Calby Beckstrand, one of our Product Managers here at Intelligent Ag, had the opportunity to sit down with Mick Kjar and talk about all things ag on the Farm Talk radio show. Farm Talk provides ag companies, just like us, a chance to share all the current agriculture news, products, and events. Hear about what Intelligent Ag does and our new product launches straight from Calby himself.
Intelligent Ag started about ten years ago now with our flagship product line, which is the Recon Wireless Blockage and Flow Monitor for air seeders. Today, Intelligent Ag is getting ready to launch new products that allow for precise monitoring of your sprayers for blockage and flow problems.
To learn more about the story of Intelligent Ag and about all of the new product lines headed your way, see what Calby had to share with Mick.
Click here to listen to the Farm Talk Podcast or read the transcript below.
Mick Kjar: Good afternoon everybody! Welcome back Farm Talk here at the K.M.O.T. Ag Expo broadcasting live from the Legacy Seeds booth. We’ve done a variety of interviews with a variety of products with a variety of people. But get set for the most intelligent interview we’ve ever done here at the K.M.O.T. Ag Expo, because it’s with Intelligent Ag. And the product manager Calby Beckstrand. Now, good to see you Calby.
Calby Beckstrand: Good to see you too Mick. Thanks for having me.
Mick: Right, well Intelligent Ag, you guys have been around for over a decade.
Calby: Yep, that’s right. We’re based out of Fargo, North Dakota. We’ve been around for over ten years now.
Mick: Not a household name yet but you should be.
Calby: You know we’re working on that. We’re short-line company with a few different product lines but yeah we’re getting there.
Mick: What’s the backbone of Intelligent Ag? What’s your main product?
Calby: Absolutely! So we started about ten years ago now with our flagship product line which is the Recon Wireless Blockage and Flow Monitor for air seeders. What that does is it gives you blockage detection for those air seeders simple. The difference is that we use acoustic technology.
Mick: And explain that obviously, that’s with sound. How does that work?
Calby: The easiest way to explain it is like a doctor’s stethoscope. So, when doctors listen to your heart, we’re doing the same thing. We’re listening to your seed and fertilizer coming through that air seeder. We turn that into a digital signal that shows up on iPad application for you.
Mick: And farmers want that picket fence corn crop singulation is the goal. And that’s what you can provide.
Calby: We actually don’t focus on planters too much. We’re on the air seeder side of things and that’s more of a controlled spilled type of application. What we try to do is provide a good tool that not just only shows you the blockage detection side of things, but it shows you the flow in the variance across the toolbar. So from run to run, we can show you the difference across each run.
Mick: We were visiting earlier and people were coming by here yesterday. They said they love your product. You have a lot of use out here in the western part of North Dakota.
Calby: Yeah, we do. We’re actually stretching away from Alberta down into the southern states of Texas, Arkansas, all over in that area now. So we got quite the dealer channel network.
Mick: Well, in the world of precision ag, you got a great name Intelligent Ag. So you’ve got the air seeder product that you have here. What else is coming out of Intelligent Ag?
Calby: We’re actually launching our fifth product this year along with our two control products which we call Engage Zone Control and Engage Spread Control. New to our monitoring line, which is the Recon lines, we have the Recon Wireless Blockage and Flow Monitor and we have Recon Spreadsense (that’s a flow monitor). New to the monitoring line is Recon Spraysense. So now we will be monitoring your sprayers for blockage and flow problems.
Mick: That’s excellent. Again, how does that happen? You can’t use acoustics for liquid, can you?
Calby: No. Unfortunately, we can’t use that awesome acoustic technology for that. But, what is it actually never been done is monitoring right directly at your nozzle tip, flow, and pressure. So we are adding a sensor to every single nozzle body that allows you to monitor the flow and pressure right there.
Mick: A long time ago I’ve run a drill press and I wasn’t paying attention and a couple of the rows were plugged. I missed out on probably 3 or 4 bushels to the acre of one of the best crops I could have had. But why is it important to monitor flow control and blockage?
Calby: Especially for this new SpraySense line, what you’re doing is ensuring that you’re putting down the correct application. Right? If you look at it from the four R’s (right place, right time, all those things). What we want to make sure that farmers have the ability is the knowledge that they are doing that job. Because all you’re getting is information either back from strictly one location, which is either your pump or maybe on a section basis. So when you have this at each individual nozzle body, you now have a drive a worn-out nozzle tip and streaking maybe on one nozzle tip. We’re going to see that information with this. And why that’s important is because weeds are resistant. So it may not show up this year, but look at all of the changes in the chemical application that had to happen over time. We’ve had to switch from Dicamba to Round Up. Now we’ve had to switch back to Dicamba because roundup starting to become weed resistant. This is really gonna show the farmer or operator he’s doing a good job and he’s putting down what he needs to be putting down.
Mick: Well, you mentioned the spray monitoring is the 5th product, what is 2nd, 3rd, and 4th?
Calby: I mentioned Recon SpreadSense and that ties in with Engage SpreadControl. Those two products are for floaters. And what they do is, they control floaters for more sections on the floater and then the SpreadSense monitors to make sure that same thing that acoustic technology that you have product coming out of every single deflector.
Mick: How do you calculate cost per acre, per role, or per unit?
Calby: You know, it’s really easy to get your ROI on SpreadSense because as soon as you have one or two blockages, it’s going to pay for itself. A lot of the floater application is done by co-ops or retailers. You know farmers are paying them to do a good job. So when they fub up and they have you know a blockage in their skips in the fielder streaks and knows all the sudden, just like you, have that blockage in your field quite a few years ago. You’re gonna miss out on that potential crops. Then comes lawsuits and claims and things like that. Same thing with SpreadControl. We’re trying to do there is just kind of put that product in the right place. Co-ops have to plan quite a bit for mapping and going around areas that maybe have smaller fields things like that. So we’re just trying to put that product right place first overlapping too much.
Mick: Well anywhere between Alberta and Texas, Intelligent Ag’s got their footprint. But how to guys find you, get a hold of you, or sit down and have maybe come on have a demo on the farm?
Calby: Yeah, absolutely! Join us at the booth here. I think we’re in 859-860. Otherwise you can visit our website all of our information contact information is on there www.intelligentag.com
Mick: Alrightly, Calby Beckstrand, product manager for Intelligent Ag. One of the greatest companies you maybe haven’t heard of yet. But we’ll hear a lot more from you. Thank you much Calby.
Calby: Thanks Mick.
Mick: You’re very welcome. We’re broadcasting from the Legacy Seeds both here at the K.M.O.T. Ag Expo group. We will be back later and all day tomorrow. So stick around another hour Farm Talk coming up after the top of the hour again from the K.M.O.T. Ag Expo in Minot. I’m Mick Kjar. This is Farm Talk.
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