July 24, 2025 • 26 mins
Sarah and Jodi continue their conversation about common precision agriculture issues encountered during spring planting, focusing on field boundaries, controller settings, and troubleshooting variable rate applications.
• Field boundaries matter critically for prescription applications – without proper mapping, sections of equipment may shut off unexpectedly
• Prairie Pothole regions require special boundary considerations since water levels change frequently
• Use buffer tools to expand tight boundaries and prevent equipment sections from shutting off at field edges
• Out-of-boundary rates must be set in controllers, not prescriptions, since prescriptions only work with GPS coordinates
• Controllers need specific settings for GPS signal loss, especially important during solar flare events
• YouTube is an excellent resource for finding controller-specific instructions
• Some monitors require purchasing additional unlocks to enable variable rate capabilities
• Unusual issues like mice chewing wires can cause mysterious prescription failures
Visit our website at www.gktechinc.com to access our Q&A forum, where you can ask specific precision ag questions if you are a GK Technology, Inc. customer.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sarah (00:00):
And now it's time for Ag Geek Speak with GK Technology's,
Sarah and Jodi, friends and Ican't wait to get in the fields
again.
No, I can't wait to get in thefields again.
(00:21):
Welcome back to Ag Geek Speak.
In the last episode, jodi and Ijust had a great conversation
of random questions that we kindof received here at GK
Technology about differentprecision agriculture, issues,
(00:44):
with spring planting from spring2025.
And so we are going to continuethat conversation right now.
Sit back, relax and geek outwith us.
Actually, I thought this seasonwent pretty well.
I really I did.
Oh, I know a good question thatI got this spring, the
out-of-bounds rates and like theedges of the field.
Jodi (01:07):
Talk about that.
Sarah (01:08):
I feel like we get questions on that all the time,
and especially from people inthe Prairie Pothole region, and
God bless you all, because thoseboundaries change, like every
year or every 15 minutes.
I don't know Like it rainedtoday.
Jodi (01:22):
Especially yeah, especially after May 13th
through the 16th, where we'vegotten a lot of rain In North
Dakota whenever this airs like,I know our dam back home where
we've gotten over five inches ofrain that probably increased
two feet since last week.
That's just one, and there'sfarmers that deal with a lot of
potholes in their fields, morethan just one.
Sarah (01:51):
Anyways, you're out of bound.
But for the potholes in themiddle of fields and for the
edges of the fields, okay, yourboundaries matter.
I realized that a lot of timeswhen we are creating
prescriptions in ADMS from ourmaps that we have made, we're
actually not turning on thoseboundaries when we're writing
the prescriptions and even whenwe export them out.
That's true, but those mapsinitially the zone maps and the
(02:16):
prescription maps are made withthe field edges based in the
boundary, which acts as thecookie cutter for that right.
So here's what you got toremember If you don't have map
there, you will not be applyinganything in that area and it
will shut off the edge of theboom.
(02:37):
Okay, and and we've got thesebooms now where the planters, if
it's seed, you know whatever,they're split into sections.
And so realize that if you'vegot part of that hanging into,
into that part of the boom orpart of the planter hanging into
the area where there is noprescription and there's nothing
underneath that boom, on theprescription, it's going to shut
that whole section off, whichmeans you will have gaps in the
(03:01):
field where the application isnot going to happen.
So accurate boundaries iscritically important.
Now what do we do in these spots, with these potholes, where, um
, where they just change.
What do we do?
So first of all, number one,communicate with the grower, ask
them how you want it to gethandled, explain to them when
they are by, when you are by thepothole, if you chop it out and
(03:24):
and and they try to plantthrough it there's it's not
going to happen, okay.
And then here's the other thingyou can always mod area that,
and I actually work a lot withmy growers on that standpoint so
that you know, maybe I've gotjust a different area under that
pothole and I'll just assignwhatever rate they want there,
(03:45):
because if it's going to be awet year it might be a different
than if it's going to be a dryyear.
So actually having that abilityto mod that out year in and
year out sometimes is justreally great.
It's not that hard.
You just go in and grab thelittle polygon in there and
select it out and once you havethat prescription written, so do
this to the prescription, notthe zones.
So go in, grab thatprescription, get that little
(04:09):
pothole area, select it out, usethe little magic wand and just
change the rate to whatever youthink is a great rate for that
little area for this year.
Jodi (04:19):
I think just pray pothole management in terms of mapping
would be a fantasticconversation as a podcast
episode, because, sarah, Iremember the first time I sat
down to try to make a zone mapfor a prey pothole field and
it's just like shoot.
Well, what image do I use interms of nape to draw a boundary
?
Because it changes, you know,like do I use I shouldn't use
(04:40):
2021 as a really dry year tomake it right.
Because or do I?
Because the thing is, I'llnever forget, sarah, when you
mentioned that you know, ifyou're, if you're drawing a
boundary, always make sure thatyou're drawing a boundary, um,
at like, the maximum of likewhat the farmer would ever plant
, right, because we want to makesure that, if we're writing a
prescription and and like youmentioned too, yeah, include
(05:01):
those areas that might be farmedand, of course, too, in the
specific instances that Sarah'stalking, think back to, okay, if
I'm working in an area that'sgot some water in it in the
(05:30):
middle of the field, what's theextent, the max extent, that
this farmer could ever farm this, and how do I account for that
in the final zone map so that,yeah, everything gets planted
when it needs to get planted andthat there's some level of
fertilizer out there when thereneeds to be some fertilizer.
