By John Tompkins
There was a time when harvesting a crop was a team effort that took a
small army of workers and several tractors to accomplish. ?It all used to be
a hand labor,? said Curt Mowery, a third-generation farmer in Rosharon. ?It
would take 40 or 50 tractors for them to do what we can do with one or two.
?We?ve come a long way,? he said.
Mowery farms more than 2,000 acres of corn, cotton, grain sorghum and
soybeans. With the onset of global positioning systems, harvest monitoring
and genetic seed modification, farming is getting more technical, allowing
new-age farmers to escape bad conditions such as too much rain or not
enough.

Mowery?s grandfather used to have to hire 30 to 50 workers around
harvest time, whereas now the work is done with just a handful of people-
Mowery, his brother and father.

Farming just isn?t what it used to be.

At the touch of a button, farmers can harvest crops more efficiently,
saving fuel, time and work, Alvin farmer Michael Wollam said.

Throughout Brazoria County there are several thousand acres of land
used for agriculture. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture Farm Service Agency?s Brazoria County office, farmers this year
planted 16,400 acres of grain sorghum, 11,900 acres of rice, 4,400 acres of
cotton, 9,800 acres of corn and 1,400 acres of soybeans.

The new technology is very expensive, but farmers are compelled to use
it in order to maintain their business, Brazoria County agriculture
extension agent Corrie Bowen said.

?You?re paying for better varieties and better yields, but your costs
are up,? he said. ?They have to be progressive in order to stay in
business.?

One of the biggest technological contributions in recent years are
satellites and global positioning systems to help when it comes time to
harvest a crop.

The satellites help position combines and tractors track which rows
are being cut, called swaths, to a few inches, which prevents overlap on the
part of the operator, Wollam said.

?The GPS will tell you exactly how many feet over you should be
driving your swath,? he said. ?They have tied this tracking system into the
power steering of the tractor. The tractor drives itself.?

The benefit of using such a system is to reduce overlap, which cuts
the amount of fuel, time and work spent harvesting a crop, he said.

?It also helps with driver fatigue,? Danbury farmer Jacko Garrett
said. ?It is a very useful tool, especially at night.?

Farmers also can use yield monitors, which measure the quality of a
crop as its harvested, Garrett said.

?It can tell you if you?re getting less or if you?re getting more,?
Garrett said.

Some of the best technology available to farmers isn?t found in a
piece of equipment, but actually is the crop itself, Bowen said.

Genetically modified seeds for soy, corn and cotton have helped battle
tough weather conditions like flooding and drought, as well as building
resistance to pesticides and pests.

?All the problems that were there, the plants are now resistant to
it,? Bowen said. ?I think that is the biggest contribution.?

New genetically modified soy seeds have helped open the window for the
amount of time they need to go from a growing, vegetative state to a
reproductive state, Mowery said.

With the new modified seeds, soy plants have six weeks instead of
three weeks to obtain enough rain to achieve that state, he said.

?You?re able to catch that rain,? Mowery said.

Expanding the amount of time available for growth isn?t the only
reason to use the seeds, he said.

?The genetic engineering is making the plants more resistant to
disease,? he said. ?The yields are much better than they were five years
ago.?

Though the new technology has helped farmers become more efficient and
more successful in their yields, it has come with a higher cost.

Yield monitors can cost up to $7,000 while the global positioning
systems can cost up to $4,000, with a possible $1,000 fee for a satellite
subscription.

Though the global positioning systems and yield monitors are good to
have, the modified seeds are more than worth the cost, Bowen said.

?You can?t afford not to use it,? he said.

Mowery agrees adding modified seeds bring bigger crops, which counters
the price.

?The seed technology costs more, but the yield per acre has
increased,? he said.

Genetically modified seeds also can be expensive - almost double the
cost for conventional seeds.

Modified corn seeds can cost about $200 per bag, which would plant
about 3 acres, while conventional seeds cost about $80 a bag. Conventional
soy seeds cost about $20 to plant an acre while modified seeds can cost
about $35.


[thefacts.com]