How Gardner Family Farms Gains Ground With Ag Technology
More than a third of respondents use ag technology to make their lives easier in 2024, American Vegetable Grower’s latest State of the Industry survey tells us. To gain a little insight, Growing Produce spoke with one grower within that 38% to learn how he is successfully incorporating ag tech on his farm.
Meet Kevin Gardner, Gardner Family Farms
“You can go technology poor, so we’re fairly simple around here with our ag tech,” says Kevin Gardner, Owner of Gardner Family Farms in Macclesfield, NC. “Some tech will never pay for itself,” he says. “I know the technology I have now is working. I can tell from one year to the next by the yield.”
Gardner uses GPS guidance systems, yield monitoring/mapping, and automation/robotics for seeding, planting, and transplanting. But his favorite piece of ag tech?
“Hands down, it’s Climate FieldView,” Gardner says. “It does all my record keeping and yield monitoring.”
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Gardner uses this tech to monitor and measure his inputs and visualize critical field data. He also relies on John Deere’s auto steer technology, GreenStar, for swath control and increased efficiency when laying down his seed and applying inputs.
“With GreenStar in control, all I need to do is sit in the cab and watch the GPS go to work,” Gardner says. “I never have to worry about overlap; the rows are mapped perfectly every time. Seed is expensive, and our crops aren’t all in long rows. The swath control accommodates for the difference in field shapes. John Deere’s auto steer combined with swath control pays for itself and has made my operation much more efficient.”
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