But yeah, again, this could bea whole 30-minute conversation
(05:52):
hour conversation of how tothink about managing variable
rate applications and precisionagriculture in areas within the
Prairie Pothole region.
Sarah (06:02):
I actually just wrote that down for a whole podcast
episode.
Perfect.
I think we should totally dothat.
That would be a funconversation.
Jodi (06:08):
Yeah, that would okay, it's interesting because, like I
, I don't know I've got.
Just west of my house.
There's a field that, like Iswear to god, the frost came out
of for weeks and it just gotwetter and wetter as it got
drier and drier out.
It was just bizarre.
Hydrology is crazy.
That's all I'll say.
Sarah (06:28):
That's the only point I just want to take.
Frost is crazy, the way itcomes out and then, all of a
sudden, all you have is a spongeand you can bounce up and down
on it because it's so spongy, ohgosh.
Jodi (06:42):
That's weird.
I've never experienced that.
That is so cool.
Sarah (06:46):
That's wild Cool is one way to put it A little
frustrating when you're tryingto make a seed bed out of it.
Jodi (06:52):
Oh God I can't even imagine.
Sarah (06:54):
It's awful, it's terrible , okay, but yeah, so we were
talking about.
What were we talking?
Jodi (07:02):
about.
So we were just talking aboutout of boundary rates setting a
boundary and like the importanceof thinking about those when
you're putting out aprescription.
Sarah (07:12):
I have problems with this , though, too, with certain
clients where the boundary hasbeen just on a regular quarter,
with no potholes in it, wherethe edge of the field has gotten
too narrow, and so I haveactually recommended or maybe
(07:34):
I'm not exactly sure how thisgoes, but there have been
scenarios where I've worked withsome people that have cut their
boundaries too narrow to thefield edge and so on the field
edges equipment is getting shutoff.
Likewise, it could be thattheir equipment over to which is
fine, but either way, you'reshutting off a whole section or
(07:55):
a whole boom or a whole.
You know it's.
It's not just that area underunder the prescription, that
just isn't there, you'reshutting off a whole section of
it, and so it gets to be feet.
So you know, I I have I have onour notes that one of the
questions was about croppingrasters, and this is what that
(08:15):
question dealt with is that I'veended up recommending to a
number of people to buffer outtheir prescription map, buffer
out their boundary and then cropit back to that.
Jodi (08:31):
So like taking that, so thinking about it, like and how
we would do that with an adms,you would take the boundary file
and then you would use, likethe buffer tool to to expand the
boundary so that it's biggerand then use that expanded
boundary to crop the raster.
Yes, and you probably do thefill filter a of times to make
(08:52):
the raster bigger too.
Sarah (08:56):
If that's okay.
Yep, I've.
I've used the filter, so I'mdoing this to the prescription,
not the zone map, theprescription, not the zone map,
the prescription.
And so I'm filling theprescription out.
You know I'll use the fillfilter and you can decide
whether you want a three bythree or a five by five, the
prescription out.
You know I'll use the fillfilter and you can decide
whether you want a three bythree or a five by five fill
(09:17):
going out, and then I mightbuffer that boundary out by I
don't know 10 feet, maybe 20feet, and then I'll crop it and
it seems to like kind of fix alot of the problems.
I'm always kind of looking atit against the nape images and,
(09:39):
again, if you're out in thatprairie pothole region and
you're doing this in that neckof the woods, you're going to
want to take a look at multipleimages, just like Jodi said
earlier, for all the points thatshe just, you know, listed
earlier.
But that's how I'm making thatwork.
Jodi (09:50):
That's genius.
I never thought about doingthat and I love it work.
Sarah (09:56):
That's genius.
I never thought about doingthat and I love it.
Well, it's not the correct wayof doing it.
I mean, let's acknowledge thatthe correct way is to draw the
boundary the right way the firsttime and make sure that your
zones are getting set up so thatthis isn't going to happen.
But if you're in the heat ofthe moment and you got a guy
that's calling you up going hey,my planter is shutting off, you
better figure out how to fixthat.
And this brings up another.
(10:19):
Really, you're laughing at that.
Huh, it's true.
Jodi (10:23):
No, I completely, I agree.
Sarah (10:30):
I mean, you kind of got to figure out some ways to fix
some things in the heat of thebattle.
Yes, absolutely.
That's what happens, andhonestly, it's not that, unlike
being a farmer, I mean whenstuff breaks.
If you can't get the part in,goodness gracious, how many guys
end up being put together withchewing gum, baling twine and
(10:51):
WD-40 to make sure it's stillworking for more than just soil
sampling.
Jodi (11:00):
There's gum manufacturers that are like huh, why does our
demand go up so much in thespringtime every single year?
And it's so funny, it's likecomplimentary goods of like.
Why tomatoes, tomatoconsumption and like bacon
purchases increase so muchduring like july, it's because
people are having blts at homeanyways.
Sarah (11:20):
Yep side economics, lesson tangent okay, so anyway,
but I mean, it's true, right yes, absolutely right.
Jodi (11:29):
like you, there's things that need to get done and you
have to get them done so that,as we talked about before, in
such a fast planting season,like things need to happen.
Question for you, Sarah.
Sarah (11:41):
Okay, Is there a way on controllers to change that
out-of-boundary rate or like outof does it differ, I'm really
glad that you asked that because, like, that was exactly where I
wanted to go with this, thisconversation.
I actually had a number ofpeople call me up this year to
(12:01):
ask like where they could setthat out of boundary rate, and I
actually had people like callme and tell me to set the out of
boundary rate on theprescription, which doesn't work
.
