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NW KS/ SC ID | There are numerous variables at play, and no simple answer.
A person just needs to EVALUATE THEIR NEEDS and see if it will pay. Dont get it just to get it. Get it if it will pay/ save $.
Crop, field operation, implement, driver skill, field shape, terrain, soil type, driver workload, time of day, cropping practice, weather, etc. The list goes on and on.
You can make a hypothetical scenario about two fields side by side, for arguements sake they are identical. Tractor and planter can be identical too. If one guy has a day job and has to farm at night and the other doesnt, or one guy is conventional the other no-till, both scenarios there will be a difference in value to each one.
For me, working summerfallow, if I have a nice cross breeze I dont need GPS, I can see the last pass fine and get close enough. If I start a field one day and something comes up and I have to wait a day to keep going, the wind may not be in my favor and dust will follow me and I cant see the last pass. Then I do need GPS. Everything identical, except for wind direction, need for GPS goes from not at all, to basically mandatory.
Someone can educate me how anyone accurately steered pass to pass on non-row crops with a dry broadcast spreader back before GPS, all I can think of is flagging, and that requires legwork to setup. Now, I can spread anytime, even at night. My alternator quit on the old 7040, so I killed the lights immediately to conserve electricity, with nothing but the GPS pulling power it lasted all night, let me finish that load around midnight before weather rolled in the next day.
With planting, I farm square-ish fields, and can time my drop close enough to only get a row or two overlap max. Row clutches wont pay here. I am not the straightest driver and markers dont show well in no-till conditions. Autosteer would probably pay here. Some guy with irregular shaped fields and steering skills of Von will see a benefit of row clutches, but not autosteer.
So for me and my "tech" list, I see no benefit to some things that are the largest money saver on someone else's operation, so that is why a person needs to evaluate THEIR operation to see where savings can be had, if anywhere.
Edited by GM Guy 4/4/2020 16:06
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Does all of the tech make you $$
