AgTechheads, welcome to 2016 and your first major marketplace event. In fact, it may be the world-class event you’ve never heard of.
Here’s a hint, because I’ve been to a few of these: If you don’t yet have hotel room in Tulare, Calif., you probably are staying someplace miles away. Yes, Tulare.
And one thing you’ll hear about is the guy who just broke “Ab” Jenkins’ 81-year-old world record for tractor speed.
Only in ag tech. Let me help you speak the language.
The Ag Expo … actually, the 49th annual World Ag Expo in Tulare on Feb. 9-11. Go. Learn. See, hear, touch and even taste more than 10,000 of your customers, competitors and maybe venture partners in an unparalleled venue.
You'll see cutting-edge solutions in hardware and software, ag heritage and more — all in context. You’ll have conversations and find insights you won’t get anywhere else.
In fact, the Top 10 New Products for 2016 will be showcased; a few of the winners have worldwide recognition:
Ace Pump Corp.'s Gemini Dual Pump Kit: Allows a user to independently operate two Ace Pumps from a single hydraulic supply manually or with a pulse width modulated control signal. It allows operators to quickly and easily dial in separate application rates for liquid fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and other crop inputs.
ANC Technology’s Intelligent Wireless Irrigation Control System: A new type of moisture sensor-based, solar-powered, wireless irrigation control system that will change the way irrigation is done in the foreseeable future.
Coldwell Solar, Inc.’s MegaWash: The new MegaWash mobile tractor system advances in parallel with each row of solar panels, auto-adjusting its precision-controlled hydraulic boom gently onto each panel’s surface, and it requires 80 percent less.
Orchard Machinery Corp.’s Fully Automated Shaker Technology Tree Seeker: Recalling tree nuts are the state’s No. 1 crop, this device locates trees with a “seeing” eye. It communicates to the machine the x and y coordinates and the tree diameter, steers and stops the machine in the correct location, extends the head and shakes the tree, and repeats the process for the next tree.
Tule Technologies’ Tule: A product that could dramatically change the way growers irrigate and manage their fields, especially on larger operations. Farmers can more easily prioritize resources and minimize production threats with Tule Technologies’ new 24/7 automated irrigation adviser. Tule measures actual evapotranspiration in the field to power simple, actionable and more accurate irrigation decisions. Tule helps anticipate yield and quality threats by remotely monitoring crop water status. Daily data is collected remotely and presented to growers on an easy-to-use mobile app and desktop dashboard. Growers can review the results to prioritize which fields are water-stressed, allowing the ability to manage more acres with reduced time and labor.
Those products and others are just the start. If you want to talk the talk, mention Jack Donohue, the retired NASCAR drag racer from Fletcher, N.C., who just set the new land speed record for (obviously) modified tractors at 96.3185 mph with his 1952 Ford 8N. David Abbott (Ab) Jenkins set the record in 1935 at 67.677 mph on a 1932 Allis Chalmers U.
Donohue pays tribute, thanks to Western Farm Press: “Few people, including today’s professional racers, have a foggy clue who Ab Jenkins was or a single thing about feats he accomplished behind the wheel during his lifetime. Forget Clark Kent ... Ab Jenkins will always be Superman to me. I admit, I’m very proud of the tractor record, but it’s only one of many that Jenkins still holds and this is almost 60 years after his passing,” Donohue said.
