Precision ag, planter technology, tile plows and LED lighting are among the highlights of this week’s Empire Farm Days. It kicks off Tuesday, Aug. 9, and runs through Thursday, Aug. 11, on the Rodman Lott and Son Farms on the south edge of Seneca Falls, N.Y.

FITTING ’EM TOGETHER: Learn how all these precision ag tools team up for higher profitability at Empire Farm Days.

Daily from 10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., White’s Farm Supply is sponsoring a seminar on The Agronomic Benefits of Planting Technologies in the Welcome Center. The seminar, offered with a guest speaker from Precision Planting, will discuss the advantages of using variable-rate seed and fertilizer application, section control, and technology that ensures proper seed depth and placement at planting to promote optimal corn and soybean development.

Also daily from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., the company will host a Tile Plow Seminar in the Welcome Center. The seminar, offered with a guest speaker from Crary Tile Pro, will discuss how tiling impacts water management for crop production and how farmers can use tile plows to install farm drainage tile or corrugated tubing themselves. Organizers say it’s important to do your homework before making a purchase to make sure the equipment will meet grade tolerance for soil and topography.

SEE IT AND BELIEVE IT: Fay Benson, Cornell Extension agronomist, uses this rainfall simulator and soil samples to show how healthy and unhealthy soils retain water.

Learn about precision ag management zones
On Wednesday, Aug 10, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., the New York Farm Viability Institute will sponsor a Precision Ag Seminar in the Soil Health Center. Presenters include Avery DeGolyer, IT manager with Western N.Y. Crop Management, and Ben Flansburg of BCA Ag Technologies. This seminar will range from the big-picture view of what precision ag prescriptions are and what makes a good prescription to strategies for data handling and management, integrating hardware and software systems, data security, and data ownership.

The discussion will include how to fit farm goals with creating management zones and appropriate grid sizes for data collection and analysis. A panel presentation will include DeGolyer, Flansburg and farmer Todd DuMond who develops his own prescriptions.

A better dairy barn lighting idea
Check out the LED lighting systems from VM5 Lighting Solutions in the Dairy Exhibitors tent and the Dairy Profit Seminars tent. The systems use polycarbonate shatterproof lenses suitable for all barn applications.

LEDs emit no ultraviolet light, which reduces insect attraction and insect-related issues. VM5 Lighting Solutions personnel will be on hand in the Dairy Exhibitors tent to discuss LED products and systems suited for all agricultural and food-grade applications.

MORE UTVs COMING: Take a peek at Yanmar’s new Bull Series UTVs that will debut at the show.

See how cover crops stop water from running
Seeing is the first step in believing. That’s why the New York Grazinglands Coalition will offer soil health demonstrations illustrating how healthy and unhealthy soil reacts to rainfall at the show.

The exhibit uses a 6-foot high rainfall simulator to show how rainfall impacts soil in five different pans: from bare soil to soil sowed with a crop. Pans under the soil sections capture runoff to show how well or how poorly the soil retains the water.

See the ‘Bull’ and more new products
Yanmar America is one of many companies rolling out new utility task vehicles (UTVs). And this company seems to be targeting livestock producers with the Bull and Longhorn models with sales to begin in January. They’ll be debuting at Empire Farm Days and Ag Progress Days.

The standard Bull has three seats in a single row. The Longhorn comes with two rows and six individual seats. Both are powered by a 700-cc class gas engine for ag and recreational use.

Check them out at Empire Farm Days at Seneca Falls, N.Y., or next week’s Penn State’s Ag Progress Days near Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa.

For more information, visit Empire Farm Days and Ag Progress Days.