Mavericks in the Field

How This 29-Year-Old Farmer is Calculating His Costs on Every Acre in Real-Time

Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:26:54 GMT

At just 29-years-old, Illinois farmer Chase Sailer is always exploring unconventional ways to be more productive.

“This is one of the things that we can probably see the biggest return on investment,” Sailer says, pointing to the GPS Ditch Grader in his machine shed. “Spots that used to yield 20 bu. [per acre] for soybeans are now getting all the way up to 50 to 70 bu. [per acre] in those wet holes.”

Sailer, who farms near Carmi, Ill., says it’s been one of the biggest game changers on his farm.

“It’s pretty much a surface drain drainage tile, if you want to look at it that way. It’s a lot cheaper than putting drainage tile on a field. But we can go out there, take the topography of any field, and we’re overlaying that with yield maps, to see where trouble spots are,” Sailer says.

Chase Sailer

(Russ Hnatusko)

Instead of guessing why low-yielding spots are an issue in any given field, they use all that data to know exactly what the culprit is.

“And then we’re able to go out there with this ditcher and grade it; we’re able to make sure that water flows to where it needs to,” Sailer says.

It’s that attention to detail, along with Sailer’s ability to turn to technology to solve problems on the farm, that makes this southern Illinois farmer a true maverick.

“We’re going to admit when we’re wrong, and we’re always willing to learn,” he says. “So, I think that’s a huge role, and the key in trying to be better is really dive in deep each year on what you did wrong. Because if you only focus on the things you did right, you’re never going to have growth,” he adds.

The Push for Precision

Another way Sailer Farms is taking the guesswork out of farming, is by fulling grasping onto precision farming. Now, Sailer is able to drill down their decisions to the acre.

“Right now we’re using about every part of precision technology that you can possibly use, and that’s going all the way from obviously auto row guidance with AutoTrac , which is kind of the bare minimum, to section control on your planters . And now we’re going into tramlines where we’re trying to limit the compaction zones on all of our fields,” Sailer says.

Aerial of Sailer Farms, Carmi, Illinois

(Russ Hnatusko )

In this area of southern Illinois, the two biggest limiting factors to yields are either too much or too little water, as well as compaction.

“So, with the use of tramlines and AutoPath from John Deere Ops Center, we’re able to pull into the field, already have the field mapped out and the route that we want to take. And we’re taking that same 60-foot pass on every application that we do. So that’s allowing us to come in here in the fall and in-line rip only where our equipment’s ran,” Sailer says.

Data-Driven Decisions

What goes into every decision the Sailers make, well, that all comes down to data.

“We have so much data anymore, all the way from our soil tests that we do every other year, and this is where we’re working really close with our agronomist. So, we’re pairing up different seed varieties to different soil types to make sure that we’re getting the biggest bang for our buck in that aspect,” he says.

Chase Sailer, Carmi, Illinois

(Russ Hnatusko )

Getting Rid of Bad Data

Sailer admits their farm used to comb through bad data, but now, through Ops Center, they finally have good data they go through not monthly or weekly, but daily.

“Even from our See & Spray maps where we’re going out with our sprayer, we’re getting these weed pressure maps and each year we’re able to learn and build off of that and make sure in that particular field that we’re doing a better job. And it’s helping us make decisions on what type of chemicals to use for certain fields,” Sailer says.

From being better able to decide which chemicals to use, to knowing which seed variety needs to be planted on every acre, Harvest Profit is another tool Sailer Farms now relies on heavily.

“Harvest Profit is a neat tool where we’re able to put in every overhead cost that we have in our farming operation, all the way from our employees to the random bills we get from the parts stores, so you get a true number of how much does it cost to run this one acre,” Sailer says. “And then, when we’re spraying and spreading throughout the field, we have all of our chemical prices and our fertilizer prices in Harvest Profit. And it’s just continually giving you a calculator throughout the field on a per acre basis.”

Chase Sailer, Carmi, Illinois

(Russ Hnatukso )

There’s no shortage of technology and precision tools on this farm, but what may be Sailer’s biggest key to success is the people they surround themselves with.

“As a farm, it’s just like a sports team. You’re only as good as your weakest link. We have 12 different guys and all of them play a huge role, whether it’s planting, harvesting, spreading, spraying. Every row needs to be done just as good as the best guy, and I feel like we have that as a team,” Sailer says.

