Episode 002: Automation and Strategic Harvest Technologies

Farmers everywhere understand the importance of harvest logistics and measuring productivity. In colder climates, efficient harvest operations are critical for ensuring that field losses are minimized and crops are out of the field before inclement weather arrives. In warmer climates, efficiently harvesting peanuts between consistent rain events can pose a challenge and increase the threat of freeze damage to the crop. On this episode of "FarmBits," Dr. John Evans, assistant professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Purdue University, discusses the topics of harvest logistics and yield mapping. John first shares his perspectives on logistical challenges that farmers face and steps that farmers can take today without significant capital investments to increase their efficiency. After discussing those important aspects of harvest, he addresses the major problems for farmers that should be addressed with digital solutions. One problem is the issue of deciding whether harvested products should be transported immediately to an elevator or processing facility, or if they should be temporarily transferred to on-farm storage. Digital solutions that leverage positional data and machine to machine connectivity could provide significant benefit to farmers in this scenario. The episode concludes with John talking about automation and the future of yield mapping resolution at the frontiers of digital harvest technology. "I think the actual autonomous navigation is not too far off. I think there's a lot of work to be done, however, in terms of machine vision. We're in a very complicated environment. We're trying to look through corn, trying to look through beans, to identify things that aren't supposed to be there." - John Evans Podcast E-Mail: farmbits@unl.edu Podcast Twitter: @NEDigitalAg Samantha's Twitter: @SamanthaTeten Jackson's Twitter: @jstansell87 Opinions expressed by the hosts and guests on this podcast are solely their own, and do not reflect the views of Nebraska Extension or the University of Nebraska - Lincoln.