of an aggregated composite of CoBank farm supply cooperatives (FSC) in two Midwestern states, FSC margins average just 2% compared to 16% for software providers. The large variance reflects lower gross profit margins for commissions on crop inputs as well as higher fixed costs for the cooperative business model. Beyond providing farm customers with enhanced digital tools to farm more profitably, the business case for retailers’ expansion of precision agronomy services is financially compelling. The higher the margin, the more patronage the cooperative can presumably pay to its membership.

The ag retailer of the future will earn income from precision, carbon and sustainability programs in addition to traditional input product sales

The key for ag retailers is to adopt and adapt to new technology and transform the business model to generate fees for advice rather than rely on commission and rebate income from input product sales. Why should cooperatives transform? The answer is three-fold:

1. Precision agronomic services are in demand by customers.
2. These services can help cooperatives attract and retain high-value customers.
3. If retailers do not embrace changing market needs and preferences, equipment dealers and disruptive new entrants will step up and fill the void.

Conclusion

References Farm supply cooperatives are currently experiencing cyclically strong returns as the grain run enters its second year of an upturn. Growing global demand for feed grains and vegetable oil generally positions U.S. farmers and retailers for continued success over the next year (although product shortages and high fertilizer prices could cause some disruptions). The much bigger question is what does the environment for ag retailers look like after 2023?

We see several structural risks facing farm supply cooperatives in the coming years, namely: larger, more sophisticated farm customers seeking advanced technological tools, increased competition from input suppliers and equipment dealerships providing precision agronomic services, and disruption by ag tech startup companies. However, we believe the aforementioned challenges present an opportunity for cooperatives to transform their business model to survive and thrive in the future. Putting technology and information to work to help farmers manage their inputs and production is where farm supply co-ops excel.

The path forward is to expand this delivery of precision agronomy tools, services and processes, and earn fee income for doing so. The current upturn in the crop cycle provides a timely opportunity to make the necessary investments in technology-experienced staff who can develop revenue sharing partnerships with partners across the value chain.

The post What Will the Future of Precision Ag Retailing Be Like? Ken Zuckerberg Discusses New Challenges and Opportunities appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

Gerhard Forster is a Pottinger customer who runs a successful organic farming business with 95 hectares of arable land. Their main focus is on the production of threshed crops such as spelled, emmer, and einkorn wheat as well as lentils. They also grow pumpkins to make seed oil. An AEROSEM 4002 ADD pneumatic seed drill with a SEED COMPLETE package in combination with a LION 403 power harrow has been in operation on the farm since early 2020.

Convenience and efficiency for soil and seed

In addition to the electric metering drive, the heart of the system is the CCI 1200 terminal with a SEED COMPLETE package. The SEED COMPLETE package contains intelligent smart farming solutions, including a communication unit. This enables the use of VARIABLE RATE CONTROL (the seed rate is precisely adjusted to site-specific soil conditions using application maps previously created on the PC) and SECTION CONTROL (the metering system switches on and off automatically at the headland). The system can also exchange data and communicate with the agrirouter data exchange platform and NEXT FARMING field indexing software. Using cloud-based platforms, all machine data generated during sowing can be precisely recorded and viewed later for evaluation and documentation purposes.

A highly satisfied customer

“The CCI 1200 opens up a lot of opportunities. All my ISOBUS machines can be operated using one control terminal. By communicating with agrirouter, the machine data from all of my machines – regardless of manufacturer – can be transmitted to NEXT Machine Management and NEXT FARMING. I can immediately find all the data I need for documenting my operations. Information on fertilizer and sowing rates is always available and can be traced seamlessly, even over a period of years,”

says Gerhard Forster about his positive experience with this system.

Documentation is easy to create and save intuitively. Jobs are created at the control terminal before work begins and then processed directly. As soon as the job is finished, the collated data is transferred to NEXT Machine Management using the mobile data network. This is done by setting up a WLAN hotspot on a smartphone.

Perfect drilling even in difficult conditions

The seed drill technology delivered an impressive performance even in difficult operating conditions in autumn 2020.

“The DUAL DISC colters on the AEROSEM did a great job. Despite the difficult conditions, all our autumn sowing jobs were completed by the end of November. This year I had the opportunity to do some contract work with the seed drill because it works so well in our region, even in the most adverse conditions,”

explains Forster.

The customer was also very satisfied with the SECTION CONTROL system. The IDS distributor head in conjunction with the automatic switching system allows the working width to be adjusted by the meter, which makes a serious saving on resources.

Future-safe technology

Forster has already invested in the future with the AEROSEM 4002 and SEED COMPLETE.

“There are still many advantages open to me in terms of data management and machine control,”

says Forster.

In order to increase output even further, he intends to manage his whole farm on a site-specific basis in the future. He has already laid the foundation stone with the latest Pottinger seed drill technology.

Source: Pottinger

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This year’s challenge was to design the multi-purpose vehicle of the future: a machine that can handle multiple tasks to meet future needs and that is more efficient than today’s highly specialized machines.

The first place of the competition was awarded to the work “vertical” by Austrian design team Benjamin Miller, Jack Morris,and Alireza Saeedi. The jury praised the concept as being a very creative interpretation of the challenge theme. “At first glance it looks very specialized, but if you judge the complete system instead of only the tractor, a versatile and holistic concept for the future emerges. The concept takes care of everything from seeding to distribution of food”, comments member of the jury Hans Philip Zachau.

Second place was awarded to Yuri Kozowski and Paulo Biondan from Brazil for their work “V-Icon” and third place to the “Unit”-concept by Polish designer Tomasz Miłosz. The honourable mentions were the Finnish “Phantom”-concept and the work “Centaur” from Germany.

