AgSnap

I define data as a series of numbers or values that means absolutely nothing without context. We don’t want data; We want accurate information that provides real value. (Yes, I dislike the word data, but we’ll keep it simple for this post)

Data Quality is Total Garbage EVERYWHERE

There will always be error and bias in data, humans program the machines. Just because a machine spits out a number, does NOT mean it’s accurate.

Selective Data

Test plot or side by side not come out how you wanted? Just don’t publish it

Infection number statistics don’t prove your narrative? Only use the set of numbers you like

Hidden Agendas

In Agriculture it could be snake oil salesmen, VC’s, environmentalists, rip-off agtech companies, etc.

For corona it could be globalists, elitists, politicians, medical manufacturers, etc.

Media Distortion

What is “news” anymore? Is the article actually an advertisement? Hit piece? Flat out lie? Is the article just made to get clicks and generate advertising revenue?

Forecasting

What’s the difference between a weather forecast, commodity price prediction and corona data forecast? They’re all just about worthless. Let’s not even get started on USDA predictions…

Censorship

How many are afraid to tell the truth in fear of losing their job? Or afraid their vendor/supplier will punish them for any form of criticism?

Maybe Agriculture and the World will wake up one day?

It’s a sad day when you trust ZeroHedge and NewAgTalk posts more than the mainstream media.

So what happened with the AgTech sector in 2018? A ton of things: many announcements of new products, services, investments, start-ups, along with some mergers and acquisitions; But the story of the AgTech sector in 2018 isn’t as simple as the headlines you read in traditional agriculture media or on any tech blog. A lot of folks in the sector got a reality check this year, and that check was a long time coming.

As someone who frequently talks technology with producers and some of those inside AgTech, I was curious as to why we all feel so stuck. I decided to compile a list, over a period of several months, of why AgTech is struggling to connect with producers. This is focused particularly in row crop country. It didn’t take me long to realize a whole lot of producers feel the same way I do. Many of those producers are very passionate about the issues because they’re frustrated or feel they’ve been burned on previous purchases. To be blunt, a large portion of the AgTech sector has not listened to their mainstream customers. A couple of tweets and 60,000+ impressions later, here’s a list I’ve compiled of what sucked about the AgTech sector in 2018.

Thanks to everyone on Twitter who helped contribute to this list
(Twitter threads at the bottom, click to see all the replies)

Continue Reading →

Farm Journal AgTech Expo 2018 was a great event I attended earlier this week.  Instead of taking numerous pages of notes, I decided to tweet out threads of each session I went to. Much of what I tweeted was paraphrasing, not quotes. Most of my personal thoughts are in parenthesis (). Apologies for any grammatical errors (still need that edit button, Twitter).

– Click on the white space in the middle box to see the entire threads
– All credit for content in photos of slides to presenters
– Some of this is shorthand, let me know if you have questions.

You can also search #FJAgtech18 to see tweets from many others

Continue Reading →

I’ve been on the hunt for a cheap internet based deep freeze temperature sensor for some time. We have a chest freezer that stores a whole beef and more at a time, but isn’t opened or checked on daily, so it would be very expensive to have it go down unnoticed. In my research, I came across many expensive and custom industrial sensors with proprietary software, complex setup that required coding or even a separate gateway. It’s not that I couldn’t do any of that; I just thought it shouldn’t be rocket science to monitor a freezer. IoT should not be expensive or complicated.

Freezer and display shown

=============================================================================
Check out my used farm equipment listings and more on the NewAgTalk Classifieds and AgrisolEquipment.com

Make sure to click the links, prices and availability may change
=============================================================================

Continue Reading →

Thoughts on free product support..

Five years ago I resigned from my “real world” job. I was not happy with where that organization was going, so I made a change. I’m not here to complain about what they did or are doing, it’s a private business and it’s their choice how to run it. I didn’t know exactly where life would lead me, but I had many offers, probably too many. I looked at lots of opportunities, and knowing Ag would probably have a down cycle, some of those opportunities were outside of agriculture. I certainly could have made more money outside of the Ag industry, but I liked being around AgTech and farm equipment, so I stuck it out.

