US (ND): Precision Ag Summit agenda announced

The 6th annual Precision Ag Summit will be held Jan. 16-17, at the North Dakota Farmers Union Conference Center in Jamestown, ND. Again this year the summit is being co-hosted by the Red River Valley Research Corridor and the ND Farmers Union.

Those attending the summit will have hands on and technical demonstrations of precision agriculture technologies and applications, according to Ryan Aasheim of the Red River Valley Research Corridor (RRVRC). In addition, they will be introduced to procedure and tools designed to lower producer cost and create a more efficient environment for farm production.

"One of the themes of the summit this year will be the cost benefit or profitability of precision ag," Aasheim said. "With the tough economic times farmers are facing, we thought this would be a good way to frame the event. We will have certain sessions focused on profitability with precision ag, cost savings using different technologies and value of data management, imagery data and remote sensing."

Some of the topics that will be highlighted during the summit include:

Cost Saving Strategies Using Precision Ag Digital Agronomic, Data Analytics and the Future of Precision Agriculture
The Profitability of Precision Ag
Strategies for Multi-hybrid Planting
Tile Drainage to Manage Salinity
Making Drones Work For You

To some, their definition of precision ag is putting a satellite signal receiving globe on top of a tractor or combine and coupling that to a microprocessor in the operator station/cab, Aasheim said. But really, he added, precision agriculture is a methodology that, if implemented successfully, integrates three key elements: 1) grower/agronomist information and insight about his/her crop fields and plant species; 2) technology; and 3) management practice capable of integrating findings and implementing decisions. The emphasis should not singularly focus upon the technology, but should represent upon the overall methodology.

Jan. 16 Agenda

8:15 a.m. - Registration, continental breakfast and welcome by Mark Watne, president of N.D. Farmers Union.
9:00 a.m. - Keynote address on "Digital Agronomy, Data Analytics and the Future of Precision Agriculture" by Dr. Raj Khosla, professor of Precision Agriculture at Colorado Sate University.
10:00 a.m. - "The Value of Digital Data Management & Analytics" by Nate Schlief, Farmers Edge.
10:30 a.m. - "The Profitability of Precision Ag in Times of Increased Financial Vulnerability" with Terry Griffin, Dept. of Ag Economics at Kansas State University.
11:00 a.m. - "Cost Saving Using Precision Ag Technologies" by David Schimmelpfennig, USDA Economic Research Services.
11:30 a.m. - Lunch
11:45 a.m. - Lunch speaker: "The Role of the Equipment Dealer in Precision Ag" by Remi Schmaltz, CEO at Decisive Farming.
At 12:30 the group will transition to Quality Inn for concurrent breakout sessions. There will three tracks offered during each breakout session: a) Water Track; b) Data, Drone & Imagery Track; and c) Equipment Track.

1 p.m. Breakout #1

Variable Rate Irrigation with Susan O'Shaughnessy, ag engineer at the ARS Soil and Water Management Research and Shawn Kasprick, Simplot
Know your Airspace - Rules for Drone Operators & UAS Updates, with Trevor Woods, Northern Plains Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Site and John Nowatzki, NDSU Extension machine systems specialist.
Variable Rate 101 featuring Preston Sundeen, Dakota Precision Ag Center and Paul Backstrom, Precision Ag Results

2 p.m. Breakout #2

Water Management Inputs and Returns with Kelly Sharpe, GK Technology.
Making Drones Work for You by Kris Poulson, VO of Agriculture at Sentera.
Using Existing Equipment for Multi-Variety Seeding by Gary Wagner, AWG Farms, Inc.

3 p.m. Breakout #3

Tile Drainage to Manage Salinity & Soil Issues by Kelly Sharpe, GK Technology.
Value of Aerial Imagery, Data & Remote Sensing with David Roberts, NDSU and Nicholas Morrow, product manager at Agrain, Inc.
Variable Rate Irrigation Systems with Kylen Hunt, CropMetrics.

