Farm And Ranch Day Held
The Mountrail County Ag Improvement Association held their annual Farm and Ranch Day program on Wednesday, Feb. 12 in Stanley at the Mountrail County South Complex.
The program began with Josh Dipippo of Spotters Ag Service in Killdeer. He founded the company to provide a higher quality of application for producers in western North Dakota. His goal has always been to increase production and profitability in pasture, and range land for his customers.
He shared his story including an ag sales class he took in college. He says that having spent a lot of time in the field with his dad, he was sure there were so many different possibilities he would learn about. The class started on day one talking about drones and he says he tuned out.
He moved back to Killdeer, taking a job spraying noxious weeds with four-wheelers. He saw the potential, but also the drawbacks, because of the limitations with the terrain and the amount they could spray. He started looking at different options to be more efficient with the terrain. Eventually that took him back to drones. At first, he saw the possibilities, but also the limits of the amount that could be carried on a drone. In 2021 they did their first 1800 acres. He said that it was effective but he kept looking for ways to increase the capabilities. New drones over the years have allowed them to increase their capacity and the amount of fields they can cover.
He says the benefits include precise chemical application, consistent application, great coverage, easy tracking and easily reaching those previous difficult to reach areas.
He also pointed out that drones can be beneficial for producers in other ways, including checking tanks and fences for their livestock, as well as tracking where the livestock are in fields. They can be used to scout fields to find where they need to concentrate their time. He also points to the options for thermal drones, help with heavy lifting drones and all of the future possibilities as the technology continues to grow and be more cost effective for producers.
The results of the annual dessert contest were next.