Okay, so it doesn't work.
And here's why A prescriptiononly functions if it has GPS.
(12:24):
The purpose of a prescription isto take your GPS location and
coordinate it to a rate.
That's what's going to go,that's what's going to get
applied.
Okay, that's what I'm sendingout to the machine.
So if you've got an out ofbounds rate, all it knows is
that it's out of bounds.
(12:44):
If you've got a loss of GPSrate, specifically it means
there's no GPS.
It can't figure out where onthe prescription it is.
That has to be set in thecontroller and, yes, it most
controllers have these things.
So, okay, backing up.
So you have to be on on theprescription.
(13:09):
In order for the prescriptionto control a rate, it has to
have a rate going to controlwith a GPS coordinate.
If you have a loss of GPS, itdoes not work.
It does not have a GPScoordinate to say, hey, I'm here
, what rate do I?
Jodi (13:25):
need here and, as all of us that have been farming since
2024 know and farmed through May10th of 2024, even things like
crazy solar flares can affectyou know when we have GPS in the
field, and so setting that upin the controller is so crucial
so that you know if you havenothing, if there's a zero rate
(13:46):
for a loss of satellite, and afreak solar flare storm makes it
so you don't have GPS.
It makes it so that youactually have something that's
going down instead of nothing.
In those cases where you knowyou're figuring out what's going
on and then figuring out whatyou're doing next, but helps to
avoid unforeseeable issues thatwe've got no control over, like
(14:09):
solar flares.
Sarah (14:11):
Right and so.
But that is controller specificit and even within brands it's
located in different spots.
I got a call from a guy thisspring asking about making sure,
asking about where in a in aJohn Deere it was either a Gen 4
(14:31):
or Gen 5 controller the out ofGPS rate was, and they were just
absolutely convinced that itwas something that was
completely gone from that JohnDeere controller, from a 2630 up
to a Gen 4 or Gen 5 monitor.
And I'm like, no, I don't thinkthat's quite right.
Now realize, when you call GKTechnology, you know we're
(14:56):
always happy to try to help youget it figured out how to manage
your prescription in yourcontroller.
But I'm not John Deere and I'mnot Case and I'm not you know,
any of these other brands.
If you really want to know howto manage these prescriptions
from the experts, you got tocall your equipment manufacturer
because they really are theexperts.
(15:17):
But another great place to goto find this information is
YouTube, and I know that soundsso obvious, but I search YouTube
all the time for ways to findout how to turn prescriptions on
or off or what to do, and Isend my clients YouTube videos
all the time on that that sortof stuff, and so I was able to
(15:41):
find a YouTube video on where tochange those settings in a John
Deere Gen 5.
And it's actually reallyintuitive, really easy, not a
big deal, but you just have toknow where to go, and that's
really the challenge with it,Oftentimes the challenge with
all of these controllers,because they feel different
between brands.
Jodi (16:01):
So one last question for you, sarah, one more common
question that we got this spring, and it also relates to
controllers.
So staying in that sameballpark Okay, I've got a
variable rate prescription, buthow do I actually enable
variable rate on controllers?
I feel like this can be acommon stumbling block when it
comes to making VRT work makingVRT work Absolutely.
Sarah (16:28):
And it actually like really goes off of that last
conversation with like out ofbound rates and things like that
actually pretty well, because alot of times the place where
you're finding, like, how toturn on the controllers, it's
kind of like all in this hiddenareas like someplace in the
background, right, which just soyou know.
A lot of times they're not thathidden.
But again, usually and this isa common question for people who
(16:52):
are brand new to doing variablerate oftentimes, and once you
figure it out it kind of makessense.
But you kind of got to thinkthrough it just a little bit.
Jodi (17:01):
Yeah and there's no.
Again, these are commonquestions.
There's no shame in not knowingthis.
And absolutely, I think, thehardest part for anybody out
there that started variable rateand started implementing
variable rate, we've done thaton our own farm.
It's been hard right Becausewe're not familiar with it, but
over time it's gotten easierbecause you kind of know things.
But like it's a culture changeright, it's a huge culture
(17:23):
change and over time you kind ofokay things kind of feel
similar.
But anyways, go ahead, sarah,continue what you were saying.
Sarah (17:29):
No, I actually okay, we'll come back to this because
I think this is a goodconversation too but yeah, so,
enabling variable rate oncontrollers.
So generally, if you havetraditionally done just a flat
rate prescription, you areactually manually typing in your
rate.
Let's just say we're doing aplanter, right, we're doing a
(17:50):
corn planter, we're going toplant 32,000 seeds per acre.
That is the flat rate that'sbeen going on.
You just go to that place whereyou type in the rate and that's
what it is.
Well, when you want to dovariable rate, you have to
physically tell it.
Do not read the rate from thisflat rate place that I've been
typing in.
(18:10):
I need you to read theprescription and so you actually
do have to go in and tell yourcontroller that In some places
it's called like actually goingand reading the map-based
prescription.
There's different ways ofassigning it across different
(18:31):
brands and it's going to be waytoo hard to explain, like every
single one.
But just that concept that youhave to know that you actually
have to physically tell yourcontroller do not read my flat
rate anymore, you need to readit from the prescription and if
you need help figuring that outagain, call someone for help.
Your equipment manufacturershould be the first.
(18:53):
They should be the people whoshould be helping you do that
stuff.
