Reduced costs and extra income provided.

Kent Klinefelter
Nokomis, Illinois
"We’ve analyzed the numbers thoroughly, and on 3,000 tillable acres of corn and soybeans, our EZ-Steer® system and two AgGPS® Autopilot™ systems save us $17,000 a year in fuel, labor and repairs. At the same time, they increase our income by $54,000 each year due to less compaction, precise placement of seed over strip-tilled fertilizer, plus increased productivity and timeliness of planting and harvest. And those savings are calculated on $2.50/bu. corn and $2.50/gal. diesel fuel. These reduced costs and extra income happen every year, and provide an annual return on original purchase price of 110% to 120%."

Worker performance and productivity increased.

Monty McFadden
Olton, Texas
“This year we’ll farm about 30 cotton circles using four AgGPS® Autopilot™ systems. With Autopilot, you can put almost anybody on the equipment and get consistently spaced rows in any planting pattern, moving toward the inside, outside, or any way you want—Autopilot gives you total flexibility. The drivers don’t get fatigued from holding on a line all day, so they work longer hours and cover lots of additional acreage every day. Autopilot is a grand advantage on a hooded sprayer because you don’t risk running foliage underneath the hood and killing crop. We get RTK correction signals from a local base station network, and I’m real pleased with that system. There are lots of unseen paybacks with Autopilot.”

Over $8,000 saved on just one application.

Jerry Brooks
Oakford, Illinois
If Illinois corn grower Jerry Brooks had any doubt about justifying the cost of his new AgGPS® EZ-Steer® assisted steering system last fall, he got over it—right after injecting 1,500 acres of anhydrous ammonia. Here’s why, in his own words: "At $50 or $60 an acre, that’s $80,000 worth of ammonia. Before I got my EZ-Steer system, I’d overlap at least one 30-inch row to make sure I covered everything. With a 30-foot applicator, that’s about a 10% over-application, or $5 worth of ammonia an acre. On 1,500 acres of corn ground, that’s $7,500. So by avoiding overlaps with my EZ-Steer WAAS system, I saved $7,500 on just that application—and I didn’t pay that much for the EZ-Steer. "I also saved about $600 in reduced fuel consumption and labor in the process by eliminating several passes through each field. My neighbors all think I’m in ridge till, because my rows are so straight. It’s like you ran a big comb across the field. "Learning to run my new EZ-Steer system was easy. My Case IH dealer came out and spent about 11/2 or 2 hours of installation and training time with me, then left his phone number in case I needed help. I taped it to the dash but never called him. You just get the tractor straightened up on the turns and headed back down the row, then turn it loose. "Many farmers are afraid of GPS, but they shouldn’t be. These things save you so much money, everybody needs one."

RTK network rapidly expanded to meet demand.

Loren Fairbanks
Fairbanks International
Lexington, Nebraska
"Just two years ago, our Case IH dealership erected the first tower in our new GuideNet LLC base station network—which we also operate—to serve our first RTK network customer. In 2004, GuideNet added two more base stations and more customers to meet fast-growing demand for the +/- 1 inch repeatable accuracy of Case IH AFS AccuGuide. We expanded our RTK network again in 2006 to 15 base stations serving 35 customers throughout our trade area. We continue to see increased interest in precision farming and workload reduction in the tractor cab."

EZ-Boom™ provides confidence in applications.

Marlyn Spare
St. John, Kansas
"We’ve been using an EZ-Guide Plus® lightbar guidance system the last couple of years. Last fall, we added an EZ-Steer® system for drilling wheat. Then we moved the lightbar to our 90-foot, 5-section sprayer and added the new EZ-Boom™ 2010 automated application control system, replacing a Raven® controller. "Two things about EZ-Boom surprised me—how easy it was to learn to use, and how it takes all the guesswork out of spraying. It only took me about two hours to figure out this new system. Once I learned it, operation was simple. "So far this spring, we’ve used EZ-Boom to top dress fertilizer and herbicide on our wheat, and apply alfalfa herbicide. In three or four days I sprayed 1,800 acres—a lot of them corners and circles. You apply only on the areas where you need to apply. "Boom sections turn on when they need to and turn off when they need to. You can see a place you missed, but EZ-Boom helps you not miss anything in the first place. "In my experience, EZ-Boom is an inexpensive way to ensure that application is done in a professional, accurate way. It gives you confidence in knowing that you applied the correct amount on the field and didn’t overspray or miss anything."

Critical 1” repeatability accuracy for drip irrigation setup.

Paul Martin
Slaton, Texas
"The 1 inch repeatability of our AgGPS® Autopilot™ systems is a crucial part of our drip irrigation setup. If you don’t keep the row spacing over the drip tape even, the closer rows will be dominant and others will suffer. Planting seed in the exact center of the listed seed bed is also critical for getting a crop up and growing. That’s where the best moisture is—in the center of that ridged seed bed. The timeliness of getting our spring work done and being ready to get the crop in the ground last year made the difference in that crop. It yielded 2 to 2 1/2 bales per acre—a near record."

Autopilot™ allows more environmentally friendly use of fumigant.

Brian Wysocki
HEARTLAND FARMS
Hancock, Wisconsin
"The +/- 1 inch repeatability of our AgGPS® Autopilot™ system allows us to band a fumigant in the fall right into the hill where the potato seed piece will be placed in the spring. This allows for more cost efficient and environmentally friendly use of fumigant. Since adopting this technology, our bruising issues have been more manageable and ‘cultivator blight’ has been greatly reduced."

EZ-Guide® 500 impressive in size and usability.

Kelvin Jarvis
Ag Soil Solutions
Neepawa, Manitoba
"I’m impressed by the big color screen of the AgGPS® EZ-Guide® 500 and having the buttons right on it. Also, with accuracy upgrades, you can turn on the receiver option you need—WAAS, OmniSTAR or even RTK. If you’re spraying, EZ-Guide 500 will record what you did, where you did it. Traceability and proof of everything you applied is going to become very important. That really scares some farmers, but EZ-Guide 500 will do it for them as they’re going through the field."

Precision farming done quick and easy.

Danny Nielsen
Camanche, Iowa
"When I switched from a 60-foot drawn sprayer to a 90-foot design, I was a little nervous about how my EZ-Guide Plus® system was going to work. I used foam on the first two or three fields. But then I had enough trust in the accuracy of the EZ-Guide Plus that I never used another ounce of foam. After my Case IH dealer hooked up my new EZ-Steer system, I just turned it on and went. There’s really no learning curve with this system—you just set your A-B line and go."

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Customer success stories provided by Trimble Agriculture, the leader in precision farming solutions