Simplifying Ag Technologies

Simplifying Ag Technologies

Tim Hammerich
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
It’s time for your Farm of the Future Report. I’m Tim Hammerich.

Sometimes the latest and greatest in ag technology doesn’t take into consideration that it has to work and be useful in a farm environment. Farmer and consultant Allan Fetters says more technology needs to answer the straightforward questions.

Fetters… “Sometimes we get so caught up in the technology and in the data. We've got to keep it relatively simple. And I think that's another reason where some of the technology has struggled. We've got kind of wrapped up around the technology in itself versus really what's the end game. And the end game is, you know, having a better understanding of when and how much and, you know, what's the impact of that decision that I'm making.”

Fetters says in addition to being simple and practical, he also wants technology to go beyond providing data, into more prescriptive and actionable solutions.

Fetters… “You know, and now as we start looking at not only that monitoring and measuring of that irrigation, but it's also now controlling of irrigation with some of the automation that's coming into place, as you start looking at agricultural irrigation systems. As we're having more and more difficulty finding and keeping a good, strong farm workforce, we're having to look at alternative tools to ensure that we're able to continue to farm.”

Fetters works with farmers and agtech companies to test their new products in farm environments.

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