At not even 30-years-old yet, Sailer just may be wise beyond his years. But as he looks ahead, he has big plans for the next 30 years.

“I’m a third-generation farmer,” says Sailer. “We’re always looking towards that next generation, trying to make decisions and set up the farm to where we’re successful for years to come. I hope to be here for another 100 years.”

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From Race Car Driver to Arkansas Farmer, How Travis Senter’s Obsession With Data is Paying Off

No Hands: Young Illinois Farmer is Now Taking Planting Tech to New Heights

From Race Car Driver to Arkansas Farmer, How Travis Senter's Obsession With Data is Paying Off

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 16:43:02 GMT

If proof is in the pudding, Arkansas farmer Travis Senter’s sea of soybeans may be the sign of how paying attention to every detail can add up.

“It’s not uncommon for us to grow 70-bushel [per acre] beans, 80-bushel beans, 90-bushel beans. We can grow good soybeans here,” admits Senter, who farms in Keiser, Ark.

Senter’s soybean crop looks like a monster this year, but that’s not what his mind is focused on most days. Unlike many farmers you meet, he’s always thinking about technology and what’s next. For him, big yields start with collecting and recording as much data as possible every time a piece of equipment enters the field.

“I hate not recording data when we’re going across the field, no matter what we’re doing,” he says. “I want to make sure we’re recording and getting that information because you don’t know when you’re going to use that information.”

That’s a lot of data, considering Senter’s family, along with their local farming partner, farm more than 20,000 acres. Senter says it’s technology and data that help him manage all those acres effectively and efficiently.

“I’ve always been interested in computers, building computers,” says Senter. “Whether it’s technology or equipment, I’m always trying to be a cutting edge. When autosteer came along and when John Deere introduced all this technology with the JDLink System , my father was a little bit older, and he couldn’t really figure out some of this stuff. So that was sort of my niche to get involved in farming and to really ramp up our technology side of things.”

A Generational Shift

Finding a niche is exactly what Senter did, and he went all in. If you walk into his office today, there’s not a single piece of paper on his desk. Everything is focused on technology, including dual 49” displays for his computer.

More Screen Real Estate!…..👌🏻 #farmtech #opscenter @JohnDeere pic.twitter.com/MkeSHEwTEK
— Travis Senter (@traviss22) April 15, 2024

That view is quite the contrast from Travis’ dad’s office. Walk into his office, which is just across the hall, and there’s a clear difference in technology use.

“I have an iPhone, but no, I don’t have a computer,” says Travis Senter Sr., with a smile.

Instead, the way he keeps records is a little more old school: he uses a classic pen and paper.

“I write it down. I have one of these books for every year of my farm and career,” he says, while holding up a composition notebook. “I write down planting dates, varieties, irrigation. I run out of pages, and I write down everything, and then I go back to it.”

Travis Senter, Jr., talks to his dad Travis Senter, Sr.

(Mike Byers )

Travis Sr. may be more old school, but he finds great value—and pride—in what his son’s already done.

“When he came home out of college, he was already running and gunning. I knew I had something special,” says Travis Sr. “With my son coming on board, helping us, it has really opened up things. He brought a lot of new things to the farm that makes it easier, and I love all that stuff. It’s just I’m a little slower at it. I want him to get it, and we just keep investing in it, because we know it helps the farm.”

The Go-To-Guy for Technology

Travis Senter isn’t just the technology whisperer on the family farm, he’s everybody’s go-to guy in the Keiser area for technology. And how he learns and keeps up on the latest tech trends is by simply experimenting.

“It’s a lot of trial and error,” he admits. “You want to go all in and buy the next greatest thing, but that’s not always the best way. I’ve watched a lot of farmers spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for things that they’ll not use in two years from now, because that company will go bankrupt,” he adds. “So, you’ve got to do your research and try to figure out exactly what works best for you.”

Monitoring the progress! #farmtech #opscenter @JohnDeere @GoGreenwayEquip pic.twitter.com/dzE0bFcToh
— Travis Senter (@traviss22) October 21, 2023

When Senter finds something that works, he goes all in. That was the case when he was trying to find a way to stay connected to all of the family’s machines on the farm, and it’s not just a few tractors to keep track of. They have a massive fleet. Senter says they operate 33 tractors, three cotton pickers, three combines, four sprayers, a number of excavators and 20 semi-trucks.

