Your farm equipment is already pretty smart. It can turn spray nozzles or planter clutches on and off automatically. It can tell you how much it is harvesting. Heck, it can even steer itself. Now it is learning to use a cell phone to talk to your office computer.

AGCO's AGCOMMAND system will access information remotely from a piece of farm equipment. (Progressive Farmer illustration by Ray E. Watkins Jr.)

At least, that's one way to describe a new technology product AGCO soon will be offering. AGCO calls its system AGCOMMAND. It will access information remotely from a piece of farm equipment -- say, a tractor in a distant field -- so that a farmer sitting at his office computer can know: where the tractor is, what tasks it is doing and how close to being finished it is, how often it is idling, how often it is working, how often implements are on the ground and how often they are in transport mode, how often it is roading, and when it will need service next, among other things.

"We call this uptime management for an equipment fleet," says Harlan Little, AGCO technology marketing specialist for North America.

Customers will be able to chart the efficiency of their equipment and apply that knowledge to use that equipment better. For instance, sensors can alert the farm office when a spray rig's tank is nearly empty so a manager can send a nurse truck to the field with a refill. It also could be used to alert the farm office if a tractor has entered an area where it is not supposed to go.

Or, on a more basic level, "the system could tell Mom where everyone is and when they will be ready for lunch," Little says.

Here's how it works: GPS keeps track of where a tractor is; onboard sensors monitor performance. A cell phone-based system relays that information and more to a server, which then relays it to the farm office via the Internet. If a farmer chooses, he can have his equipment's information posted on a secure web site so that suppliers can access the data to provide timely services.

Target markets for these talking tractor services are likely to include large farms with precision farm practices, farm service cooperatives and custom applicators.

An example is Jimmy Sanders Inc., a large farm supply company based in Cleveland, Miss., with more than 40 locations in the Mid-South. For three years it has used a telemetry system called AgJunction, which is offered by GVM Inc. of Biglerville, Pa.

"We use it for asset tracking and a lot more," says Jeff Dearborn, who implements new technologies for Jimmy Sanders Inc. "It also can move precision ag files directly to equipment in the fields," he adds, so they don't have to be loaded at the shop.

On the other end of the process, precision ag maneuvers performed by equipment in the field can be recorded and uploaded directly onto a server.

AGCO's Little says telemetry could be the "missing link" in precision agriculture because it could ensure that the valuable data collected in the field actually makes it to the farm computer, where it can be processed and put to use.

"This is not just about, 'Where is my tractor?' There are a lot of uses for this technology that we haven't even thought of yet," Little says.

AGCO's AGCOMMAND system is starting to go online now and will phase in over the next few months. A small amount of hardware -- the AM50, a black box to connect onboard equipment systems to a server via a cell phone connection -- will be needed for the basic service. AGCOMMAND can be plugged into CANBUS outlets to monitor vehicle and implement functions. This year AGCO combines will come equipped with telemetry hardware.

Customers also will have to buy a subscription to the service. Little estimates entry-level subscriptions will be less than $2,500 for two years of service. A menu of services will come in basic and advanced levels.

On a basic level, the onboard system will collect data and send it to a server in periodic "dispatches." If a vehicle is outside cell service coverage areas, these bursts of information will occur when reception improves. Advanced levels will function in real time and, depending on the complexity of equipment functions it monitors, will cost more.

The system also is not brand-dependent, so equipment from different manufacturers could be included in a farm's account.

AGCO's new product is a result of a partnership with Topcon, which has a relationship with the Italian company Tierra. Tierra has long supplied telemetry to fire departments, ambulances and truck fleets.

(AG)

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