AMVAC Completes On-Farm Testing for SIMPAS Application Systems
June 16, 2020 
AMVAC has completed on-farm testing in five states for its new SIMPAS prescriptive application system.
Set to launch commercially through select Trimble dealers in 2021, SIMPAS (Smart Integrated Multi-Product Prescription Application System) enables farmers to precisely and variably apply up to three, in-furrow crop inputs while planting.
Based on prescriptions developed by agronomists, the system precisely delivers the exact rate of each SIMPAS-applied product solution (nematicide, fungicide, micronutrient, insecticide, inoculant, or biological) in each appropriate management zone using a patented metering system to apply only the right product, at the right time, at the right place, at the right rate.
Testing was conducted in Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska by farmers and retailers such as Helena Agri-Enterprises, Nutrien Ag Solutions, Asmus Farm Supply, Harvest Land Co-op and Simplot Grower Solutions.
“We’ve conducted individual component tests on thousands of acres, but this is the first time multiple farmers have had an opportunity to use the same equipment that we’ll be selling next year across their entire farms,” said Rick Rice, Director of Application Technology for AMVAC. “Farmers are not only seeing how the system performs, but they’ll also begin to understand how multiple SIMPAS-applied product solutions boost crop yields. SIMPAS makes it easy and affordable to treat problem areas that haven’t been getting the attention they need, when previously the entire field had to be treated to fix the problem areas.”
SIMPAS utilizes SmartCartridge closed delivery system containers to apply dry and/or liquid products. Each row unit on the planter is equipped to variably apply products from three individual cartridges, and the system can be installed on virtually any make or model of planter. SmartCartridge containers can be quickly inserted into each cartridge receiver for fast changeovers while the planter is stopped for seed and/or fertilizer refills.
“SIMPAS uses software to apply products from multiple SmartCartridge containers in a manner that’s similar to the way a printer applies ink from multiple color cartridges,” Rice explains. “Each SmartCartridge is equipped with an RFID-enabled SmartTag, which records the amount of product that remains in each container. Farmers simply return all the cartridges – regardless of how much product remains – to their retailer after planting, and they’ll only pay for what they applied.”
SmartCartridge containers will be filled at select SIMPAS-applied Solutions (SaS) retailer locations using AMVAC’s proprietary SmartFill equipment. After being returned to the retailer, each container will be refilled and reused, eliminating container and product disposal issues and reducing environmental impact.
Remote Support Overcomes COVID-19 Hurdles
“Personal support is key to new product testing and development, but COVID-19 travel restrictions and social distancing requirements made that challenging in 2020,” said Rice. “However, we’ve been able to highlight our ability to support each system remotely, even when we can’t be there in person.
“Our product specialists have become ‘virtual’ passengers in the tractor cabs,” he stated. “With a farmer’s permission, they can connect to and monitor SIMPAS operations from anywhere with a cell phone signal. While it’s been essential during the COVID-19 restrictions, the ability to provide remote support, rather than waiting for an in-person technician visit, is just one more aspect of ‘easy’, that’s been built into SIMPAS.”
More information is available on the SIMPAS website.
Based on information provided by AMVAC
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