“We had one or two units we were swapping from this tractor to that tractor, and so it was kind of a pain. I finally worked out a deal and thought, ‘What if we just get everything connected? Get autosteer on everything, put displays in everything, do recording on everything,’ because that makes life a lot easier. You don’t have to worry about what’s recording here, what’s recording there. Just bring it all in.”

Ops Center

(Travis Senter)

How Racing Made Him a Better Farmer

Senter has a love for technology, and he also has a love for racing with rows and rows of awards and trophies to show for it.

“In what I call my previous life, I was a race car driver and not only a race car driver, I was also a race car builder,” he says.

Travis Senter Racing

(Travis Senter)

For 20 years, Senter traveled across the country, and even the world, building and driving race cars.

“Data collection in racing is probably done more so than in farming,” says Senter. “I had extreme amounts of data on my race car in 2005 to record where I go, where I’m at, all this information that I would study and try to be better. And so that exact thing is what amplified my sensors and my data collection for farming.”

Senter says the ability to collect information in racing is what helped him become an even better race car driver. Today, his ability to collect information and data is what is making him an even better farmer.

“Building race cars, racing race cars, has definitely helped me be a better farmer, which is strange to say,” says Senter.

Using ChatGPT as a Tool on the Farm

Senter’s time on the track may also be why he’s so willing to take risks today and try things that are unheard of on the farm. One example is the way he’s grabbed onto artificial intelligence (AI).

“Taking ChatGPT, for example, you can throw some of your data in there and it will spit out what you’re expected to make. And, if you can throw in enough information and give it the right prompts, I feel like we could change our decision-making,” he says.

I asked ChatGPT to describe an image I took this afternoon and then I asked it to draw that description with Dall-E3. The results are amazing. #ChatGPT pic.twitter.com/ei2sIDayIA
— Travis Senter (@traviss22) October 20, 2023

Last summer, before there was the ability with ChatGPT to add files, Senter and his own son created their own AI model. The goal was to take their 10-year yield history in every field, add in planting and harvesting dates, the varieties or hybrids they planted, and combine that information with weather data.

“Then you can compare information and say, ‘My best year of yield was when I planted this date, this was the average temperature during pollination.’ You can derive that from all this weather information,” Senter says. “So, if I planted at this particular date with this particular variety, and I know the pollination date and what temperature I’m going to have this year, maybe this will help me generate better yield information so I can market better. It opens up a whole realm of possibilities when you are able to throw in more information to this.”

Exploring Virtual Reality

Another unique idea he’s using on the farm is virtual reality.

“I’m not really a gamer, because I’m sort of too old for that. But I was a gamer, and I’ve always had VR headsets,” says Senter.

He says he really likes Apple’s new VR technology called Apple Vision Pro , but prior to that, the other VR headsets available didn’t give him any “wow” factor.

“The Apple Vision Pro is amazing with what it can do,” says Senter. “When you put it on and get it calibrated to you, it’s extremely impressive how your eyes are basically your cursor. You just look at something in it, and you click your fingers together, and it works.”

More Apple Vision Pro. Currently it isn’t great for everyday use, but as things progress this type of augmented reality will be everywhere. #AppleVisionPro @JohnDeere pic.twitter.com/kYxMDs8qUG
— Travis Senter (@traviss22) April 28, 2024

He admits that VR headsets are bulky today. But in the future, he thinks the technology will be in a pair of sunglasses.

“If you imagine 10 years from now, this is going to be smaller, and when you’re walking in the field and see a weed, you can take a picture of it. You can enter that in ChatGPT, and you can ask what that weed is and how you can kill it. And it’ll tell you,” says Senter.

He says it’s a simple way to ask a question, and it’s one that won’t be judged.

“When I ask that question to a professor or a doctor, they may look down on me and think I should probably already know this, and maybe I should or maybe I forgot it. It doesn’t matter. But I get an answer from ChatGPT, and then I can follow it up with more questions. And when you think about that, it opens up a whole realm of possibilities.

Combing Through the Data

Even with those tools, it all goes back to data and capturing as much data as possible on every acre and with every pass. That’s what helps Senter solve some of the problems on his farm.