I know I've helped a number ofpeople but again, we are not the
equipment experts across all ofthese brands and YouTube.
YouTube is actually like I mean,I don't know what else to say.
Jodi (19:10):
And the one thing I'll add to the conversation too, is,
like, the same concept as, say,you purchase a used monitor or
something.
Sometimes these again dependingon brand, depending on model
and generation sometimes youhave to purchase and unlock to
do variable rate, right?
So, in addition to justenabling that option, sometimes
you might even need to purchasean unlock, or you need to
(19:31):
purchase a monitor that has thatunlock installed.
So just something to keep inmind and it is different from
what Sarah mentioned, right,like, in that case, we're
enabling it, we already have it.
We just need to make sure thatour monitor knows to read the
variable rate prescriptionversus just a flat rate.
And in this case, what I'mtalking about is like, okay,
this monitor has the capabilityto do this, but is it behind a
(19:55):
paywall before I can actuallyget access to it?
Sarah (19:57):
So just keep that in mind , I think that's a really good
point, and if you are interestedin doing variable rate, you
know that's one of those thingsthat you probably want to have a
conversation with with yourequipment manufacturer.
That's nothing that GK can helpyou about.
Yes, you need to call up yourequipment person and say, hey, I
(20:18):
would like to do variable rateseeding, variable rate planting,
variable rate fertilizer.
Do I have that capability withwhat I have purchased from you?
If I don't, how do I get it?
Yes, you need to have thatconversation with them.
Jodi (20:32):
Yep and make sure you know like what is the total final
dollar amount?
Right, Because it's not fun tobe blindsided by having to make
an additional purchase on top ofwhat you already thought would
get the job done.
Sarah (20:45):
Yeah, lots of good stuff there.
Hey, do you have any greatplanting stories Like the best,
the most entertaining plantingstory, what's?
Do you have a?
Jodi (20:56):
good one of those, jodi.
I don't have any fun ones, doyou?
Sarah (21:07):
I've got a fun one from a couple years ago and it's a
good one.
And so I had this call fromsomebody who was having an issue
with a prescription, can't getthe prescriptions to go, can't
get the prescription to go,Talking through the controller,
talking through everything, andit was on a planter.
So we're talking througheverything.
I mean I'm trying to overturnall of these stones and I'm like
(21:29):
I don't know, I just can'tfigure it out.
And and I'm like calling Kelly,because I'll be honest, like
when I can't figure out how todo something, I'm going to call
Kelly.
I'm going to call Darren,because those guys have pretty
much seen it all.
Um, we are not the experts onthe equipment by any the the
controllers that are out there,the equipment but, um, I don't
(21:53):
know.
Gk's been around for a longtime and we've sent a lot of
prescriptions to a lot ofdifferent controllers.
So I'm not going to sit hereand say that we don't have
experience here, anyway.
So I call up Kelly.
I'm like racking my brain,we're trying everything, we're
like don't know.
And I finally called back.
I'm like I can't figure it out,I don't know what's going on
(22:13):
there.
She called me back 48 hourslater Mice.
I said what Mice ate all theelectrical wires on there and it
has something about how therewas some sort of an override so
that it would still plant a flatrate, but a lot of the
electrical stuff was.
(22:34):
There's other weird things thatwere going on.
Again, a test prescriptionwould have been really great in
that scenario.
Then they probably would havefound it, like you know, when it
was still way too wet to toplant felt really bad for those
guys oh, man gosh, you know it'sso funny.
Jodi (22:58):
It's almost it's worse than if, like the mouse would
have just chewed througheverything, right, so it
wouldn't turn on, but like theyjust had to chew enough where it
caused issues.
But it was hard to figure outexactly what the heck went on
because it was still doing stuffright.
Like it's so much easier.
Like when it's not doinganything, because then you can
just say it's not working.
Like when it's still doingstuff, and it's just like it's
(23:19):
doing stuff, but it's not what Iwant it.
Sarah (23:20):
It's not doing what I'm telling it to do when it comes
to electrical stuff and likepart of it is working and part
of it isn't, and then only someof the wires are chewed off.
Jodi (23:32):
That mouse like vindictive .
That's what it was.
Sarah (23:36):
There would have been some mouse bait there in my
world.
Oh, I would have been so mad.
Jodi (23:41):
Oh my gosh, I've learned so much from this conversation.
Sarah, thank you so much forsharing all these stories.
Sarah (23:48):
Yeah, this was a good one .
I learned a lot too.
Jodi (23:50):
Yes, and I think our audience is really going to
enjoy this.
And if you've got other stories, other common spring questions
that you're getting to, we'dlove to hear about them.
Check out our AgGeekSpeakwebsite.
On the GK Technology website, Ithink there's an episode
suggestion box, but you can putyour comments in there.
(24:10):
But these are the things welike to talk about and share
experience and tips and trickson so that we can help everyone
have a better spring.
Sarah (24:21):
We also have a question and answer forum on our website
so people can actually go on andchat with us and get questions
answered.
It's really a fun.
You can ask whatever's on yourmind.
It's at our website,wwwgktechinccom, and across the
(24:43):
very top there's a Q&A form.
Go ahead in there and and uh,you can check that out.
Jodi (24:50):
Some of the uh you have to have an 80 MS login in order to
get access to that.
Sarah (24:56):
Yes, you do need to be one of our customers in order to
do that, but if you need helpbecoming one of our customers,
please feel free to reach out.
We'd be, we would love to helpyou.
Please feel free to reach out,we'd be, we would love to help
you.
