Plan Your Technology Expense to Avoid Getting Overwhelmed
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In today’s tractor cabs, the assortment of soda cans and litter that yesterday’s farmer tended to collect is less of a worry than the assortment of precision equipment that tends to pile up. With technology revving at full throttle, it’s easy for farmers’ work spaces to get overloaded and cluttered with a variety of tools, both new and out-dated.
Image: Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Take the example of one farmer who is currently using six monitors in his tractor cab, as well as five GPS receivers. From his perch inside his Starship Enterprise-style cab, he controls the auto-steer on his planter, the planter auto-swath, the VRT population, the yield monitor, the VRT nitrogen, the yield monitor and the sprayer auto-swath. It’s a lot to control remotely, but does it really require such a breadth of monitors and receivers?
Says one farming consultant: “I and the other consultants I know run into this on a regular basis. If farmers will pay attention to the tools already in hand, he/she can save time, money and frustration.”
The thing about adopting this technology is that there’s no clear path. Every farmer will have different needs that are met by different equipment, and there’s always going to be a new thing that seems more necessary than the last thing. But farm efficiency experts say that the best way to ensure your farm’s efficiency and productivity is to make sure that you are planning ahead. By planning ahead, you have a better idea of what equipment you anticipate needing, and what you can probably pass up.
“Take the time to go over what you really need for your farm and come up with a trajectory – what technology you think you’re going to need and when,” advises the farm consultant. “By thinking it out ahead of time, you minimize the chance that you’ll buy something you don’t need or won’t use.”
You might also consider taking stock of the equipment and technology that you are already using. When you come up with your plan, take into stock where you’re at, and outline where you’d like to be in one year, in three years, and in five years.
All the decisions you make now are going to affect your farm’s outcome in the future, so making a plan is an important part of ensuring you control what your farm’s future looks like. What’s more, making a plan for your technology investments is going to help you avoid paying out big one-time fees by helping you time your purchases and plan your upgrades ahead of time.
