Don Biehle helped his successor, Joel Wahlman, usher in the future before he departed as the first and only superintendent at the Southeast Purdue Agricultural Center near Butlerville. The pair mounted a TV in the hallway at the farm office, just outside the superintendent’s individual office. But it’s not there so the staff can watch soap operas during lunch. Instead, it displays vital information about what is going on around the farm, in the markets and much more.

VITAL INFORMATION: Joel Wahlman says information displayed on this screen helps both SEPAC employees and management know what’s going on at any time.

“At one time we had a service so that we could access information about markets and news via satellite delivery,” Biehle says. “That was expensive, and we really needed something that could help us track where we were working and what was happening in each field on the farm.”

SEPAC consists of about 800 tillable acres and some 1,600 acres of timberland. All the crop acres are no-tilled, and cover crops are used extensively. With the advent of technology that makes large-field, replicated trials possible, a larger percentage of the farm is being used for research each year.

How it works

The screen display that employees and visitors see is coming from a computer in the office, Wahlman explains. The software is part of Trimble’s Connected Farm offering. The goal is to allow a farmer or manager to see what is happening in each field all the time.

“For $300 in a regular TV display, we now have something that everybody can see, without having to go into someone’s office and bother them,” Wahlman says.

One feature Wahlman hopes to use more in the future is the ability to note the crop and type of research going on in each field on the farm. The screen displays a large map of the farm, and areas can be denoted as being in a certain crop or certain type of research. The software also has the capability of displaying sophisticated weather information, plus information on where specific tractor or combine units are at any one time.

“Some of these are premium services that you pay for,” Wahlman explains. “We don’t have everything that it’s capable of turned on right now because we have a limited budget. “

Looking to the future

Biehl hired Wahlman nine years ago as the assistant manager at SEPAC. He was looking for someone with a farm background and mechanical experience, and Wahlman fit the bill.

Biehle knew it would be increasingly important to stay current with technology and upgrade it as necessary as time passed.

Wahlman proved to be a good fit and helped develop custom solutions so SEPAC could adapt technology as it came along. The TV screen that projects the computer feed is another example of this.    

“We plan to continue adopting technology that makes sense and which will help us be more efficient,” Wahlman concludes.