This document summarizes Sara Beery's experience interning at John Deere and her introduction to technological advances in modern farming. It describes how sensors connected to John Deere's Field Connect system allow farmers to remotely monitor soil conditions, track yields, and make timely decisions. This data-driven approach improves crop quality and reduces costs by optimizing water and fertilizer use. Autonomous tractors and other automated technologies further increase yields while minimizing environmental impacts. Agricultural technology will be crucial to meet the world's growing food demands in a sustainable way.

1. That made a
city girl fall in
love with
agriculture
TECHNOLOGICAL
ADVANCES IN FARMING
Sara Beery

2. Academics:
Seattle University class of 2016
 Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering
 Bachelor of Science in Mathematics
 Computer Science Minor
 Digital Image Processing Research Assistant
 SWE Member since 2012
 2015 SWE Region J RCCE
ABOUT ME

3. Personal:
Born and raised in Seattle, WA
Professional ballet career
before college
Atlanta Ballet, Atlanta, GA
Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet, San
Francisco, CA
Armitage Gone Dance, New York,
NY
 Extensivelytoured the Americas and
Europe
ABOUT ME

4. I AM A CITY GIRL

5. BALTIMORE, MD

6. FARMING?

7.  Single-family farms
 Hand-operated machinery
 Relied on almanacs and predictions of conditions to
decide when to plant and harvest
WHAT FARMING WAS…

8. John Deere Product Engineering Intern:
Electronic Design Group: Fargo, ND
 Summer 2014
INTRO TO AG: JOHN DEERE

9.  Allows farmers to monitor conditions in their fields in real
time using several different farming sensors, all connected to
an internet database
 Tracks moisture levels
 Helps you make timely irrigation decisions
 Eliminates the possibility of over-watering, reducing nutrient leaching
JOHN DEERE FIELD CONNECT

10.  Moisture Probe
 Moisture levels vary from plot to plot, and even within a single plot
 Moisture probes measure the capacitance between two metal rings
at various depths in the soil
 The difference in capacitance tells you the level of moisture in the
soil at that depth
 Allows you to balance your soil moisture levels, protecting your crop
MAIN SENSOR

11. Leaf Wetness Sensor
Temperature Probe
Solar Radiation Sensor
Rain Gauge
ADDITIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SENSORS

12.  Imitates the characteristics of a plant
 Placed in the plant canopy to detect water or ice
 Aids in disease modeling and prevention activities
LEAF WETNESS SENSOR

13.  Measure soil or air temperatures
 When placed in the soil, monitors the temperature of the seed
bed to improve germination
 When placed in the air, the probes are shaded to give an
accurate measurement of plant temperature
 Assists farmers in calculating depletion rates of soil moisture
TEMPERATURE PROBE (A)

14.  Also known as a Pyranometer
 Used with the temperature probe to help calculate reference
evapotranspiration
 Evapotranspiration is the loss of water from the soil by both
evaporation and transpiration from the leaves of the plants
growing in it
 This accounts for most of the water lost during the growth of the
crop, and accurate calculation is vital to irrigation planning
SOLAR RADIATION SENSOR (C)

15.  Uses a tipping bucket system to measure volume of rainfall
 Prevents unnecessary irrigation
 Allows the farmer to see the affect of rainfall on the crop
RAIN GAUGE (B)

16.  Allows remote farming sensors to
communicate to the main gateway up
to ½ mile away
 Gives the farmer a more detailed view
of the field characteristics due to
geographical features like high or low
spots
 Up to four wireless stations can be
connected to a single Gateway unit
FIELD CONNECT WIRELESS

17.  Reduces input costs for farmers via water management,
allowing them to reduce their total irrigation
 In the current drought situation in California, strategic, data-
based irrigation will prevent crops from being lost while
slowing the depletion of the reservoirs
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

18.  Relying on data-driven decision making can improve both
yield and crop quality
 Corn needs available moisture during the pollination stage
 Tomatoes reach the ideal balance of solids/sugars when
correct moisture levels are maintained during fruit fill
 Detailed data on soil moisture levels and key environmental
conditions throughout the growing season allows the crop to
reach optimal yield with optimal quality
IMPACT ON YIELDS

19.  As engineers in any field, we have a responsibility to our
customer
 Agricultural engineers need field experience to learn from
farmers who have a lifetime of hard-earned knowledge
 The technology is available, it is up to us as engineers to find
out which applications of that technology are most useful
RESPONSIBILITY TO THE FARMER

20. Went out to Colgate, ND (pop. 32) to set up a
network of units for field testing.
Collected necessary equipment
 Gateway,4 FC Wireless Units, 3 sensors for each unit,
antennas,cables, and mounting poles
 Analyzed pin-outs and schematics to label wiring for each
sensor
Set up units by hand to investigate ease of use
FIELD TESTING

21. GOT MY HANDS DIRTY

22.  Another way to ensure engineers understand the user
experience of the farmer is to have them test the equipment
 I got to drive a John Deere 6190R-Series, a frontrunner in
automated farming
DRIVING A DRIVERLESS TRACTOR

23.  Programmed to independently observe their position, decide
speed, and avoid obstacles such as people, animals, or
objects in the field, while performing their task
 Some avoid impacts by using laser signals in conjunction with
transponders placed around the field, as well as 150MHz
radios to recognize issues outside of the line of sight
 Others (including the tractors at Deere) use the CAN bus
inside the tractor to send steering and speed commands.
They rely on GPS positioning and radio feedback to manage
the vehicle’s path
 Diagnostic information is seen by dealers in real time, so they
can bring the parts needed for repair as breakdowns occur,
minimizing downtime in the field
DRIVERLESS TRACTORS

24.  Rows are accurate within 3 centimeters via GPS, much higher
than when driven by humans
 Increased accuracy maximizes returns while minimizing
resources
 John Deere uses the JDLink system with the Starfire receiver
for GPS tracking
ACCURACY

25. MANUFACTURERS
John Deere
CASE IH
Fendt
Autonomous
Tractor
Corporation

26.  Automatic grain unloading during harvest allows harvest to
continue while autonomous grain carts recognize when
harvesters are close to full and drive up alongside, allowing
the harvester to unload grain without stopping
OTHER INTERESTING PROJECTS

27.  Image-based pesticide sprayers will recognize weeds in the
field using image processing and recognition techniques, and
will spray pesticides only locally, minimizing chemical runoff
and cost to the farmer
OTHER INTERESTING PROJECTS

28.  Chlorophyll meters are used for corrective nitrogen
management where nitrogen fertilizers are applied based only
on crop needs to ensure increases in fertilizer use efficiency
and return on fertilizer investment.
OTHER INTERESTING PROJECTS

29.  By 2050, the global population is projected to be nine billion,
resulting in a near-doubling of global food and fiber demand.
 We must raise food production to that level without
compromising environmental integrity and public health
 Increased agricultural technology improves yields and
nutritional value, while safeguarding the environment
GLOBAL IMPACT

30.  Agriculture is a fast-moving and fast-growing industry
 In my experience, it promotes the development of strong
female scientists and engineers
 It encourages productive and creative solutions to combat
growing global hunger
FARMING IS NOT WHAT IT USED TO BE

31. QUESTIONS?