cover

Precision, Efficiency Driving Sprayer Ownership

As technology delivers an ever-critical better return on investment, more and more no-tillers are buying self-propelled, pull-type sprayers.

Recent innovations in spraying equipment — greater precision, electronically controlled booms and advancements in nozzle designs — are making it easier for no-tillers to apply inputs precisely where and when they’re needed, in exact amounts.

And many no-tillers are finding they can easily earn back their investment in spraying equipment. For some growers, a new self-propelled sprayer can now pay for itself in 2 years.

The results from a recent study conducted by No-Till Farmer confirmed a trend toward ownership. Among 471 survey respondents, 66% reported that they operate their own sprayer. Only planters and combines showed higher rates of ownership.

“The market as a whole is continuing to grow because of farmer-based ownership, and no-till farmers are our fastest growing market,” says Charlie May, marketing manager for Equipment Technologies, the Mooresville, Ind.-based manufacturer of Apache self-propelled sprayers.

What’s The Payoff?

Innovations with global positioning systems (GPS) are driving many improvements in sprayers, including the placement of pesticides with unprecedented accuracy.

The latest technology is supported by real-time kinematic (RTK) correction, which adjusts the signal to account for the curvature of the earth. RTK runs on the bandwidth of a cell phone and uses cell towers to transmit data, resulting in a five-fold increase in coverage and no line-of-sight requirement.

“Precision technology has gone from an accuracy level of 3 meters to 1 meter to 1 inch to less than 1 inch,” May says. “Farmers are seeing how these changes affect output. It’s moved to a level that is pretty…

To view the content, please subscribe or login.
 Premium content is for our Digital-only and Premium subscribers. A Print-only subscription doesn't qualify. Please purchase/upgrade a subscription with the Digital product to get access to all No-Till Farmer content and archives online. Learn more about the different versions and what is included.

Top Articles

Current Issue

Cover_NTF_October_2024.jpg

No-Till Farmer

Get full access NOW to the most comprehensive, powerful and easy-to-use online resource for no-tillage practices. Just one good idea will pay for your subscription hundreds of times over.

Subscribe Now

View More

Must Read Free Eguides

Download these helpful knowledge building tools

View More
Top Directory Listings