“If I look at a field and see a problem spot, I’ll instantly pull out my phone and figure out when we sprayed that and when that spot got missed, so I can come back and fix that,” says Senter. “I then know when the applicator missed it. I know what he missed doing, for example.”

Travis Senter checks his mobile app

(Mike Byers)

He says whether it’s when he’s spraying, planting or harvesting, he looks at the data every night, no matter the time of year.

“When I get home from work, I’ll probably spend two or three hours on a computer every night going through fields, looking at maps and just making sure everything got planted right or everything was sprayed right. And that’s usually why I do it,” says Senter.

In the fall, he says it may be midnight before he gets home, but he always goes through the data to make sure everyone is on the same page.

By carefully calculating every move on his farm, he’s controlling what he can control, instead of leaving it up to chance.

“We take every single truck across one scale, just that one scale. We record that information and I’ll enter that in some spreadsheets. I’ve tried different software companies, but Excel and Google Sheets are my saving grace from some of that,” says Senter. “I’ll enter all that information every single night after we get done, so I know exactly how much grain is in the field, and then I’ll send out a report the next day showing exactly how many acres we harvested, how much grain is in this bin and what their average moisture was. There’s lots of information that we try to keep up with.”

A Valuable Tool Today: John Deere Operations Center Mobile

One thing he’s excited to use this fall is something he suggested to John Deere in the past few years. Senter relies heavily on John Deere’s Operations Center Mobile app year-round. He says it’s extremely valuable to help him see real-time information, including fuel information.

What’s new this year is when Senter pulls into a field to harvest, the app will give him an estimated time of completion.

“It gives you a percentage of how much you have left, and what time you should be done. And it’s an adjustable scale,” he says. “I kept mentioning to Deere that we really need a way to know that information, just like when you go on a trip and use GPS for your trip, you know your ETA and you’re trying to beat that time of arrival. We try to beat that time to finish harvest. The app actually keeps everybody up to date of how much is left in that field.”

With that real-time information, Senter can be more strategic about when they finish a field and move to the next, making sure to miss heavy traffic times, like when school gets out in the afternoon. He says it’s a handy feature and one he’s excited to use this fall.

From the race track to the farm field, Senter knows the race to farm effectively and efficiently isn’t slowing down.

“I’m always learning. I’m always finding ways to integrate new things,” says Senter.

Watch the full feature on Senter and how he thinks about technology on the farm differently.

No Hands: Young Illinois Farmer is Now Taking Planting Tech to New Heights

Fri, 03 May 2024 22:10:26 GMT

From every pass in the field to every turn at the end of each row, every move made in Illinois farmer Heath Huisinga’s farm field is done hands-free each spring.

“That’s what I think really makes this great is that you can do all this, and you can focus more on just watching the planter,” says the Casey, Ill. farmer as he was rushing to finish planting a field last week before it rained.

Hints of automation are sprinkled across his farm, and at just 30 years old, Huisinga continues to fully embrace technology as it’s introduced.

One of the latest things he’s started using across all his acres is AutoTrac Turn Automation. It’s a feature that automatically completes turns and manages the implement a farmer is using by tapping into field and headland boundaries as the reference point. It’s available on newer John Deere equipment, but the majority of farmers aren’t using it yet, even if it’s available on their tractor. One reason is it requires time to set accurate boundaries in each field.

Huisinga says it took him a week straight this winter of driving around his fields to create the boundaries for AutoTrac Turn Automation. With the advice of his local Deere dealer, he used the left front tire of his Gator as a guide to set up the field, and he says it’s paying off this spring.

“Half the time, I’ll just sit sideways in here, and I don’t have to worry about turning,” Huisinga says from the cab of his tractor, as he navigates the field without any hands on the wheel. “I know if I have an obstacle coming up, it’ll tell me and I can just sit here, and I don’t have to worry about picking it up.”

Like other farmers, the view from his office each spring is the inside of his cab, but a glimpse inside Huisinga’s cab gives a hint into how immersed he is in the technology available in the tractor and on the planter.

“I can watch my [planting] pops; I can watch my ground contact, I can watch all that good stuff. So, it just frees me up to focus more on the actual planter itself than just focusing on driving the tractor,” says Huisinga.

The Illinois farmer is fluent in ag tech, but for him, grasping the latest technology is something that simply comes naturally. Admittedly, part of that is due to his age, but it’s also an area of interest he’s gravitated toward.

