Farming Technology in Practice: On-Farm Sensing, Monitoring, and Grain Moisture Testing
Farming technology earns its keep when it turns field conditions into decisions you can act on: how fast you're actually moving, whether a planter row is delivering seed, and whether grain is dry enough to store. DICKEY-john, an agricultural electronics company with over 50 years in the field, builds monitors, controllers, moisture testers, and ground speed sensors around exactly those jobs. This guide covers what each tool does, how the pieces connect during planting, spraying, and harvest, and where setup and calibration most often go wrong.
What Farm Sensors and Monitors Actually Do
A farm monitor is a display and a decision aid. Sensors mounted on the machine measure something physical — shaft rotation, ground speed, bin level, moisture — and the monitor converts those signals into numbers you can read from the cab while the machine is moving.
The practical value is timing. During planting, a seed sensor tells you whether each row is actually dropping seed and whether population matches your target. During spraying, flow and speed data tell you whether application rate is holding steady. At harvest, yield and moisture data tell you whether to keep going or stop and adjust.
The chain matters more than any single device:
- Sensor — detects a physical event (seed passing a sensor, a shaft turning, ground moving under the machine).
- Controller or module — processes the signal and, in integrated systems, can act on it automatically.
- Display — shows the operator what's happening in real time.
- Record — logs the data for later review, mapping, or reporting.
If any link is miscalibrated, the whole chain reports wrong numbers, and wrong numbers lead to wrong decisions — over- or under-seeding, misapplied product, or grain stored too wet.
Ground Speed and Implement Sensors: Why Accurate Speed Matters
Ground speed is the input that most other calculations depend on. Application rate, seeding population per acre, and spray coverage are all derived from how fast the machine is traveling. A radar or wheel-based ground speed sensor feeds that number to the controller.
Why this matters in practice:
- Application rate — a sprayer controller holds a target rate by adjusting flow as speed changes. If the speed signal is wrong, the controller compensates in the wrong direction.
- Seeding rate — population per acre depends on speed and meter output. An inaccurate speed reading skews the population calculation even when the meter is working correctly.
- Section control and coverage — turning sections on and off at the right moment depends on knowing position and speed accurately.
Implement sensors extend this to the tool behind the tractor: shaft monitors confirm a planter or seeder is turning, bin and level sensors report how much product remains, and row sensors confirm individual rows are functioning. The common failure mode is a sensor that has drifted, come loose, or is reading a shaft that isn't actually turning — the monitor shows a number, but the number is wrong or stale.
Grain Moisture Testing: Harvest Timing, Drying, and Storage
A grain moisture tester answers one question with money attached: is this grain dry enough to store safely, or does it need more drying? Moisture content drives both storage risk and sale weight, so the reading needs to be trustworthy.
Where moisture testing fits into the workflow:
- Before and during harvest — checking moisture tells you whether to start combining, keep going, or wait. Harvesting too wet means higher drying costs; too dry can mean shatter loss in some crops.
- At the dryer — moisture readings guide how long grain stays in the dryer and when it's ready to move.
- Before storage — grain stored above a safe moisture level for its temperature risks spoilage. Testing before binning is the check that prevents a spoiled bin.
- At sale — moisture affects weight and grade, so knowing your number before delivery helps you anticipate how the load will be evaluated.
DICKEY-john's moisture testing line includes GAC (Grain Analysis Computer) instruments, which are used for grain moisture analysis. The key operational point is that a moisture tester is only as good as its calibration and sample handling — see the troubleshooting section below.
Entry-Level Monitors vs. Integrated Controllers
When upgrading equipment, the choice usually comes down to whether you want to watch or automate.
| Dimension | Entry-level monitor | Integrated controller |
|---|---|---|
| Primary job | Display sensor readings | Read sensors and act on them automatically |
| Operator role | Watches and adjusts manually | Sets targets; system adjusts |
| Typical use | Basic population, speed, or bin monitoring | Rate control, section control, closed-loop application |
| Setup demand | Lower — fewer parameters to configure | Higher — more calibration and configuration |
| Failure impact | Wrong reading, operator can catch it | Wrong reading can drive wrong automatic action |
The trade-off is straightforward: a monitor gives you information and leaves the decision to you; a controller takes the decision and executes it, which is faster and more consistent but less forgiving of bad calibration. If your operation is small or you're new to precision equipment, a monitor is often the sensible first step. If you're already managing variable rates across many acres, the automation a controller provides is where the value is — provided you invest the setup time.
Common Setup and Calibration Mistakes — and How to Troubleshoot
Most "the equipment is broken" problems are calibration or installation problems. The recurring ones:
- Speed calibration skipped or wrong. Ground speed sensors need to be calibrated to the actual machine. Symptom: application or population consistently off by a similar percentage. Fix: recalibrate speed against a measured distance.
- Sensor not reading the target. A seed or shaft sensor mounted too far from the moving part, or misaligned, reads zero or intermittent counts. Symptom: a row shows no population while seed is visibly dropping. Fix: check mounting distance and alignment against the sensor's spec.
- Loose or corroded connections. Vibration works connectors loose over a season. Symptom: readings that cut in and out. Fix: inspect and reseat harness connections.
- Moisture tester sample handling. Moisture readings depend on sample size, temperature, and how the sample is presented to the instrument. Symptom: readings that don't match expectations or vary between tests. Fix: follow the tester's procedure for sample size and handling, and verify calibration.
- Configuration drift after a change. Swapping a display, controller, or sensor without re-entering configuration leaves the system working from old assumptions. Symptom: everything reads plausibly but is subtly wrong. Fix: re-verify configuration after any component change.
A useful habit: when a reading looks wrong, verify the physical thing first (is the shaft turning? is seed dropping? is the sample correct?), then the sensor, then the calibration, then the configuration. That order catches most problems before you conclude the hardware has failed.
Where to Start
If you're new to on-farm electronics, start with ground speed and one thing you want to measure — population, application rate, or bin level — and get that reading accurate before adding more. If you're already running monitors, the highest-return work is usually recalibrating speed and moisture and checking sensor mounting, because those two inputs feed the most decisions. And if you're weighing an upgrade, decide first whether you want to watch the data or have the machine act on it; that answer determines whether a monitor or a controller is the right fit.