NC

The 2012 Precision Ag Field Day took place at the Tidewater Research & Extension Center on Tuesday, near Plymouth, North Carolina. Carl Crozier, Professor of Soil Science & Extension Specialist at NC State was a member of the planning committee for this year’s event, as well as a presenter. Tuesday morning brought some surprise rain, which brought out a larger crowd than had been anticipated, according to Crozier:
 

“Pleasantly, you know, you offer the program as an educational venue and the more people that come the greater it is for everyone. Hopefully, our facilities can handle it, we’re set up with wagons to carry people out to the field site.”
 

Now, you had to turn your day around a little bit because of rain in the morning.
 

“Yeah, that’s right, and don’t want to complain about rain because we need it, but fortunately, we set up the program in big time blocks, so we just switched, do everything indoor in the morning. We thought we were going to dodge the heat, but as it turns out dodge the rain. And we’re looking forward to an afternoon in the field.”
 

Now, you do this every other year, so in 2014 we can look forward to another location somewhere in the state.
“That’s right, there’s opportunity on our Field Day Evaluation sheets for people to put down ideas, and we have moved, we’ve had it here at Tidewater several times, we’ve been at Kinston, and had it at Goldsboro, Gates County, Wilson County. Hopefully, the topics are timely and they change a little bit, I think it’s all something we need to learn.”
 

Well, technology changes so fast, are you finding that producers are embracing technology?
 

“There’s been an amazing change in the last 10 years in what’s being used on a farm. The other thing is that 10 or 15 years ago we started talking about technology..people are probably using them differently than we thought they’d be using it. And then, you know, the industry learns how they’re using them, and that creates the next step in what they offer. I think there’s a lot of creativity on the farm out there.”
 

Any thing you’d like to add?
 

“No, just happy to see everyone here, and hopefully we can all keep learning on how to make these farms work.”
 

Demonstrations included sensor-based variable rate nitrogen application, an automated soil sampling rig, GPS control of spray boom sections and planter operations, poultry litter subsurface placement with optional variable rate/GPS control and soil electrical conductivity mapping with a Veris sensor.
 

To hear more from the Precision Ag Field Day, visit our website, SFNToday.com