“I grew up with that stuff,” he says. “Now, there are so many different things to watch and see. I don’t know how you would do it following your marker track and staying straight.”

Modern conveniences have opened a new realm of realities for Husinga, even if some of those you can’t necessarily quantify with a true ROI. He says AutoTrac Turn Automation is just one example.

“It just frees you up to actually a) take advantage of the tech you do have and b) the operator strain at the end of the day is so much less by not having to constantly watch everything,” says Huisinga.

Early Adopter

Huisinga doesn’t view himself as an early adopter of technology on his farm; instead, it’ just a critical piece of his daily operation.

“Some of the things that we do a little different is we’re quick to embrace new theories. For right or for wrong,” says the Illinois farmer. “Sometimes when we go in on something, we go whole hog, but we’re always tinkering, always trying something. We’re just embracing the unknown,” he adds.

Farming on the edge of innovation, is seen as risky by some, but for Huisinga, it’s become the norm.

“The big jump that most people talk about is auto steer and AutoTrac. I mean, that really did change the game, but I feel like a lot of people are just stuck at that point,” he says. “That technology opened up the door for so many other things. I think that as you embrace more of that, if you want to be in the autonomy space, and you want to utilize that, I’m going to guess that having all the other things lined up and calibrated, and actually having the data behind it, is probably going to expedite your entry into that realm [of automation].”

Farming by the Row and a Wild Hair

Instead of looking at an entire farm field, he’s focused pass by pass and row by row. RTK and other systems are helping him replicate what he does in a field year after year, which he says has really helped him hone in on farming by the row and being precise in each furrow.

“Then it opens up my mind to the possibility of when it comes to fertilizer and the options, I’m not building up the whole field. I’m building up that strip, because with the tech and the accuracy, I know whenever I plant year after year, I’m not going to farm this 30 inches in between. I’m farming in that seed bed, right there.”

As Huisinga can better manage every pass, from the seed to the fertilizer, he’s growing more precise in how he farms. This young farmer is still willing to push the boundaries and try new things.

“Actually, just over here on this 40 [acres], I had this wild hair,” says Huisinga. “I had read this report that guys were doing skip-row corn. And I thought, ‘You know what, we’re going to make this work.’ So, I think I planted two rows, turned one off, planted two rows, turned one off, planted two rows, turned one off, and did that all the way across the field. But I also wanted to adjust my population so that it was the same 35,000 across the planter. And luckily, with Deere, I went in there and figured out how to shut the rows off, up certain rows and lower the other ones. So that was great. I was planting 45,000 to 50,000 on those two rows and then skipping one row.”

He says that one trial turned into a lot of questions from those passing by the field.

“We actually had some commercial guys spraying in the field next to it call and say, ‘Hey, I think you had a problem with your planter. You might want to go fix that.’ I said, ‘That was on purpose.’”

It may have been a wild idea, but it was one that actually worked.

“It made like five more bushel [per acre] than the test, but I haven’t given up on it. I think it was maybe the wrong hybrid that I tried with it. So, we’re probably going to try that again,” says Huisinga.

Coming Soon to a Field Near You: Autonomy with Tillage

With hints of automation already in his field, the biggest change on the horizon could be the ability for Huisinga to do more with less. That includes autonomy with tillage, where Huisinga thinks he can start using smaller and narrower tillage tools that run autonomously behind his combine at harvest.

“Even in the fall for us, sometimes you have good falls, sometimes you have bad. And if you can just even have an autonomous tractor follow you around in the combine and tell it, ‘I want these corn stalks dug, and I’m in this big block of area,’ I can watch the thing work over there, and I can basically have all my stalks worked and ready for next spring by the time I park the combine.”

Embrace the Technology

Technology may be racing forward in agriculture but for this maverick, he has one piece of advice for fellow farmers across the U.S.

“Embrace the tech. I think it can be daunting at first to get set up and say, ‘I don’t know if I can do that or I don’t have time,’ but take the time to do it. Work with your dealer or whoever you’re working with to get your tech, because I think it will open the door to other things you did not think that you could do, or things that wouldn’t be possible without that tech.”

By embracing the technology, Huisnga says your comfort level will grow with experience. But just like with other things in life, the hardest part is often starting something new.