A24-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 16,2002
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John Deere
(Continued from Page A 23)
“First, we expect the industry
to become more consumer
driven. Second, we believe
production will become more
differentiated, more segment
ed, and less commodity-based.
Third, we anticipate that pro
duction agriculture will follow
more of an industrial-type
model where tighter controls
and more documentation be
come the norm. Finally, we
believe environmental compli
ance and documentation of
that compliance will become
critical to participating and
succeeding in the market.
“At AMS,” Schaffter said,
“we’re focused on providing
growers with a variety of solu
tion packages to not only help
them deal with these changes
and trends, but more impor
tantly, profit from them.”
The solution packages
backed by some of the latest
computer, wireless commu
nication and global position
ing technologies are de
signed to help producers:
• Improve control of input
costs.
• Increase yields.
• Enhance the productivity
of equipment and labor.
• Create new income op-
Deere Specialists Share
Cropping Systems Knowledge
MOLINE, 111. Site-spe
cific farming. Narrow-row
production. Strip till, ridge
till, no-till. Conservation
compliance. Environmental
compliance. Biotech crops.
Identity preservation.
Agriculture is more com
plex, more sophisticated
than ever. And the need for
education and support has
never been greater.
John Deere recognized
this need 10 years ago and
began addressing it by cre
ating a new staff position
known as cropping systems
specialist. Today, approxi
mately 20 of these special
ists, based at John Deere
Training facilities through
out North America, work
closely with dealers and
their customers to share
leading-edge insight into
some of the newest trends
and practices in production
agriculture.
“The original intent was
for cropping system special
ists to be conservation equip
ment specialists to share
knowledge with dealers and
customers on how John
Deere equipment and sys
tems could most effectively
address their challenges in
meeting their conservation
compliance needs,” said
Chris Foster, cropping sys
AMS Delivers Solutions
portunities through documen
tation.
• Aid compliance with cur
rent and future regulations.
To deliver these results,
John Deere AMS is focusing
its energy and efforts in these
core areas: agronomic man
agement, equipment manage
ment, information manage
ment and business
management.
The focus within agronomic
management is to help grow
ers reduce input costs and/or
increase yields. Valuable tools
designed to meet these goals
include AMS products such as
JDmap 00 and Field Doc I ',
which allow producers to
electronically gather and re
cord information about their
operation and incorporate it
into yield data and maps. By
building on the Field Doc ap
plication, the John Deere
Seeding Group and AMS are
now able to offer map-based
seeding, a key innovation in
helping growers realize maxi
mum economic yields and
greater profits.
Innovations in equipment
management are geared to im
proving the productivity of
both equipment and opera
tors. In February 2001, John
tems specialist manager.
“But with the proliferation
of nontraditional systems
and practices, like site-spe
cific farming and changes in
seeding technologies, the
company soon realized it
was important for our spe
cialists to take a much
broader view.”
As a result, Foster said,
cropping systems specialists
maintain close relationships
with universities and highly
regarded consultants in their
individual areas.
“These relationships are
important because they help
keep our folks on the lead
ing edge,” Foster said.
“They can share this in
formation, then, back with
dealers, their customers, and
the company as well.”
A key area of focus for
many cropping systems spe
cialists this past winter has
been training dealers and
invited customers on John
Deere’s new map-based
seeding system and parallel
tracking with contours.
“This training has been a
high priority because these
technologies can provide tre
mendous value to growers,”
Foster said. “It’s crucial for
our dealers to have a thor
ough understanding of these
systems so they can market
Deere and AMS introduced
Parallel Tracking to provide
assisted-steering guidance.
The company recently took
this technology to an even
higher level with the introduc
tion of the Green Star 00 Auto-
Trac Assisted Steering Sys
tem. AutoTrac virtually
eliminates the need for
straight-line steering. It is now
available on all John Deere
Track Tractors. AMS is work
ing to bring AutoTrac technol
ogy to wheeled vehicles while
continuing to develop new in
novations for fleet manage
ment, automatic machine con
trols and a mobile office.
The emphasis in informa
tion management is on gather
ing the data producers need to
meet compliance requirements
or to capitalize on added
value income opportunities
from product-specific con
tracts. Field Doc serves as the
foundation for gathering this
information. The system of
fers all the capabilities needed
today and will soon become
increasingly automated.
The area of business man
agement is particularly impor
tant. More than ever, growers
are looking for new and better
ways to share information
and support them effective
ly. It’s equally important for
our customers to have a firm
grasp so that they can real
ize the full benefits these
products can provide.”
In addition to sharing
knowledge with dealers and
customers, Foster said crop
ping systems specialists also
play a key role in sharing in
formation and knowledge
back with the company.
“Because of their almost
daily interaction with cus
tomers, our specialists have
a valuable firsthand per
spective on how growers feel
about our products and
about issues and trends that
have an impact on their
business,” Foster said. “This
is important information
that we’re constantly report
ing back to marketing, prod
uct development and other
key areas within the compa
ny.”
Cropping systems special
ists also contribute to the
field training of new mar
keting personnel at John
Deere.
“Every new marketing
employee who joins the
company is required to go
through a four-day program
created by our staff. This
(Turn to Page A 25)
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The Green Star AutoTrac Assisted Steering Sys
tem, available on John Deere Track Tractors, is an
equipment management solution from John Deere
AMS that virtually eliminates the need for straight
line steering.
with partners and consultants
and between enterprises in
their overall business. AMS is
striving to provide fully inte
grated data management sys
tems so that once the informa
tion is captured it can be
easily shared.
While John Deere AMS is
not alone in providing man
agement solutions to agricul
ture, it does possess a truly
unique position in the market.
“ Because of the breadth of
our equipment lineup and our
penetration in the market, no
one else can match the data
gathering and management
systems that we can provide
growers,” Schaffter said. “Our
foundation components the
Star Fire position receiver,
Green Star Display and mobile
processor provide compati
bility, flexibility and system
integration that nobody else
can touch.
“These systems make it
possible for us to provide cus
tomers with solution packages
that they can customize to
their individual needs to en
sure they receive the maxi
mum return on their invest
ment,” Schaffter adds. “After
all, the solutions we’re devel
oping at AMS aren’t worth
much if they’re not putting
money back in our customers’
wallets at the end of the day.”