This is a YouTube video titled "The Kilmers Ep. 4 - Hitting the Ground Running | John Deere Tech at Work" created in June 2017. It features multiple speakers including members of the Kilmer farming family and John Deere staff discussing the planting season in north central Illinois, focusing on the use of agricultural technology to improve efficiency and ease during corn planting. The content is a narrated documentary-style presentation rather than a conversational transcript involving Francisco Jimenez.
Sam.
My name is Dan Kilmer and I'm a farmer in north central Illinois. We are in spring 2017 and it's planting season. The calendar says it's time to go, so we're moving.
I'm Darrell Kilmer. I've farmed all of my life. This is when you really like to plant corn in this area. So today we'll be working ground with the field cultivator and planting corn with the corn planters.
I'm Justin Blanchett, Precision Ag business manager with ahw. Started off a little wet to begin our season, so kind of built the anxiety. But the last five days we've been rolling strong, pushing and you have a good outlook here. The next three days when the weather.
Gets right and the ground's working the way you want it, then it's go time.
My name is Ben Smith and I'm an advanced marketing project manager for John Deere. I actually started with the Kilmers last year, taking a grower that really wasn't using any technology and started to learn and understand what different levels of technology adoption look like. So last year started mainly with just auto track and section control, especially for planting. And the Kilmers have picked it up really fast.
I've only got about a half a day left and we're going to have.
All the corn in the ground here.
And it's been very beneficial for them.
My name is Tim Kilmer and I'm a farmer in north central Illinois. This technology really dramatically helps make planning easier and more efficient. It takes the stress off of me having to steer. It takes the stress off of me having to get rows turned on and off at the correct times. It automates a lot of things that make my job easier.
Here we go along the trees with.
No hands and ultimately it's not just technology for technology's sake, it's actually technology that helps a grower by allowing them to do a better job.
My dad farmed his' n tire farming career and he always took pride in straight rows. But with the autotrac, a beginner can take off with a planter and have bullet straight rows just like a pro that has been farming all of his life.
The efficiency with the section control is fantastic. When I overlap on headlands, it doesn't waste any seed. And when we get into fields with odd shaped headlands along creeks or curved boundaries, it will automatically shut the rows off. It really is very, very efficient.
So the introduction of data has given Kilmers another resource that's valuable in the determination of their hybrid placement and because we have those maps, we're able to see how specific hybrids performed on specific soil types.
There is a definite sense of relief knowing that on a long day that I have to plan into the night. Well, I got the south edge down there and then the east. Ed know I have that technology to really help me do a good job.
The technology, it does cost, but there is payback from it.
The most rewarding part of planting season is going through a big hard push and getting a lot of work done and then coming back when everything's coming out of the ground perfect and everything looks good.
It's a good feeling when things are going right when you're out there planting.
We're nearly wrapped up with the corn planting for 2017 and we'll be anxious to get started in the beans. Right after that, the product application season starts and before we know it, it'll be harvest time.
