1. counting, it wasn’t a priority
for Peed.
“I wanted a system that
was focused on production,”
he says. “With Cropio, I
know exactly what’s go-
ing on in my fields. The
information is right there on
my phone, so I can quickly
and easily look up a field or
a machine to find out what
needs to be done.”
With nearly 15 tractors
and a variety of implements,
Cropio’s telematics also
let him know the location
of a piece of equipment at
any given time. “Because I
have a limited number of
machines, tractors have to be
moved from region to region
frequently,” Peed says.
Machines are logged into
the system and scheduled
out for an entire year, so he
knows exactly where equip-
ment is running and the job
it is supposed to be doing. “I
also am able to monitor the
movement of vehicles like
trucks,” he notes.
FARMING FROM AFAR SATELLITE FIELD-MANAGEMENT
SYSTEM MONITORS CROPS REMOTELY FOR MORE EFFICIENT PLANNING.
M
onitoring and managing thousands of acres can be
a challenge. Now, imagine doing that on ground
more than 5,600 miles away.
“I grow corn, soybeans, potatoes, wheat, flax, and
peas in Russia, in the Philippines, and in Ghana,
Africa,” says Shane Peed, who lives in Fort Dodge, Iowa. “I
was tracking production and equipment in 60 to 80 fields using
an Excel spreadsheet, but it wasn’t efficient from afar.”
As if distance isn’t challenge enough, ensuring clear com-
munication among foreign-speaking labor was also a hurdle.
“It was important to have the ability for both Russians and
Americans to use the same system,” he says.
focus on specific features
Searching for years to find a system that would translate eas-
ily to languages other than English and would not be cost-
prohibitive, Peed discovered Cropio (cropio.com) in 2015. The
satellite management system, which provides real-time updates
on current field and crop conditions, met all of his criteria.
“Cropio converts to both languages very easily,” says Peed.
“The company also adds features that are important to both
American and international agronomy.”
Averaging less than $1 per acre, the price also offered a
competitive advantage. “Many of the platforms I looked at did
not align with my budget,” Peed says. “Price will be important
as I continue to add more acres and equipment.”
To date, the system tracks around 17,000 acres in Russia and
another 400 in Ghana. “By the end of next year, I expect to
have around 200,000 acres on the Cropio system,” he says.
Another benefit to the system is what it didn’t include.
While many of the other platforms he looked at included ac-
Photography: Manufacturer
The machines are tracked
as they move from region
to region or across a field.
The system enables Peed to
create a detailed report of
a field’s history, including
weekly and monthly reports
of soil analysis, seeding rates
and dates, crop protection,
fertilizers, and crop charac-
teristics. Those reports allow
Peed to make more educated
decisions on fields for the
coming season.
“Every time a machine
goes over a field, the
information is uploaded to
the Cropio website where
it is stored. That data can
then help me better under-
stand what went on in any
given field over time,” he
says. “Rather than trying to
remember what happened in
a particular field or input-
ting data in Excel later, I can
now go through its previous
history in a snap.”
Because Peed uses a
variety of brands, integrating
other systems is fairly seam-
less. “Maps from Ag Leader
can be uploaded to Cropio,
so I have exact details of
what’s going on in each
field,” he says.
Cropio also tracks meteo-
rological data that provides
air and soil temperatures,
precipitation amounts, soil
moisture readings, and a
weather forecast.
“I have weather stations
based in each region I farm,”
says Peed. “In Ghana, it
proved to be very useful,
because it gave me a
historical snapshot of
rainfall. I studied the history
of average rainfall on exact
days and times. Based on
that information, I realized I
shouldn’t have been growing
that crop at that time.”
t c ne h o ol g y
By Rachel Lium
bonus Successful Farming at Agriculture.com | September 2016