Good looking corn! Its always a struggle to keep it from scraping in the tire tracks. Sharp sweeps and maybe running it a little deeper seems to help sometimes.
Hi Mike, Your corn field is amazing! I'm still catching on the previous posts. My (naïve) assumptions are: 1) RTK AutoTrac is the GPS system that guides the tractor 🤔? 2) Acura Trak is the GPS guidance for the cultivator (you already said this). I think you mentioned in one of the post that you couldn't do it without the Acura Trak guidance hitch. My (naïve questions) are: 1) You need both the RTK AutoTrac and Acura Trak guidances in order to make all these great videos for our pleasure and learning. But if you were not taking video footages you would just need the Acura Trak guidance only because you would be make sure to keep your eyes ahead as not to drive over the rows. Correct? 2) But if you didn't have either guidance you would still be able to row cultivate but it would be a lot harder (on the plants, on your neck and therefore, your daily performance). Correct? 3) Here comes the stupid one🤫: Do you need paid subscriptions to some kind of satellite providers to be able to use these guidance tools? Nobody laughs at my questions please😂. Beginner farmer trying to learn as much as I can and this is the best University I have seen so far👍. THANK YOU
Thank you! Your assumptions are correct. RTK is the GPS signal to the tractor. The Acura Trak hitch can be guided by RTK GPS as well, but I have mine working off of row feelers that “feel” between two rows. There are also optical cameras for the hitch when the crop is too small for the row feelers. Regarding your questions: 1) Lots of organic farmers don’t have either the GPS or the Acura Trak and get along just fine. That said, most of them don’t farm many acres. It’s easier to justify buying GPS and the guidance hitch if you cultivate a lot of acres. I already had the GPS equipment before I transitioned to organic. I just bought the Acura Trak for better accuracy. 2) Correct. I kind of answered that in question #1 3) Yes and no. There is no subscription fee for the Acura Trak. As mentioned above it uses row feelers, optical cameras, or GPS. But that GPS is controlled by whatever system that is being used on the tractor. There are different levels of GPS accuracy. SF1 is a free signal but is +\- 14 inches. RTK is sub inch accuracy, but there is a yearly subscription fee for RTK. I use John Deere GPS because it is plug and play with the John Deere equipment. There are several companies out there that offer GPS. Some are cheaper than others. There are no stupid questions! Any more just ask!
OnMark Certification Services is my certifier. Mark Seeley has been an inspector for many years. He decided to start his own business a couple years ago.
That’s a good idea. Although, I don’t believe Hiniker makes a shank design that you can mount shovels to. It’s just a “point and share” shank. I know Buffalo makes one though.
