This is a yield map. The red and orange are the low yielding areas and the greens are the higher yielding areas
Precision Ag-The Beginning of a New Era Farming can be a brutal, hardworking job but with a new technology called Precision Ag, it is becoming a lot easier to make more money and increase your production. Precision Ag is a new technology that is trying to increase the average yield of the crops. They are trying to take the areas of low yield and bring them up to the yield of the rest of the field so the field has a higher average yield. They start by taking grid samples of their soil. Then they analyze the soil to figure out what nutrients and fertilizers they need to put in the soil to maximize the yields. They can also make prescriptions to vary population rates when they are planting so it can give them the yield data.
According to Dave Leenderts at New Vision Coop in Hills, MN, there used to be only 1 or 2 producers using Precision Ag about 5 years ago. Now almost 30% to 40% of there producers are utilizing Precision Ag to their advantage so it is starting to become more popular every year. He also said that he hopes it saves money but for right now they don't really think it will save a lot of money in the long term. It's just way more efficient because instead of putting nutrients and fertilizers down on the areas that are already yielding high they are putting it down on the places that are yielding low. They aren't spending any more money on fertilizers. He said some of the main disadvantages of it are you basically have to spend money to make money by setting all of the equipment up in your combines and planters. I think Precision Ag is a great asset to use while farming and every farmer should consider using it.
College Plans for an H-BC Athelete High school sports are only four years long, but for one H-BC senior, sports might be a little longer. Zach Scholten has been offered a football scholorship at SMSU. He has been offered to play quarterback and to punt. Zach said he is going to miss playing football with his high school friends but is excited for the new adventures of college football. Zach also said he was intersted in going to SDSU to major in animal nutrition for four or five years. Zach said his top college at this moment is probably SMSU because he can go there to play his favorite sport and they have the degree he is planing on majoring in, but he still hasn't decided which college to attend. Zach ended his H-BC football career with 4,431 passing yards, 324 completions and 60 touchdowns. He also averaged 35.5 yards per punt.