Echelon Ag

[LEP]

I see they have changed how they charge. Had to come down in price. Was highway robbery in my opinion.

Anybody use them? Happy?

IMO we will be licensing software and doing it ourself in the future.

[jamesb]

things are really changing on this area. all the vari-rate people are becoming more competitive. We have used Echelon in the past and was not unhappy but currently use another company.

[LEP]

What are you seeing for price options out there? The old way of $8 or $10 per acre is out to lunch IMO.

[tweety]

Apparently not that far out to lunch. Farmers pay for it and are absolutely convinced of the benefit.

Once again demonstrating farmers will buy anything.

[farmaholic]

I wonder if this group advised my neighbor not to spray for fusarium last year because they advised him to spray some witches brew on that would make the plant more able to fend off the infection itself.

Ultimately we make the final decision. Isn't there enough extension out there? Or because its free its worthless and the only valuable advice you get is the stuff you paid for.

[furrowtickler]

I know the one guy with Echelon here - he used to own an equipment dealership. He would not know the right end of a canola plant or any other crop, or even had a clue what the difference would be in a fertilizer blend. All of a sudden he was an expert tell farmers what they should or should be doing agronomically, ya - no I don't think so - not for this farm.

[biglentil]

Heres a recipe for success pay $100 cash rent, listen to the retoric and spend $225 an acre on inputs including seed treat, 2 courses of fungicide,a high rate of fert add a healthy dash of bs gizmos, dont forget to descicate. And grow a 40 bushel HRS crop in a year like this. For a net loss of 85 bucks. Bitch n complain and repeat because you are a great farmer who is smarter than the rest.

[macdon02]

Show me an NDVI map that correlated to yield and I would sign up.... oh and where is the tipping poing on too "green" of a field? just cuz its off the chart on a snapshot in time doesnt mean its gonna be a bin buster. There is zero correlation on these maps if field gets diseased. I agree with the theory but I think farmers are doing the research and paying for it. It just gets bundled up so prescriptions can be more accurate.

[bigzee]

Can they make it rain?? When times get tough all these Agrologists/Agronomists will be the first to be cut out of many operations IMO.

[jamesb]

Costs for many of outfits are now under $5 per acre. Everyone has a different management plan for their inputs. For me with vari rating N and seed, I am not putting down any more than usual on the quarter but am applying more in the areas proven to be more productive and less in the areas where we can throw everything at it and will only return a profit in a few years. With the people I am working with we are working with 5 zones and soil test with 60 probes per field. We went to a sectional control on the drill for seed and fert and this helps the overlap and over application too.