For more than 12,000 years, the world’s farms have produced vegetables, fruits, eggs, meat, and so much of what sustains human beings. Agriculture remains among the oldest and one of the largest industries in the world. But that doesn’t mean the industry and its practices haven’t seen dramatic changes.
The farming industry is in the throes of a technological transformation. Pat and Laura Blomme experienced it firsthand. After being raised on Midwest farms as children, the couple met in college and returned to run Pat’s family farm in eastern Iowa. For the past 16 years, they have raised hogs, cattle, corn, soybeans, and alfalfa.
Over the years, the Blommes have become major proponents of technology, using its power to foster sustainable and efficient processes, optimize resources, and enhance profitability. They have invested in and deployed smart, tech-enabled farming equipment to aid with daily chores, track the health and feeding of livestock, monitor sprayers, planters, and tractors during planting season, and capture metrics to optimize the use of all their resources, tying it all back to profitability.
Keeping up with the changes in technology hasn’t always been easy, according to Pat.
“Technology is such a fast-paced and quick-changing environment. Keeping up to date and understanding what is best for us is challenging. At the end of the day, it’s critical that whatever technology we invest in provides obvious benefits and value. It has to ease pain points and work alongside systems we have in place.”
Today, the Blommes rely heavily on data, much of which is generated, captured, and shared by digital farming equipment embedded with sensors. Real-time data helps Laura, Pat, and their workers understand which seeds to use based on soil, how much fertilizer and nutrients to deploy, what adjustments to make to maximize yield, and so on. Historical data informs future decisions that minimize waste, maximize yield, and make the best use of limited resources.
Laura says that data is used on the farm every single day.
“We’re tracking soil maps going back 20 years and using that data to tell the machines where to plant and how many seeds to use. Data helps us better understand what’s happening in the field right now and where we might need to troubleshoot. The data we pull from our machines is used to make decisions about next year.”
For any of the data to be useful, however, constant connectivity is needed to ensure it can be shared among systems and accessed in real-time. Both Laura and Pat underscore the critical importance of always-available connectivity, even for farms where terrestrial coverage is unavailable.
“We must have connectivity at all times to access data and make the best decisions. It’s critical to our operation. We have pretty good connectivity where we are, but if we lose it for even a little while or in a specific area of the farm, it can be really frustrating.”
Pat and Laura continue to seek the right balance between traditional farming and the adoption of modern techniques. Harnessing the power of technology ensures that the short window of opportunity for planting and harvesting is maximized. Pat also envisions technology and connectivity offering a potential solution to rampant labor shortages most farms face today.
“Labor is such a huge issue in our industry. The bigger your farm gets the more there is to do. Technology won’t be able to replace everything, but it certainly can help. I believe at some point we’ll be sitting in an office monitoring and controlling everything from an iPhone. We’re hungry for more innovations so we can focus on what we do best.”
To hear more about Pat and Laura Blomme continue to embrace digitization and technology in the Iowa farm, listen to the full podcast interview on Satellite World. And to hear more about the future of farming, watch how one industry giant, CNH, is leading the way and making the smart farm of the future a reality for farmers today.