But there's like it is.
It is and there's there.
There's different questions inhere.
You know everything from askingquestions about you know the
(25:19):
different bands of light and the2024 NAEP imagery to actually
there's a GRX export for gridsUm and that, and that would have
been for a John Deerecontroller.
So I mean, we get questionslike that stuff all the time.
Jodi (25:34):
Awesome.
Well, thank you so much, Sarah,and we will see you on the next
episode of Add Geek Speak.
Sarah (25:40):
At GK Technology.
We have a map and an app forthat.
And now it's time for Ag Geek Speak with GK Technology's,
Sarah and Jodi, friends and Ican't wait to get in the fields
again.
No, I can't wait to get in thefields again.
(00:21):
Welcome back to Ag Geek Speak.
In the last episode, jodi and Ijust had a great conversation
of random questions that we kindof received here at GK
Technology about differentprecision agriculture, issues,
(00:44):
with spring planting from spring2025.
And so we are going to continuethat conversation right now.
Sit back, relax and geek outwith us.
Actually, I thought this seasonwent pretty well.
I really I did.
Oh, I know a good question thatI got this spring, the
out-of-bounds rates and like theedges of the field.
Jodi (01:07):
Talk about that.
Sarah (01:08):
I feel like we get questions on that all the time,
and especially from people inthe Prairie Pothole region, and
God bless you all, because thoseboundaries change, like every
year or every 15 minutes.
I don't know Like it rainedtoday.
Jodi (01:22):
Especially yeah, especially after May 13th
through the 16th, where we'vegotten a lot of rain In North
Dakota whenever this airs like,I know our dam back home where
we've gotten over five inches ofrain that probably increased
two feet since last week.
That's just one, and there'sfarmers that deal with a lot of
potholes in their fields, morethan just one.
Sarah (01:51):
Anyways, you're out of bound.
But for the potholes in themiddle of fields and for the
edges of the fields, okay, yourboundaries matter.
I realized that a lot of timeswhen we are creating
prescriptions in ADMS from ourmaps that we have made, we're
actually not turning on thoseboundaries when we're writing
the prescriptions and even whenwe export them out.
That's true, but those mapsinitially the zone maps and the
(02:16):
prescription maps are made withthe field edges based in the
boundary, which acts as thecookie cutter for that right.
So here's what you got toremember If you don't have map
there, you will not be applyinganything in that area and it
will shut off the edge of theboom.
(02:37):
Okay, and and we've got thesebooms now where the planters, if
it's seed, you know whatever,they're split into sections.
And so realize that if you'vegot part of that hanging into,
into that part of the boom orpart of the planter hanging into
the area where there is noprescription and there's nothing
underneath that boom, on theprescription, it's going to shut
that whole section off, whichmeans you will have gaps in the
(03:01):
field where the application isnot going to happen.
So accurate boundaries iscritically important.
Now what do we do in these spots, with these potholes, where, um
, where they just change.
What do we do?
So first of all, number one,communicate with the grower, ask
them how you want it to gethandled, explain to them when
they are by, when you are by thepothole, if you chop it out and
(03:24):
and and they try to plantthrough it there's it's not
going to happen, okay.
And then here's the other thingyou can always mod area that,
and I actually work a lot withmy growers on that standpoint so
that you know, maybe I've gotjust a different area under that
pothole and I'll just assignwhatever rate they want there,
(03:45):
because if it's going to be awet year it might be a different
than if it's going to be a dryyear.
So actually having that abilityto mod that out year in and
year out sometimes is justreally great.
It's not that hard.
You just go in and grab thelittle polygon in there and
select it out and once you havethat prescription written, so do
this to the prescription, notthe zones.
So go in, grab thatprescription, get that little
(04:09):
pothole area, select it out, usethe little magic wand and just
change the rate to whatever youthink is a great rate for that
little area for this year.
Jodi (04:19):
I think just pray pothole management in terms of mapping
would be a fantasticconversation as a podcast
episode, because, sarah, Iremember the first time I sat
down to try to make a zone mapfor a prey pothole field and
it's just like shoot.
Well, what image do I use interms of nape to draw a boundary
?
Because it changes, you know,like do I use I shouldn't use
(04:40):
2021 as a really dry year tomake it right.
Because or do I?
Because the thing is, I'llnever forget, sarah, when you
mentioned that you know, ifyou're, if you're drawing a
boundary, always make sure thatyou're drawing a boundary, um,
at like, the maximum of likewhat the farmer would ever plant
, right, because we want to makesure that, if we're writing a
prescription and and like youmentioned too, yeah, include
(05:01):
those areas that might be farmedand, of course, too, in the
specific instances that Sarah'stalking, think back to, okay, if
I'm working in an area that'sgot some water in it in the
(05:30):
middle of the field, what's theextent, the max extent, that
this farmer could ever farm this, and how do I account for that
in the final zone map so that,yeah, everything gets planted
when it needs to get planted andthat there's some level of
fertilizer out there when thereneeds to be some fertilizer.
But yeah, again, this could bea whole 30-minute conversation
(05:52):
hour conversation of how tothink about managing variable
rate applications and precisionagriculture in areas within the
Prairie Pothole region.
Sarah (06:02):
I actually just wrote that down for a whole podcast
episode.
Perfect.
I think we should totally dothat.
That would be a funconversation.
Jodi (06:08):
Yeah, that would okay, it's interesting because, like I
, I don't know I've got.
Just west of my house.
