Vertical Focus: Monsanto Scores with an Infield Hit

“Dyersville, Iowa—For many of America’s farmers, the Information Superhighway may just have started on this dusty country road leading to the Field of Dreams farm near this quiet Northeast Iowa town.”

While we don’t usually pull text directly from a press release, there’s something very catchy about the idea of using high-technology for important, everyday, bread-and-butter applications. In terms of unexplored territory for pen computing, farm management presents some very fertile new ground.

On July 22nd, fourteen leading companies from such varied fields as agriculture, computers, system integration, and satellite-linked technology, met at the farm that served as the site for the film “Field of Dreams.” The purpose: to demonstrate a new information management system designed specifically for midwest U.S. corn and soybean growers.

Lead by Monsanto, the team of agri-business specialists and system integrators have created a software application that runs on Apple’s Newton MessagePad and a PC compatible desktop computer. Dubbed the Infielder Crop Records System, the program integrates the two devices utilizing each for the task for which it is best suited.

In a typical scenario, the farmer uses a leather-encased Newton literally in the field to perform a range of data collection tasks. The farmer inputs the data using on screen menus with limited handwriting required. The system, which is specialized to serve the particular needs of the corn and soybean farmer, allows the following information to be recorded:

• a field description, including acreage, cropping history, soil types, and others
• plants and seeds, including seed brand, variety, planting rate, soil temperature, moisture, and others
• pesticide application, including all required EPA information
• scouting data, including observed disease, weeds, insects, weather injury, and others

Infielder also permits the farmer to record the tillage, weather, nutrient application, equipment, irrigation and harvest details directly in the field.

In the evening, or during times when field work is impractical such as during a rain storm, the farmer connects the Newton to a PC compatible using a serial cable and synchronizes the data between the two computers.

Infielder can create a range of reports to help the farmer evaluate crop performance and profit margins. These reports include field summary, chemical operations, nutrient applications, harvest summaries, and others.

Infielder requires a 386 DX or higher IBM compatible computer with 4 MB of RAM running Windows 3.1.

Infielder is available at a special introductory price of $999 which includes a 12-month subscription to all Infielder services, support, and crop information lists and bulletins. The package includes an Apple Newton MessagePad with leather field case along with the Infielder software and access to software updates.

Crop Records System
(314) 693-2727

A.E.C
(217) 352-1190

Apple Computer
(408) 974-2042

Cargill
(612) 742-7926

Data Transmission Network (DTN)
(402) 399-2864

EDS, Energy Division
(214) 605-0463

Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI)
(714) 793-2853

John Deere & Company
(309) 765-2016

Meredith
(515) 284-2118

Plexus Marketing Group
(404) 390-9692

Pharos Technologies
(513) 573-7100 x245

Potash & Phosphate Institute
(217) 762-2074

Surdex
(314) 532-3427

Team Technologies
(319) 235-6504