TERRY COUNTY, TEXAS (KCBD) – Experts call it “the fourth industrial revolution” — how digital technology is changing the way people work, and farming is no exception.
For 250 years, the United States has led the way on inventive and innovative agriculture. Now, information is changing the fiber industry as local growers embrace cutting-edge technology.
Across 20 miles of Terry County, a team of growers are in the middle of cover season, with tractors seeding wheat that will turn to cotton fields in a few months.
The farming landscape has evolved dramatically from hand-tilled fields and beasts of burden pulling rakes in the dirt to self-guiding tractors using GPS tracking.
“Right at the time I started farming, everything was hand driven,” said Mason Becker, who showed his operation. “I was taught, when you’re laying off rows, you look at the horizon and try to keep a straight line, then you worked off ground markers trying to drive and it’s not that way anymore.”
For Becker, the technology isn’t about having the coolest equipment.
“It’s cool that the tractors actually drive themselves, but it’s a lot more about efficiency,” he said.
The efficiency means saving time and labor through data collection and remote monitoring.
“From my phone, I can send information to different tractors, I can pull information like if they get done planting a field, I can pull how many acres they did and keep track of it that way,” Becker said. “The data and information side of it is really where some of this stuff starts paying for itself.”
Nate Gamez, one of Becker’s workers, demonstrated how the self-driving tractors operate. The tractor was driving on its own while Gamez controlled the speed and monitored the planting equipment.
“That’s actually my grandpa over there, he has to get off and make sure he’s not clogged up, because his doesn’t have any sensors,” Gamez said, comparing the new technology to older systems.
Becker’s operation also includes semi-autonomous irrigation systems controlled through smartphone apps.
“Back in what I’ll call ‘the old days,’ we had to come move these pivots, each one of them, manually,” Becker said. “Now with smart phones we have the option of using an app.”
The irrigation system uses moisture probes in certain fields to give Becker real-time data for targeting water application from anywhere with a cell signal. The pivot systems have evolved from hand-moved pipe to side rolls, then water drives, with electricity helping modernize irrigation.
Different caps on the irrigation systems diffuse and spread water for different situations, making them more resource efficient.
Some experts may consider even these digital tools “last gen ag,” but cost remains a factor for adopting the most modern solutions.
“I’d like to be on the cutting edge of everything, but that’s not feasible — especially with the way commodity prices are right now,” Becker said.
Producers attended the Southwest Cotton Physiology Conference in Lubbock to learn about data, technology and techniques that make cotton farming profitable and efficient.
“It’s a holistic approach,” said Sumit Sharma, a row crop researcher at Oklahoma State University. Sharma was among dozens of agricultural experts who came to Lubbock’s Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Office to present their research.
“It’s the technology that’s in the computer, it’s the technology that’s driving the tractor, it’s the technology that’s controlling the pivot, and planting and decision-making in the field — it’s all coming together,” Sharma said.
Wenxuan Guo researches precision irrigation at Texas Tech, aimed at making every drop from the Ogallala Aquifer more effective. The research includes using aerial drones with thermal sensors and satellite imaging.
“We can create a prescription map and tell them what is the best rate at that particular location relative to the other locations within the same field,” Guo said. “So at the end of the season, people know they can maximize their water use efficiency for the field and enhance profitability.”
Hope Njuki Nakabuye, a researcher at the AgriLife Extension, focuses on collecting and analyzing data that growers use to monitor soil moisture. She said artificial intelligence may play a role in future developments.
“We’ve tried to, say, model some of that baseline data,” Nakabuye said. “Instead of having a sensor in the field, but trying to use AI models to just model what a baseline crop would look like. So we’ve kind of dabbled into that, but not extensively.”
Jonathan Aguilar, an engineering specialist at Kansas State University, focuses on turning research into practical applications for farmers.
“For a researcher, they may be talking about the probability, the probability of this going into this way, rather than just a yes or a no,” Aguilar said. “Many farmers, particularly in their operation, that decision may just be a few seconds that they have to make, rather than look at all the possibilities, they just say ‘let me know, is it a green or a red?’”
Back in Terry County, Mason and his growers hope for better commodity markets as they balance farming with engineering.
“You start getting notifications at night or whatever that one’s down and you gotta run out and fix it or whatever, but it’s pretty nice, otherwise,” Becker said.
After 250 years of innovation, digital efficiency is making every drop of sweat, every seed and every pivot more valuable.
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