4 p.m. Breakout #4

Quality of Tile Drainage Water with Tom Scherer, NDSU Dept. of Ag and Biosystems Engineering.
Farm Data Management with Nathan Faleide, My AgData and John Illich, AgriData, Inc.
Latest in Dealer Technology & Equipment with Joel Kaczynski, RDO Equipment Co.

5 to 7 p.m. - Networking Social at Quality Inn.
5:15 p.m. - "Cheers!" by Dave Smith, managing director, Silveus Financial.

Jan. 17 Agenda

7:45 a.m. - Registration and continental breakfast.
8:10 a.m. - Welcome and Opening Remarks by Dr. Douglas Darling, president Lake Region State College.
8:15 a.m. - "Strategies for Multi-hybrid Planting-Switching Varieties with Variable Rates" with Mark Jeschke, Ph.D., Pioneer Agronomy Research Manager and Dr. Joel Ransom, NDSU Extension agronomist.
9:15 a.m. - "Farmers Who Know Precision Ag" with Gary Wagner, AWG Farms, Inc. and Kevin Poppel.
10:00 a.m. - Networking break.
10:30 a.m. - "Digital Evolution - the Last Generation" with Ryan Raguse, Myriad Mobile.
11:15 a.m. - "Precision Scouting, Data Capture and Yield Analysis" with Evan Sieling, regional YieldPoint specialist at CHS and Jeremy Bittner, climate business manager at The Climate Corporation.
12 noon - Lunch.
1:00 p.m. - "Ag Tech & Issues Causing Farmers Concern"-(data ownership, privacy and more) with Terry Griffin and Nicholas Morrow.

1 p.m. - Breakout #1

Variable Rate Irrigation with Susan O'Shaughnessy, ag engineer at the ARS Soil and Water Management Research and Shawn Kasprick, Simplot
Know your Airspace - Rules for Drone Operators & UAS Updates, with Trevor Woods, Northern Plains Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Site and John Nowatzki, NDSU Extension machine systems specialist.
Variable Rate 101 featuring Preston Sundeen, Dakota Precision Ag Center and Paul Backstrom, Precision Ag Results

2 p.m. - Breakout #2

Water Management Inputs and Returns with Kelly Sharpe, GK Technology.
Making Drones Work for You by Kris Poulson, VO of Agriculture at Sentera.
Using Existing Equipment for Multi-Variety Seeding by Gary Wagner, AWG Farms, Inc.

3 p.m. - Breakout #3

Tile Drainage to Manage Salinity & Soil Issues by Kelly Sharpe, GK Technology.
Value of Aerial Imagery, Data & Remote Sensing with David Roberts, NDSU and Nicholas Morrow, product manager at Agrain, Inc.
Variable Rate Irrigation Systems with Kylen Hunt, CropMetrics.

4 p.m. - Breakout #4

Quality of Tile Drainage Water with Tom Scherer, NDSU Dept. of Ag and Biosystems Engineering.
Farm Data Management with Nathan Faleide, My AgData and John Illich, AgriData, Inc.
Latest in Dealer Technology & Equipment with Joel Kaczynski, RDO Equipment Co.

5 to 7 p.m. - Networking Social at Quality Inn.
5:15 p.m. - "Cheers!" by Dave Smith, managing director, Silveus Financial.

This event is open to the public and Aasheim strongly encourages agriculture producers, as well as others who are interested in hearing from experts, exchanging ideas and learning more about precision agriculture technology, methods and practices to attend the summit.

In addition to the two main hosts, GK Technology, CHS Dakota Plains Ag, Simplot Smartfarm, NDSU Extension and Dakota Precision Ag Center helped organize this year's Precision Ag Summit.

Registration numbers are limited to 300 and in 2014, they actually had to turn people away due to lack of space. For this reason, Aasheim encourages early registration on-line. Registration costs are $100 per person and on-line registration can be done at www.theresearchcorridor.com/precisionagsummit2017.

For information on the summit, contact Ryan Aasheim at 701-499-6994 or by email at: ryan@theresearchcorridor.com.