Technology At Work

Eliminating Weeds in the Corn Fields

Two Young Iowa Tractor Boys prepare to spray the Corn Fields with pre-emergence chemicals to prevent the weeks from growing.

This sprayer has a 60 feet boom and it is operated by GPS. It shows a map of the field and shows any patches that are missed as the Operator goes along, automatically stops the spray out of any one or more nozzles if spray has already been applied on that parcel. An Iowa Tractor Boy is running this with touch screen. The blue things on the end drop foam to indicate where he last was. You can see drops of foam. The farmer plugs in how much they want applied per acre and it keeps track. The Operator can also control it manually.




Here's the GPS screen in the tractor with the sprayer. The sun was shining which prevented the photojournalist from obtaining a clear picture. The green outlines the field that the Operator was spraying. The green outline was obtained by driving around the field to create the borders. The plus sign in the circle is the current location at when this picture was taken. It filled in green as the spray was applied. It is barely visable but you might be able to see some very thin white lines in the bottom green part. That is where we missed spraying. The operator may have been over too far. Or side winds blowing prevented the weed chemical from falling where it should have. The 15.0 at the top right is 15 gallons per acre. The other indicators provide additional data for the operator. In the fall, they move this screen to the combine and it tells the Iowa Tractor Boy Operator the number of bushels per acre at every spot.

All I know as a Former Iowa Tractor Boy is that today's modern equipment is very technical but I understand that it allows the Farmer to use less chemicals and to reduce their operating cost.