Hi-Tech Farming

 Hair gel has been hip for hairdos the last decade, but putting gel in your fields to increase yield? I'm David Sparks.  Back with Today's Idaho Ag News after this...There is no doubt about it…if farmers want to be super successful, they can use some of the fabulous technologies that have been developed by agricultural scientists. Just to headline a few: Water may be plentiful in the soil of your farm, but not accessible to your plants. There are superabsorbent gels on the market today that you can apply to your fields. They can gather as much as 800 times their weight in water. As plants require water, their roots can easily withdraw more than 90% of the water from the gel material.

Here’s another one that’s ingenious: A new "seeing-eye" sprayer for weeds uses a light-reflecting sensor to scan the ground for patterns that match weeds. It then kills them with less herbicide than conventional sprayers use. It’s like an agricultural scud missile that sees weeds through a computer program and kills them.

Blaine Jacobson, Executive Director Idaho Wheat Commission  comments: “High tech farming both as it relates to seeds and equipment is a way to cut costs and improve margins. Aerial surveillance where you put up an unmanned airplane and it can spot those portions of the field that need more moisture, or need better fertilizer, certainly the GPS guided equipment will allow you to be more efficient in your use of the tractor and conserve on your fuel, the high tech seeds that are coming out will allow you to make fewer passes over the field.