I know I will get flamed and or this post deleted and if so, so be it. Hopefully this will fit into Don's NAT new product announcement policy. I believe this is a new area and of general interest to anyone planting row crops.

My son Joe and his guys have just introduced a new system of on the go real time measurement of ground hardness based on some work I did a few years ago.

Joe has also developed a way of using that ground hardness information to immediately feedback to and control the planter row unit based on soil conditions as the planter approaches them, not after the fact.

I have been in fields with peat in spots and hard clay in spots, all in the same pass. We go from worked headlands to "firm" (don't want to use the word "hard"!) no till, wander off of the strip or have a couple rows in grain cart tracks...  There is a very real economic return to adjusting the planter on the go to achieve more uniform emergence, which leads to more uniform pollination in corn, better spray performance in beans, etc, etc. and ultimately better yields by doing a better job of planting.

There is a post on the stock talk page from a NATer from Denmark showing an application of technology to solve a problem feeding hogs. This struck me as a very appropriate use of modern technology - identifying each sow as it enters a "private" feeding area and feeding her just what she needs without competing with a huge boss sow.

I think Joe's new sensor and control system is another area of the use of an appropriate use of technolgy to solve a problem.

FWIW, here is a link to a new video introducing, illustrating and explaining the new ground hardness sensing and control system. I think this is just the forerunner of many things to come.

Jim at Dawn