There's a field that, like Iswear to god, the frost came out
of for weeks and it just gotwetter and wetter as it got
drier and drier out.
It was just bizarre.
Hydrology is crazy.
That's all I'll say.
Sarah (06:28):
That's the only point I just want to take.
Frost is crazy, the way itcomes out and then, all of a
sudden, all you have is a spongeand you can bounce up and down
on it because it's so spongy, ohgosh.
Jodi (06:42):
That's weird.
I've never experienced that.
That is so cool.
Sarah (06:46):
That's wild Cool is one way to put it A little
frustrating when you're tryingto make a seed bed out of it.
Jodi (06:52):
Oh God I can't even imagine.
Sarah (06:54):
It's awful, it's terrible , okay, but yeah, so we were
talking about.
What were we talking?
Jodi (07:02):
about.
So we were just talking aboutout of boundary rates setting a
boundary and like the importanceof thinking about those when
you're putting out aprescription.
Sarah (07:12):
I have problems with this , though, too, with certain
clients where the boundary hasbeen just on a regular quarter,
with no potholes in it, wherethe edge of the field has gotten
too narrow, and so I haveactually recommended or maybe
(07:34):
I'm not exactly sure how thisgoes, but there have been
scenarios where I've worked withsome people that have cut their
boundaries too narrow to thefield edge and so on the field
edges equipment is getting shutoff.
Likewise, it could be thattheir equipment over to which is
fine, but either way, you'reshutting off a whole section or
(07:55):
a whole boom or a whole.
You know it's.
It's not just that area underunder the prescription, that
just isn't there, you'reshutting off a whole section of
it, and so it gets to be feet.
So you know, I I have I have onour notes that one of the
questions was about croppingrasters, and this is what that
(08:15):
question dealt with is that I'veended up recommending to a
number of people to buffer outtheir prescription map, buffer
out their boundary and then cropit back to that.
Jodi (08:31):
So like taking that, so thinking about it, like and how
we would do that with an adms,you would take the boundary file
and then you would use, likethe buffer tool to to expand the
boundary so that it's biggerand then use that expanded
boundary to crop the raster.
Yes, and you probably do thefill filter a of times to make
(08:52):
the raster bigger too.
Sarah (08:56):
If that's okay.
Yep, I've.
I've used the filter, so I'mdoing this to the prescription,
not the zone map, theprescription, not the zone map,
the prescription.
And so I'm filling theprescription out.
You know I'll use the fillfilter and you can decide
whether you want a three bythree or a five by five, the
prescription out.
You know I'll use the fillfilter and you can decide
whether you want a three bythree or a five by five fill
(09:17):
going out, and then I mightbuffer that boundary out by I
don't know 10 feet, maybe 20feet, and then I'll crop it and
it seems to like kind of fix alot of the problems.
I'm always kind of looking atit against the nape images and,
(09:39):
again, if you're out in thatprairie pothole region and
you're doing this in that neckof the woods, you're going to
want to take a look at multipleimages, just like Jodi said
earlier, for all the points thatshe just, you know, listed
earlier.
But that's how I'm making thatwork.
Jodi (09:50):
That's genius.
I never thought about doingthat and I love it work.
Sarah (09:56):
That's genius.
I never thought about doingthat and I love it.
Well, it's not the correct wayof doing it.
I mean, let's acknowledge thatthe correct way is to draw the
boundary the right way the firsttime and make sure that your
zones are getting set up so thatthis isn't going to happen.
But if you're in the heat ofthe moment and you got a guy
that's calling you up going hey,my planter is shutting off, you
better figure out how to fixthat.
And this brings up another.
(10:19):
Really, you're laughing at that.
Huh, it's true.
Jodi (10:23):
No, I completely, I agree.
Sarah (10:30):
I mean, you kind of got to figure out some ways to fix
some things in the heat of thebattle.
Yes, absolutely.
That's what happens, andhonestly, it's not that, unlike
being a farmer, I mean whenstuff breaks.
If you can't get the part in,goodness gracious, how many guys
end up being put together withchewing gum, baling twine and
(10:51):
WD-40 to make sure it's stillworking for more than just soil
sampling.
Jodi (11:00):
There's gum manufacturers that are like huh, why does our
demand go up so much in thespringtime every single year?
And it's so funny, it's likecomplimentary goods of like.
Why tomatoes, tomatoconsumption and like bacon
purchases increase so muchduring like july, it's because
people are having blts at homeanyways.
Sarah (11:20):
Yep side economics, lesson tangent okay, so anyway,
but I mean, it's true, right yes, absolutely right.
Jodi (11:29):
like you, there's things that need to get done and you
have to get them done so that,as we talked about before, in
such a fast planting season,like things need to happen.
Question for you, Sarah.
Sarah (11:41):
Okay, Is there a way on controllers to change that
out-of-boundary rate or like outof does it differ, I'm really
glad that you asked that because, like, that was exactly where I
wanted to go with this, thisconversation.
I actually had a number ofpeople call me up this year to
(12:01):
ask like where they could setthat out of boundary rate, and I
actually had people like callme and tell me to set the out of
boundary rate on theprescription, which doesn't work
.
Okay, so it doesn't work.
And here's why A prescriptiononly functions if it has GPS.
(12:24):
The purpose of a prescription isto take your GPS location and
coordinate it to a rate.
That's what's going to go,that's what's going to get
applied.
Okay, that's what I'm sendingout to the machine.
So if you've got an out ofbounds rate, all it knows is
that it's out of bounds.
(12:44):
If you've got a loss of GPSrate, specifically it means
there's no GPS.
