Agriculture Technology Improves the Effectiveness and Ease for Local Farmers

Craig Marty, 58, is no stranger to adjusting to the improvements and advancements of modern agriculture technology. Marty is the owner and operator of Marty Farms in Sterling, Ohio established in 1961 by his father, and their focus is on the dairy industry.

 

 

His father, now 88, passed the business over to him and taught him the traditional ways. Marty said his father, who grew up in the great depression, knew how to pinch for pennies and wasn’t into the progressive ways, only using tools available for him. He said he has a different outlook when it comes to the business. 

 

“I’m more aggressive than my dad,” Marty said, “and I’m looking for, I’m not gonna say the next best thing, but something to help our business make my life easier and help us for our returns from investments.”

 

Managing around 350 cows, Marty had to make some adjustments to how he cared for them with the new tools out there. One investment he made was for monitoring the cows through collars connected to his phone. From here, he could tell in advance what cows are getting sick. This, according to Marty, was a game changer. 

 

“I can see if they’re sick before there’s any visual signs if their rumination drops off, their feed in take drops off, so my phone will tell me I need to check this cow,” Marty said. “Before we always did the visual aspect, well that was three days too late. Now I almost know they’re sick before they know they’re sick.” 

 

Marty said he isn’t the only one benefiting from this. His breeder has access to the app as well, letting him record the heat of the cows to determine if any are ready for breeding.

 

“There’s days he doesn’t even need to pull into my drive lane because he knows there’s no cows and heat,” Marty said. “Before he had to be visual. Check the cows, watch for activity and breed according. Now he can drive by and say ‘Marty’s doesn’t have any cows?’ and go to the next spot?

According to the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, there have been many recorded benefits of incorporating more technology and robots into farming including making businesses more profitable, efficient, safer, and more environmentally friendly.

 

Cody Shinault, 32, in Brimley, Michigan has been involved in agriculture his entire life and said technology has come a long way. He worked for his grandfather’s farm and local businesses such as John Hill Farm. 

 

Shinault said modern technology has solved some of his problems when it comes to having people working on the farm. John Deere’s Green Star, is a self driving program for the tractors used for anything from harvesting to planting or fertilizing. 

 

“You can do your set parameters so it knows to go every, however wide your implement is, it knows to go, you know, if it’s a 30 foot wide, whatever,” Shinault said. “You can set it and that machine’s gonna run off a GPS unit and go 30 feet over from where you just were and go down and back. Pretty much steering itself.”

Shinault said he still prefers to have a physical person nearby just in case things go haywire, but he said it was a great tool for multitasking. You can get stuff done away from the area, while the program does all the work. 

 

With the supply and demand of technology, there are a few problems Shinault said he ran into. Some of the equipment he uses can only be fixed by certified technicians, who do not have the parts needed. 

 

“You need to take it to a technician. In fact, you need to be able to plug a computer into it to re reprogram the system,” Shinault said. “But guys are having issues with their equipment going down, and they can’t get it repaired because they don’t have the chips to put in it,” 

 

Although he said there are a few concerns with the lack of supply for the technology, Shinault said you never know what future technology holds. His one wish is for people to be more interested in the field. 

 

Marty also said the future of technology is unpredictable. Going into the next few years, he said robotic milkers are predicted to become more and more popular. As for Marty, he said all the technology advancements weren’t for him, including synthetic hormone injections.

 

“It made more milk, but I just was not an advocate for it, I guess,” Marty said. “Didn’t know if it was the best thing for the cows, and we like to do what’s best for the cows, we weren’t for those things.”

 

He said he wants people to know all the technology out there is not a game changer. The most important thing is that the cows are safe and cared for.

 

Small farmers shared their highs and lows with the advancement of agriculture technology.https://t.co/mFh3UC8aCG

— Lucy Connolly (@_lucy_connolly_) December 16, 2022