Fast forward a few years and it becomes very clear, Ag is in a down cycle. Nobody knows where the bottom is, but we all know we need to make more money. What we all made in the good times only lasts so long. Let’s get to the point here, I’m done providing free support. I have helped with machinery decisions, WiFi networks, camera systems, GPS, RTK, AutoTrac, precision Ag, drones and so on. I have tried justifying this free support with the expectation of some loyalty (within reason) for equipment purchases, but that clearly goes out the window in tough times. I also have competition that takes big risks for very small rewards, I can’t do that. And that’s okay, I know I can’t help with everything.

I have also tried justifying free support, with networking, keeping up to date, product knowledge, etc etc, but the fact is that does not pay bills.

Bottom line: it is not fair to me, in financial terms, if you make money or save money off my advice.

It doesn’t matter the topic or acronym, if it’s in agriculture or electronics and I can provide knowledge and experience, I need to be charging for my time. I know that is a broad statement and I’m open to feedback here.

I am still willing to help in many situations:

• If you have purchased anything from / consigned anything with me in the last 18 months   (18 months because that covers seasonal items purchased off-season)
• Industry contacts that just need quick information   (a huge thank you to those who still help me, but don’t necessarily have to, I owe you all)
• Friends and family   (obviously)
• Local neighbors
• Those I do business with or purchase things from
• Those who have helped me on anything and everything

This all being said, I am open to paid consulting on your idea, project, business, investment, etc. on any of the aforementioned topics.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thanks,
Aaron Bobeck
@AaronBobeck / firstintial.lastname@gmail.com

See everything I have for sale on the NewAgTalk Classifieds and on AgrisolEquipment.com

Some observations around recent conversations regarding AgTech..

See everything I have for sale / on consignment:
 NewAgTalk Classifieds and AgrisolEquipment.com

I’m sick of the articles on big data, crazy ROI claims, and intangible services. These things might be cool, but they’re not well understood by anyone. Nobody has big data all figured out. Nobody has a product offering that hasn’t changed price, features, and support team every year for as long its existed.. heck every few months something major changes. This is not the foundation the future of AgTech needs, its a competition to see who can sell the most over-hyped beta service. No producer is lined up to pay $xx per acre for something they can’t touch, and to boot, creates more work for them too.

Continue Reading →

Check out my equipment on consignment, including a 2013 JD S660 combine with just 5 separator hours.. Plus see more equipment on AgrisolEquipment.com

Just a few thoughts on this rainy Sunday..

Everyone and their brother wants to offer you satellite, airplane, and drone based imagery,  but what about the local imagery?

Have you ever seen a spot on a yield map or as-applied map and wonder what the heck happened there? Sure you can layer other maps (say ground speed or planter singulation) to help solve the mystery, but what if you had a picture or video from on board the vehicle or implement? That’s the kind of local imagery I’m talking about. There’s the saying ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’. I think GPS coordinates added to that pic or video might be worth an extra few words and maybe help solve that mystery.

Continue Reading →

So maybe you have an older piece of computer software that doesn’t like today’s date and time. Or maybe it “expires”, even though you’ve paid for it properly (this isn’t to be used for getting around trials). So to get around the issue of a calendar date the software developers didn’t anticipate, you change the date on your computer for that one program.. So what’s the big deal with that? Well I’ve seen major problems with more modern kinds of desktop computer software such as JD Apex or AgLeader SMS. Date and time is important to these programs, they don’t usually like seeing an old calendar date, and can throw errors or corrupt files. More than once this has happened, it’s easy to forget to change the calendar date back and forth for that one other program.

I recently ran across a solution to solve changing the date and time for a specific program. It’s called “RunAsDate“. This simple, little executable changes the date and time for just the program you want it to. It does not affect any other programs on your computer. I’m using this on a parts catalog program and it’s been flawless so far. Make sure Immediate Mode is checked on.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/run_as_date.html

Friday thoughts…

You can ask your $500 smartphone almost anything by voice

You can ask a $100 Amazon Alexa or Google Home device almost anything by voice

You can tell your $50k automobile to change the station or navigate somewhere (maybe) by voice

But we have $200k-$500k+ farm machines you can’t ask anything?
And they can’t verbally tell us why something quits or breaks either?

Continue Reading →