Mission: Control
June 23, 2010 
Having been around for only a few years, swath-control technology is still a relatively new innovation. But in the breakneck world of precision agriculture, innovations can become outdated in a hurry.
“In a GPS world, it’s becoming old hat, but it’s a relatively new concept,” says Ron Cox, Topcon’s Regional Sales Manager for the Southern U.S.
But just as the accuracy of GPS systems improves with each passing year, the efficiency of swath control applications does too. Cox says the concept was so successful that growers demanded the technology be more applicable to other pieces of equipment.
“Well, the accuracy on GPS systems is certainly improving. The number of sections you can actually turn off has increased, and the number of implements that we’re able to control has grown as well. In the beginning it was strictly a sprayer operation, now it’s sprayers, spreaders, planters and seeders. It runs the gamut of equipment that can use section control,” says Cox.
Companies such as Topcon, John Deere, Trimble and Ag Leader offer a variety of swath-control options for nearly every piece of on-farm equipment. The reason the technology has found itself in such high demand, according to Cox, is simple.
“You can’t put a pricetag on a lot of things in the precision ag world. Like autosteering, its really difficult to say ‘It’ll save you this amount of money over a year.’ But section control is something you can sit down and pencil out,” says Cox.
“With most section control spray systems, the upgrade can pay for itself in as quick as a day, depending on what you’re doing. But pretty much an entire operation will pay for itself in the first season without any problems.”
For growers who already use GPS on their equipment, a swath control upgrade on sprayers will generally cost approximately $1,500, according to Cox.
“That can pay for itself very quickly,” he says.
Dollar Figures
University of Tennessee Extension specialist Mike Buschermohle is conducting research to determine the answer to that very question: How quickly can swath-control technology pay for itself?
When talking cost-efficiency, Cox was speaking in general terms of swath control on spray rigs. Buschermohle’s research is focused on section control planting of cotton seed. As growers are well aware, technology fees have made planter efficiency a necessity in recent years. Not only does double planting cost money in the form of wasted seed, it also hurts on the back end of a cotton season, as double planted areas are difficult to harvest and often suffer yield deficiencies. Buschermohle’s research aims to determine how often that happens, and how much money a grower can stand to save by implementing the swath-control technology on their planters.
“I’ve got an RTK grade GPS antenna mounted on the toolbar of the planter. And I’m generating very accurate planting maps by recording the location of the planter in the field every tenth of a second and whether the planter is planting seed at that location. With the accuracy of this system, I’m generally within an inch of where I’m actually at in the field,” Buschermohle says.
“With these planting maps, I will be able to determine how much growers are double planting in these fields. Because cotton seed is so expensive, many cotton growers are asking if this technology will make money.”
Buschermohle insists that field shape — or field geometry as he says — plays a large role in determining the degree to which a grower could benefit from swath control while planting. “We see a lot more double planting in odd-shaped fields with a lot of point rows than we do in rectangular-shaped fields,” he says.
The GPS swath-control technology allows a grower to map the boundaries of his field, as well as any place within it, such as a ditch or terrace, that does not need an application or to be planted. And as a planter canvases a number of rows, the technology marks that area, and automatically shuts off the sections of the boom that travel over those rows later. Buschermohle insists that the technology is not a “one-size-fits-all” solution, though.
“The question we are trying to answer is how much a grower can save in seed costs and what the yield loss is costing him in these double-planted areas. And that’s generally based on field shape, field size and field geometry,” he says.
“The project I’ve got funded through Cotton Incorporated is to generate these planting maps over a wide range of field sizes and shapes and then use these maps to determine how much we are double planting in these fields. In addition, we have some research plots at the Research and Education Center at Milan where we are trying to determine yield losses in these double-planted areas. After the harvest season is over, I will be working with University of Tennessee Extension Economist Margarita Velendia to develop a cost calculator that will enable growers to input information about their fields to come up with a more accurate range of how fast this technology will pay for itself.”
Buschermohle says a lot of growers will be pleasantly surprised at the findings from his research.
“Those that I have talked to that have bought it were pretty surprised the first year on how much seed they saved. Because of the cost of the technology, the more acres that you’re operating, the payback will be quicker. So it is an economy of scale,” he says.
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