Articles by Dave Kanicki

Kanicki
From the Desk of Dave Kanicki

Are You ‘Comfortable That It’s Bad?’

One of the more interesting comments I’ve read from an outsider looking into the current ag equipment environment came from an Aug. 17 report that quotes Karen Ubelhart, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence in New York. In assessing the current sales slump and the ongoing backlog of used farm machinery, Ubelhart said, “People are comfortable that it’s bad and that it will take a while. It’s not great, but they’re not bleeding. It’s just not getting better.”
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Getting to the Plant’s Roots

Research at Oklahoma State University on nitrogen uptake in corn has shown that almost two-thirds of the nitrogen is taken up within 7 inches of the plant, according to Ron Lloyd, director of agronomy for 360 Yield Center, Morton, Ill. In corn, he says, “We know that most corn roots are within 4-6 inches horizontally of the stalk.”
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Control Technologies Aim for One Weed at a Time

There’s just no winning with weeds. If we don’t kill them, they’ll choke out our crops and devastate yields. In earlier days, we removed them by labor intensive hoeing and cultivating. More recently we started spraying herbicides to control them. Unfortunately, this unwanted vegetation figured out how to beat the most common of the weed killers being used, leaving us with as big of a problem, we had before we started spraying.
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Developments in Site-Specific Management & VR Sprayers

The “precision placement of chemicals” and “consistent application within a targeted coverage” area that Ken Giles spoke of 5 years ago is a reality today, and is often referred to as “site-specific management” or, in some cases, “variable-rate application."
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Take Care of Basics Before Adopting New Sprayer Developments

While aerial application of pesticides is still utilized extensively, on-the-ground sprayers continue to gain favor for applying crop chemicals. In all likelihood, their use will continue to expand, especially with the introduction of newer precision technologies with the capability to reduce chemical usage through site-specific application methods.
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What’s Trending in Ag Application Technology?

Developments in applying crop nutrients and pesticides have come fast and furious during the last decade. Many of the newest breakthroughs are aimed at ‘site-specific’ management of inputs, nozzles and individual nozzle control, and soil applications.
“We’ve been diverted from innovation for a while in the spray industry as we tackled spray drift issues,” says Ken Giles, University of California-Davis professor of agricultural engineering. “In the next 10 years, the focus is going to shift from drift reduction to precision placement of chemicals. We’re going to focus on targeted coverage and how consistent application can be within that targeted coverage.”
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Making a Case for Curbing Spending on Inputs

Few signs point to a recovery in crop prices in the near term, which is making it imperative growers find ways to hold down costs.
As the industry downturn is well into its third year, producers are now taking an even harder look at minimizing the use, and thus the cost, of crop inputs like fertilizers and pesticides, wherever possible without sacrificing crop yields. The quest to reduce inputs without giving up crop productivity presents dealers and manufacturers with opportunities to work closely with their farm customers to improve everyone’s bottom line.
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Kanicki
From the Desk of Dave Kanicki

You Can’t Keep Up Either?

In putting together the special report on agricultural application technology that will appear in the September issue of Farm Equipment, our editors and contributors interviewed more than a dozen industry experts. These included growers, dealers, system developers and equipment manufacturers of precision farming technology.
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