AgConnect

AgConnect is an international farm convention that happens every other year.  Luckily for me this year it was in Kansas City.  Here are some of the highlights from the show:

This is a view from the best vantage point I could find. (The top of a combine)

 

This is probably the coolest thing that I found at the convention.  It is a combine that has a grain cart attached to the back.  You can fill an entire semi truck with one load from this combine's grain bin.  That is about three times as much storage as the combines we currently use. 

 

A trend I noticed while I was at this convention was all the major tractor/combine companies were starting to create "Farm Management IT Systems."  John Deere's version of Farm IT is called Farm Sight.  Follow the link to check out their vision of what a farmer's life is going to be like in the future. 

One technology that is being integrated into Farm Sight is called Field Connect.  It is a base station that monitors information on soil conditions and reports via email or text.  I also saw a system that allows you to configure a tractor's GPS system remotely from another tractor's monitor.  It is essentially remote desktop for tractors.  Awesome.

Below is John Deere's latest combine model:

OK. Not really.  I am starting to notice that farmers' (me included) get pretty attached to their farm equipment.  It probably doesn't help when you start to name them...

 -Conventional Farmer Ryan