Efficiency, Cost Savings Among Benefits of Autonomous OMNiPOWER Spreader for Nebraska Coop
Ben Sauder, Vice President of Agronomy at Frenchman Valley Farmers Cooperative, says OMNiPOWER’s driverless innovation lets the cooperative cover more acres safely with fewer people, a necessity in a still recovering labor market.
Frenchman Valley Farmers Cooperative, Inc. (FVC) boasts a century-plus of providing its agricultural customers with grain marketing and storage, crop inputs and a host of other vital services. A progressive mindset around technology has allowed the coop to meet client demand, a mentality that continues with the recent purchase of a Raven Industries, Inc. OMNiPOWER autonomous dry spreader.
FVC has been using the spreader since September 2021, covering up to 300 acres daily across its service areas of Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming. Ben Sauder, Vice President of Agronomy at FVC, says OMNiPOWER’s driverless innovation lets the cooperative cover more acres safely with fewer people, a necessity in a still recovering labor market.
“Talking about our workforce in Nebraska, we need one person to run three sprayers, instead of one person running one sprayer,” says Sauder. “If we have one person who can spray 3,000 acres a day, this technology from Raven can help us accomplish this goal.”
Automatic steering is not uncommon in today’s farming equipment — the industry is rife with navigation programs from companies like John Deere, whose AutoTrac vehicle guidance systems provide drivers with hands-free straight-path navigation.
“Driver” is the key word here, notes Sauder, as the OMNiPOWER has no cab. Instead, a computer-guided control unit links to the spreader, delivering wider field coverage and higher-efficiency allocation of human resources. Additionally, the machine’s 180-horsepower engine uses less fuel, offering significant cost savings even when covering more ground than a traditional rig.
“OMNiPOWER has a collision system where it stops before hitting an obstacle,” Sauder says, referring to Raven’s perceptional optical detection and avoidance system designed for safe use around people, animals, and property. “Not having a driver means avoiding workmen’s comp injuries, or the potential of someone screwing up their back when hitting a washout. Having a (smaller) engine gives us that fuel savings, too.”
Working with a Trusted Partner
FVC, currently the sixth largest cooperative in Nebraska, is no stranger to innovation. Prior to buying the OMNiPOWER spreader, the cooperative utilized other high-tech agriculture solutions, including the Dot Power Platform from DOT Technology Corp.
Now owned by Raven after the company’s purchase of DOT Technology’s remaining equity in March 2020, the autonomous platform pairs with a variety of ag equipment. DOT is another arrow in Raven’s applied technology quiver — another is the recently acquired SmartAg autonomous farming solution — aimed at a competitive ag tech environment.
FVC previously used a John Deere spinner spreader, which requires a driver to operate. With Raven’s driverless technology, FVC officials have something that could eventually spread its new Carbon Cycle biological. Sourced from Platte Peak Crop Performance, the biological is designed to break down crop residue, speed up planting and capitalize on any type of fertilizer.
The OMNiPOWER spreader is controlled by a single operator, who sends units on autonomous missions via a tablet connected to a cellular network.
Rapid advances in industry-leading ag tech — not to mention improving every farmer’s return on investment — pointed FVC to OMNiPOWER during a visit to Raven’s Sioux Falls, SD, headquarters in March 2021, says Sauder. The spreader is controlled by a single operator, who sends units on autonomous missions via a tablet connected to a cellular network.
The early-going presented obstacles both on the technical and workaday side. For example, a wireless connection not compatible with the technology convinced FVC to swap carriers from Sprint to AT&T.
Once past that speedbump, FVC can run the spreader in fully autonomous mode or by remote control. The tech takes some training as well, which Sauder deems another benefit of the partnership between Raven and his cooperative.
“It’s good to have someone tech-savvy to use the technology, because (the control unit) is like a video game controller or iPad,” says Sauder. “Guys that grew up with big diesel engine blowing black smoke may not be used to these types of things. This technology is more comfortable in the hands of a younger generation. But the training from Raven has been fantastic. They’ve been here every step of the way to make sure the spreader is running right, and all the bugs are worked out.”
Sauder hopes computerized autonomy can act as a talent magnet for a region of the country that lost population in the latest census, exacerbating a worker shortage around farming and ranching.
According to census figures, only 24 of Nebraska’s 93 counties gained residents from 2010 to 2020. About 56% of Nebraska’s population now lives in three of the Cornhusker State’s largest counties, leaving even fewer people in rural areas to fill open jobs. Farmers, cooperatives, and other agricultural-related businesses are especially vulnerable to population shortfalls, not to mention an overall decline of people wanting to work in agriculture-related industries, says Sauder.
To combat these trends, FVC is embarking on high school “field days” where the coop’s spreaders fertilize a football field. Ideally, showing off new precision ag tech can gain traction with younger populations seeking farming work in a burgeoning and innovation-friendly industry.
Raven can be a partner in this effort, as Sauder expects the cooperative to flourish apace with improvements to spreader technology. FVC already has a six-bin dry fertilizer spreader from AgChem sharing the same path as the OMNiPOWER machine, a pairing that Sauder foresees only growing in the years ahead.
“I envision it being like a mother goose and her goslings,” Sauder says. “You’ve got one big sprayer with a person in it, and smaller automated sprayers behind it to complete a field. We’re expected to get the job done with fewer people, so we have to be looking at robotics and automation.”
Gloomy labor reports aside, Sauder is casting ahead to a productive future with Raven as a ready, willing and able technology provider.
Sauder says, “Embarking on this work, you can’t just anticipate all the problems you’ll run into, but the technology gets better and better all the time. Raven has been a trusted partner, and they’re committed to getting us where we want to go.”
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