“Valtra has been widely recognized for ground-breaking and visionary industrial design. We started the Design Challenge in order to raise awareness of future challenges in the agricultural community and society at large. It is also a platform for designers to showcase their innovations.” comments head of the jury and industrial design & user experience manager at Valtra, Kimmo Wihinen. “The Valtra Design Challenge is the world´s largest design contest in agricultural machinery and one of the biggest in the off-road vehicle industry. The high number of innovative and high-class entries shows us that there is a demand for this type of competition, and we are already working on the theme for the next edition”, he adds.

The Valtra Design Challenge 2018 Jury members were Kimmo Wihinen from Valtra, Brandon Montgomery and Sam Freesmeyer from AGCO, Hans Philip Zachau from Lighthouse Industrial Design and Paolo Grazioli Frozen Design Tokyo.

Source: valtra news

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AGCO Corporation, a world-leading manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment introduces AGCO Connect, the next generation telemetry solution for North American customers and dealers to improve productivity, efficiency, and profitability. Under AGCO’s Fuse smart farming division

AGCO Connect allows customers and dealers to connect their AGCO mixed fleet under one simple and easy to use platform from anywhere, at any time. Customers can see the current status of their machines and how their machines have been performing in terms of fuel levels and consumption rates, engine hours and time to service, and current and historical positioning–all communicated over a secure data platform. The benefits include logistics management, remote accessibility, and more informed decision making abilities.

Dealers have a selection of tools to enable proactive and insightful service delivery, such as diagnostic support features, to help with planning and forecasting service support for customers. Dealers also have an overview of machine activity,including service requirements, error codes, machine and owner information, and the ability to assist with remote diagnostics, allowing customer support to begin quickly and remotely.

A unique feature of AGCO Connect lets customers and dealers personalize their Connect application by choosing a preferred brand, including AGCO Connect, Challenger Connect, Fendt Connect, and MF Connect. Regardless of the brand application, all users will receive the same data depending onthe customer or dealer interface.

“Our latest telemetry solution is built upon the needs of our customers and dealers,” says Matt Wong, Director, Fuse North America. “AGCO Connect allows you to have real-time information about your equipment in the palm of your hand through the mobile app,or on a computer. With this latest innovative, modern, and intuitive smart farming solution, we’re excited for what the future holds for our customers and dealers.”

A free 1-year subscription is available to current high horsepower equipment owners, with new owners receiving a 3-year subscription. A three-year subscription is available for new application equipment owners, with more models eligible for subscriptions to follow.

This smart farming solution is a direct outcome of AGCO’s goal of a fully connected fleet that allows customers to track and optimize individual machine and fleet performance, and dealers to support customers faster and better, reducing machine downtime.

With this latest telemetry offering, customers and dealers are well-positioned to maximize their opportunities to be more efficient, empowering our customers to focus on what they love—farming.

source: AGCO press office

The post AGCO introduces next-gen Telemetry Solution in North America appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

With faster construction times and a softer environmental impact, wood could be the building material of the past…and of the future.

With one foot (or tire, as it were) in the construction business with our industry-leading Galaxy brand and the other firmly planted in forestry with our reputable Primex tires, ATG is excited to see the next step of wood construction. Driven by advances in strong, flexible, more fireproof engineered wood products and encouraged by new thinking about building codes, wood has been gaining new life as a building material over the last five years. Today, 17 wood buildings are being built worldwide between 7 and 15 stories tall—and a record-setting 35-story wood building is in the planning stages in Paris.

Wood construction is gaining popularity as our culture has become more sensitive to the environmental impact of our actions. As cities continue to grow, so does the use of steel and concrete, both of which have large carbon footprints. Though dense cities are relatively resource-efficient, tall buildings are uniquely costly when you consider the “embodied energy” of the materials that go into producing, transporting, and installing them. “Concrete is particularly bad, steel’s not much better,” says Daniel Safarik, editor at the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.

Wood is simply more sustainable and has a lower carbon footprint than steel or concrete. Additionally, wood itself stores extra carbon (particularly in the U.S., where many trees are farmed), and wood that was affected by pests that might not have made the cut before can be used in today’s newer and more advanced wood building products. Tires like the Primex LogStomper Super High Floatation further help increase sustainability. The LogStomper Super Floatation has the ability to get into previously inaccessible areas and work in difficult terrain while minimizing the damage done to sensitive soil on the forest’s floor, helping to keep forests healthy and productive.

Another big benefit of building with wood is that many major building components may be prefabricated, reducing construction time. The reduction in construction time benefits the builder by lowering labor costs, and the faster old projects are finished, the faster new projects can be started. Minimizing construction time also benefits the community, decreasing the nuisance of traffic disruption and construction noise.

Tires like the Galaxy Beefy Baby III are perfect for helping lumber yards and construction sites keep up with faster-paced projects and increased demand, while further increasing productivity and profit thanks to their incredible durability and low cost per hour.

The increase in big wood buildings will not only be a boon to construction companies in the big city, but will also be a huge benefit to many small towns. The Department of Agriculture estimates that if “next-generation wood products” can penetrate 15% of the non-residential North American market, it could create up to 85,000 jobs in struggling rural communities. In order to keep up with the demand, many of these communities will add not only forestry jobs, but also manufacturing jobs as the wood will need to be converted into today’s advanced building products.

While wood building most likely isn’t replacing steel and concrete anytime soon, it’s exciting to see new life breathed into a classic building material, and even more exciting to see jobs created. No matter if you are working in the forest, in the factory, or on the building site, Alliance Tire Group has a tire for you!

Source: https://atgtire.com

The post Woods buildings are more sustainable appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.