REGINA – Farmers trying to eliminate overlap when applying crop inputs must wish they had eyes in the backs of their heads.
It is estimated that most farmers waste about eight percent of chemical and fertilizer because of overlap in areas already treated in the previous trip down the field. And constant backward checks on the location of tillage or spray equipment cause operator fatigue.
Manufacturers are trying to help.
Some use satellite eyes in the sky to help equipment operators drive straight lines. Others have video cameras that can be mounted anywhere to bring images of the outside into the cab.
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Then there is Kleen Sight, developed by Leonard Gray and Ken Parson.
It’s what might be called the low-tech alternative and was on display at the Western Canada Farm Progress Show’s new inventions showcase.
Kleen Sight is like a plastic ruler, equipped with colored, movable tab pointers, that is mounted to the window of a tractor or combine cab.
The tabs are adjusted so the line of sight past the pointer correlates with the line the operator wants to follow, such as the edge of the land just plowed or a foam strip from a sprayer.
The tabs are positioned to match the width of the implement.
Gray said the idea came from a technique he followed when learning to drive his dad’s equipment.
“My dad taught me to look back at the end of the implement to keep it straight. But I soon noticed that the headlight could be used as a marker and on the other side I put a piece of tape on the window.”
He came up with the more permanent and adjustable system for himself about 10 years ago and taught relatives and his sons to drive with it.
“When I trained my teenage boys how to drive tractor, I showed them how to set it and I stressed that we shouldn’t have overlaps because it is costly,” Gray said.
“So they left a one-inch strip, on a 100-acre field, every 27 feet. That’s how close they set it. I had to tell them I guess it’s OK to overlap a little bit.”
With success on his own farm, he thought others would be interested so he brought in Parsons, an engineer, to provide the detailed design.
The unit costs $30.
A more expensive system, but also more versatile, is the CamTrak.
It is two miniature, low-light color video cameras that feed images to a cab-mounted, four-inch color monitor.
Marketing of the CamTrak was recently taken over by Flaman Sales and the price has dropped to just under $4,000 from $6,495, said Jim Kleebaum of Flaman.
The cameras can be mounted anywhere. Their low light sensitivity allows them to be used at night with foam markers when spraying.
He said the cameras and monitor can be moved to different equipment for year round use. For example, it can be put in a grain truck to show the driver when the box is full or it can be used to monitor equipment such as grain cleaners.
Kleen Sight, Grason Innovators, 204-447-2738.
CamTrak, Flaman, 888-235-2626.
