Technology has not only changed the face of agriculture during the 20th century, it is still defining its future in the 21st century.
As the world’s population increases and environmental challenges mount, technology will help agriculture met those challenges with food to share.
A hint of those technological trends that lie ahead and will define ag’s immediate- and long-range future were recently revealed to 50 investment fund managers last monty during Ag Day in New York City, according to No-Till Farmer.
The event was co-sponsored by No-Till Farmer and Wall Street Access. It was designed to help Wall Street fund managers better understand the food production cycle and this year’s fertilizer markets.
From No-Till Farmer, here are some of the ideas presented at the event by the participants.
— Take a closer look at government payments. While no-tilling, seeding cover crops, practicing nutrient management and tiling each earns us a separate government payment, there is a $20-per-acre bonus available by using all four practices on our farm.
— Turning off spray nozzles individually when approaching grass waterways or overlapping end rows saves 20 percent on chemical costs.
— Less than 20 percent of new tractors are GPS equipped, even though a typical payback is 12 to 18 months.
—S ales of self-propelled sprayers will rise as growers insist on more timely pesticide application.
— Lime is the most cost-effective way to correct many soil problems.
— The popularity of anhydrous ammonia is not going away, but there’s going to be more pressure on using it safely and properly.
— Turning off individual seed boxes on a planter when you cross grass waterways can save 15 percent on seed costs.
— Agriculture will recover quicker than general businesses from the current economic downturn.
— Versus conventional tillage, strip-till saves  2,250 hours of labor per year. That works out to a savings of $27,000 with 4,700 acres of corn.
— No-till and strip-till save 3 to 5 gallons per acre in fuel costs. With 5,000 acres, that saves up to $40,000 per year.
— Using GMO corn hybrids for insect and weed control offers up to a 30-bushel-per-acre yield increase. With $4 corn, that could amount to as much as $564,000 in extra income per year in our operation.
— Use of biotech corn hybrids has resulted in a 7.8 percent reduction in pesticide costs.
— Some no-tillers are applying a double dose of phosphorus and potassium every two years to cut down on field trips without losing any yield.
— Variable-rate nitrogen application can cut rates by 60 to 80 pounds per acre.
— Many sulfur deficiencies are due to the fact that electrical power plants fueled with coal are no longer releasing as much sulfur into the atmosphere. A recent Iowa State University study shows spending $5 per acre for sulfur can boost corn yields by 15 bushels per acre.
— No single factor will do more to boost yields than reducing planting speed. Operating a 12-row no-till planter at 4 mph allows more uniform and high-yielding stands with corn and soybeans.
— Early planting is critical as more sunlight can be utilized during the growing season.
— One of the new innovations is attaching a strip-till toolbar to the front of the tractor to do a better job of accurately building berms while pulling a fertilizer tank directly behind the tractor.
— One farmer is looking at growing twin-row corn or shifting from 30- to 20-inch rows. This should allow them to push seed populations up to as much as 45,000 seeds per acre.
— Water-use efficiency is the biggest barrier to growing 300-bushel-per-acre corn.
— Corn yields average 180 to 220 bushels per acre with GMO hybrids compared to 160 to 180 bushels per acre with non-GMO corn in refuge areas.
— Farmers want to get to where they can continually monitor the performance of all ag machinery from the farm office.
— Tillage does more harm to a cropping system than chemicals will ever do.
—  Producers are gearing up to grow switchgrass for ethanol production.
— Electronic guidance systems are used on only 30 percent of farms with more than 500 acres. Auto-steer is still in its infancy with only 10 percent market penetration.
— Working ground even once will set back your no-till progress.
—The technology for a single operator in a pickup truck running two, three or four combines within the same field is here. Grower acceptance is still a few years away.
— When we look at growing 300-bushel-per-acre corn, narrowing down the row widths, using twin rows and varying nitrogen rates should help reach this goal.
Innovation, field experience, ingenuity and new technology is defining this new century of agriculture. The challenges are there but human imagintion and ingenuity are boundless with the right attitude and the willingness to change and try new ideas.