It can't figure out where onthe prescription it is.
That has to be set in thecontroller and, yes, it most
controllers have these things.
So, okay, backing up.
So you have to be on on theprescription.
(13:09):
In order for the prescriptionto control a rate, it has to
have a rate going to controlwith a GPS coordinate.
If you have a loss of GPS, itdoes not work.
It does not have a GPScoordinate to say, hey, I'm here
, what rate do I?
Jodi (13:25):
need here and, as all of us that have been farming since
2024 know and farmed through May10th of 2024, even things like
crazy solar flares can affectyou know when we have GPS in the
field, and so setting that upin the controller is so crucial
so that you know if you havenothing, if there's a zero rate
(13:46):
for a loss of satellite, and afreak solar flare storm makes it
so you don't have GPS.
It makes it so that youactually have something that's
going down instead of nothing.
In those cases where you knowyou're figuring out what's going
on and then figuring out whatyou're doing next, but helps to
avoid unforeseeable issues thatwe've got no control over, like
(14:09):
solar flares.
Sarah (14:11):
Right and so.
But that is controller specificit and even within brands it's
located in different spots.
I got a call from a guy thisspring asking about making sure,
asking about where in a in aJohn Deere it was either a Gen 4
(14:31):
or Gen 5 controller the out ofGPS rate was, and they were just
absolutely convinced that itwas something that was
completely gone from that JohnDeere controller, from a 2630 up
to a Gen 4 or Gen 5 monitor.
And I'm like, no, I don't thinkthat's quite right.
Now realize, when you call GKTechnology, you know we're
(14:56):
always happy to try to help youget it figured out how to manage
your prescription in yourcontroller.
But I'm not John Deere and I'mnot Case and I'm not you know,
any of these other brands.
If you really want to know howto manage these prescriptions
from the experts, you got tocall your equipment manufacturer
because they really are theexperts.
(15:17):
But another great place to goto find this information is
YouTube, and I know that soundsso obvious, but I search YouTube
all the time for ways to findout how to turn prescriptions on
or off or what to do, and Isend my clients YouTube videos
all the time on that that sortof stuff, and so I was able to
(15:41):
find a YouTube video on where tochange those settings in a John
Deere Gen 5.
And it's actually reallyintuitive, really easy, not a
big deal, but you just have toknow where to go, and that's
really the challenge with it,Oftentimes the challenge with
all of these controllers,because they feel different
between brands.
Jodi (16:01):
So one last question for you, sarah, one more common
question that we got this spring, and it also relates to
controllers.
So staying in that sameballpark Okay, I've got a
variable rate prescription, buthow do I actually enable
variable rate on controllers?
I feel like this can be acommon stumbling block when it
comes to making VRT work makingVRT work Absolutely.
Sarah (16:28):
And it actually like really goes off of that last
conversation with like out ofbound rates and things like that
actually pretty well, because alot of times the place where
you're finding, like, how toturn on the controllers, it's
kind of like all in this hiddenareas like someplace in the
background, right, which just soyou know.
A lot of times they're not thathidden.
But again, usually and this isa common question for people who
(16:52):
are brand new to doing variablerate oftentimes, and once you
figure it out it kind of makessense.
But you kind of got to thinkthrough it just a little bit.
Jodi (17:01):
Yeah and there's no.
Again, these are commonquestions.
There's no shame in not knowingthis.
And absolutely, I think, thehardest part for anybody out
there that started variable rateand started implementing
variable rate, we've done thaton our own farm.
It's been hard right Becausewe're not familiar with it, but
over time it's gotten easierbecause you kind of know things.
But like it's a culture changeright, it's a huge culture
(17:23):
change and over time you kind ofokay things kind of feel
similar.
But anyways, go ahead, sarah,continue what you were saying.
Sarah (17:29):
No, I actually okay, we'll come back to this because
I think this is a goodconversation too but yeah, so,
enabling variable rate oncontrollers.
So generally, if you havetraditionally done just a flat
rate prescription, you areactually manually typing in your
rate.
Let's just say we're doing aplanter, right, we're doing a
(17:50):
corn planter, we're going toplant 32,000 seeds per acre.
That is the flat rate that'sbeen going on.
You just go to that place whereyou type in the rate and that's
what it is.
Well, when you want to dovariable rate, you have to
physically tell it.
Do not read the rate from thisflat rate place that I've been
typing in.
(18:10):
I need you to read theprescription and so you actually
do have to go in and tell yourcontroller that In some places
it's called like actually goingand reading the map-based
prescription.
There's different ways ofassigning it across different
(18:31):
brands and it's going to be waytoo hard to explain, like every
single one.
But just that concept that youhave to know that you actually
have to physically tell yourcontroller do not read my flat
rate anymore, you need to readit from the prescription and if
you need help figuring that outagain, call someone for help.
Your equipment manufacturershould be the first.
(18:53):
They should be the people whoshould be helping you do that
stuff.
I know I've helped a number ofpeople but again, we are not the
equipment experts across all ofthese brands and YouTube.
YouTube is actually like I mean,I don't know what else to say.
Jodi (19:10):
And the one thing I'll add to the conversation too, is,
like, the same concept as, say,you purchase a used monitor or
something.
Sometimes these again dependingon brand, depending on model
and generation sometimes youhave to purchase and unlock to
do variable rate, right?
So, in addition to justenabling that option, sometimes
you might even need to purchasean unlock, or you need to
(19:31):
purchase a monitor that has thatunlock installed.
