Winter might seem like down time for farmers and the agricultural community, but that just isn’t the case. Craig Allaman with Munson Hybrids talks about how technology and new agricultural innovations have changed how modern-day farmers prepare:
“I suppose in the old days it was – you go out and work hard, and the good lord gives you good weather, and you raise a good crop, and you sell it, and that was pretty much it. But it’s very much a business nowadays. The planning that goes on before the crop goes in the ground, the decisions on what you’re going to use for your inputs, and just the technology that may be in your tractor or combine. Just getting the data from that technology and going through that this time of the year,” he said.
Tax planning and seed purchases are two primary focuses for farmers during the winter months.
Allaman also touched on how new technologies are changing the landscape of farming. He hopes that more research is conducted on various practices to ensure both their safety and effectiveness.
“That new technology that comes out, I’d really like to see improving. I’d really like to see universities get a hold of some of those things and third-party type research to test them. If we are changing things, if we are spending a bunch of money to do something different, it’s got to be something that is going to pay back for us,” Allaman said.
Like most farmers, Allaman says he is a “chicken” when it comes to trying new technologies, but he commends curious farmers, which he calls “guinea pigs”, who volunteer to test out new products and ideas to help the agronomy community.
written by Jackson Kane