So just something to keep inmind and it is different from
what Sarah mentioned, right,like, in that case, we're
enabling it, we already have it.
We just need to make sure thatour monitor knows to read the
variable rate prescriptionversus just a flat rate.
And in this case, what I'mtalking about is like, okay,
this monitor has the capabilityto do this, but is it behind a
(19:55):
paywall before I can actuallyget access to it?
Sarah (19:57):
So just keep that in mind , I think that's a really good
point, and if you are interestedin doing variable rate, you
know that's one of those thingsthat you probably want to have a
conversation with with yourequipment manufacturer.
That's nothing that GK can helpyou about.
Yes, you need to call up yourequipment person and say, hey, I
(20:18):
would like to do variable rateseeding, variable rate planting,
variable rate fertilizer.
Do I have that capability withwhat I have purchased from you?
If I don't, how do I get it?
Yes, you need to have thatconversation with them.
Jodi (20:32):
Yep and make sure you know like what is the total final
dollar amount?
Right, Because it's not fun tobe blindsided by having to make
an additional purchase on top ofwhat you already thought would
get the job done.
Sarah (20:45):
Yeah, lots of good stuff there.
Hey, do you have any greatplanting stories Like the best,
the most entertaining plantingstory, what's?
Do you have a?
Jodi (20:56):
good one of those, jodi.
I don't have any fun ones, doyou?
Sarah (21:07):
I've got a fun one from a couple years ago and it's a
good one.
And so I had this call fromsomebody who was having an issue
with a prescription, can't getthe prescriptions to go, can't
get the prescription to go,Talking through the controller,
talking through everything, andit was on a planter.
So we're talking througheverything.
I mean I'm trying to overturnall of these stones and I'm like
(21:29):
I don't know, I just can'tfigure it out.
And and I'm like calling Kelly,because I'll be honest, like
when I can't figure out how todo something, I'm going to call
Kelly.
I'm going to call Darren,because those guys have pretty
much seen it all.
Um, we are not the experts onthe equipment by any the the
controllers that are out there,the equipment but, um, I don't
(21:53):
know.
Gk's been around for a longtime and we've sent a lot of
prescriptions to a lot ofdifferent controllers.
So I'm not going to sit hereand say that we don't have
experience here, anyway.
So I call up Kelly.
I'm like racking my brain,we're trying everything, we're
like don't know.
And I finally called back.
I'm like I can't figure it out,I don't know what's going on
(22:13):
there.
She called me back 48 hourslater Mice.
I said what Mice ate all theelectrical wires on there and it
has something about how therewas some sort of an override so
that it would still plant a flatrate, but a lot of the
electrical stuff was.
(22:34):
There's other weird things thatwere going on.
Again, a test prescriptionwould have been really great in
that scenario.
Then they probably would havefound it, like you know, when it
was still way too wet to toplant felt really bad for those
guys oh, man gosh, you know it'sso funny.
Jodi (22:58):
It's almost it's worse than if, like the mouse would
have just chewed througheverything, right, so it
wouldn't turn on, but like theyjust had to chew enough where it
caused issues.
But it was hard to figure outexactly what the heck went on
because it was still doing stuffright.
Like it's so much easier.
Like when it's not doinganything, because then you can
just say it's not working.
Like when it's still doingstuff, and it's just like it's
(23:19):
doing stuff, but it's not what Iwant it.
Sarah (23:20):
It's not doing what I'm telling it to do when it comes
to electrical stuff and likepart of it is working and part
of it isn't, and then only someof the wires are chewed off.
Jodi (23:32):
That mouse like vindictive .
That's what it was.
Sarah (23:36):
There would have been some mouse bait there in my
world.
Oh, I would have been so mad.
Jodi (23:41):
Oh my gosh, I've learned so much from this conversation.
Sarah, thank you so much forsharing all these stories.
Sarah (23:48):
Yeah, this was a good one .
I learned a lot too.
Jodi (23:50):
Yes, and I think our audience is really going to
enjoy this.
And if you've got other stories, other common spring questions
that you're getting to, we'dlove to hear about them.
Check out our AgGeekSpeakwebsite.
On the GK Technology website, Ithink there's an episode
suggestion box, but you can putyour comments in there.
(24:10):
But these are the things welike to talk about and share
experience and tips and trickson so that we can help everyone
have a better spring.
Sarah (24:21):
We also have a question and answer forum on our website
so people can actually go on andchat with us and get questions
answered.
It's really a fun.
You can ask whatever's on yourmind.
It's at our website,wwwgktechinccom, and across the
(24:43):
very top there's a Q&A form.
Go ahead in there and and uh,you can check that out.
Jodi (24:50):
Some of the uh you have to have an 80 MS login in order to
get access to that.
Sarah (24:56):
Yes, you do need to be one of our customers in order to
do that, but if you need helpbecoming one of our customers,
please feel free to reach out.
We'd be, we would love to helpyou.
Please feel free to reach out,we'd be, we would love to help
you.
But there's like it is.
It is and there's there.
There's different questions inhere.
You know everything from askingquestions about you know the
(25:19):
different bands of light and the2024 NAEP imagery to actually
there's a GRX export for gridsUm and that, and that would have
been for a John Deerecontroller.
So I mean, we get questionslike that stuff all the time.
Jodi (25:34):
Awesome.
Well, thank you so much, Sarah,and we will see you on the next
episode of Add Geek Speak.
Sarah (25:40):
At GK Technology.
We have a map and an app forthat.
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