AgSense Live Chat Expands to Support Growers During Busy Season | by Trisha Nelson

LiveChat is working.

As growing season progresses into the summer, we’re already seeing a shift from sales to tech-support related chat sessions.

In April, AgSense^® was the first company in the irrigation industry to offer LiveChat for sales and technical support.

Our LiveChat feature, now available on AgSense.net, WagNet.net and even Facebook has already received a lot of positive feedback and helped us tackle these support requests in a much more direct way.

Perhaps the most significant progress over these past weeks has been the ability to provide the LiveChat service to the growing AgSense international client base. 

As we expand our international network, we anticipate leveraging LiveChat exponentially to accommodate sales and technical support like we do here in the States. Just this week we were answering sales and support chats in Germany, Argentina and Turkey.

A ticketing system has also been introduced to AgSense.net and the AgSense Facebook page, allowing grower-customers to leave a ticket after-hours if the Chat Team is unavailable.

In addition to chatting with various members of the sales and support team, customers are still able to reach the offices by calling 605-253-8350 or reach out via the contact form on the website.

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Trisha Nelson Inside Sales Manager Trisha Nelson has been with AgSense for three years. Her primary roles are to coordinate order processing and facilitate interoffice and client communications. She also assists in technical support during the growing season. Trisha likes Starburst-favored jelly beans, riding motorcycles with her fiancé, and whenever she needs a good cry she watches her favorite movie, Steel Magnolias.

Five Years Equals a Lifetime in Remote Farm Management | by Steve Sveum

Recently, we at AgSense^® were very excited to release our Field Commander^® Ultimate remote precision irrigation package. The package combines various AgSense technologies into one kit that allows for total control and monitoring of an entire irrigation system from the Web or a smartphone.

Learn more about Field Commander Ultimate

This is our latest (and certainly not our last) in a series of new product introductions. As I approach my five year anniversary with AgSense, it is interesting for me to reflect on how far our technology, both hardware and software, has come during that time. Five years represents about 10 percent of my lifetime (give or take), but several generations in the life of our remote irrigation technology and software.

In 2010, we had just started selling our Field Commander product for pivot monitor and control. That replaced our Pivot Point product, which simply monitored and allowed for remote stop of a pivot, similar to what our Field Commander Lite does today. Field Commander added single end gun, remote speed programming and remote start capabilities for most pivots and panels. It now includes two end guns or pump control, wire theft monitoring, and the ability to read and report precipitation.

Also since 2010, we expanded our hardware and software capabilities to include SDI (drip irrigation), soil moisture monitoring, the Precision Link digital interface into the T-L Precision Point III Panel, and a whole host of weather and agronomic condition sensors, putting all that critical data and control literally at growers’ fingertips via our smartphone apps and Web interface.

Speaking of the WagNet^® app, it was released in 2013. It has been wildly popular, and our statistics show that today 70 percent of the commands sent to and through AgSense devices are sent from growers’ smartphones or tablets.

We are proud to be one of the pioneers in remote precision irrigation programming and control. WagNet software is compatible with several major suppliers of irrigation prescription and scheduling software, allowing for very quick and easy uploading of prescriptions into pivots. Again, most of this capability has been developed since 2010 and is available for any electric pivot, regardless of brand, age or panel type.

As the technology has grown and evolved, so has the business itself. Our biggest month of shipping in 2015 will be represent more units than we shipped all year my first year. My office near Minneapolis was the first AgSense location outside of the home office in South Dakota. We now have four remote offices around the country (Minnesota, Kentucky, Nebraska and Idaho) where our regional managers work from.

Our international business has also grown significantly, thanks in large part to our OEM agreements with pivot manufacturers such as Valley, which purchased part of AgSense in 2014. We currently have active devices in more than 20 countries around the world.

The way things are going, it looks like the next five years may be even more exciting than the last! Stay tuned and THANK YOU to all the growers, dealers and industry partners that have helped us get here! Many of you have been with us since nearly the beginning.

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Steve Sveum Vice President – Sales and Marketing AgSense, LLC Steve has been involved in agriculture most of his life. He was raised near Omaha in eastern Nebraska, and spent most of his summers working for farmers in that area, as well as in northeast South Dakota near his family’s homestead farm. Steve developed a passion for agriculture during those years and went on to receive an agricultural business degree from South Dakota State University. His 25-year career in the ag industry has been spent in leadership roles, primarily in the application and precision ag segments. Steve particularly enjoys projects developing new businesses and markets. He now makes his home in Centerville, Minn., with his wife and two children.

Visiting the Home Base of AgSense | by Rob Smith

Recently, I made a trip to the home base of AgSense^® in Huron, S.D. I have to admit that in early January there are a lot of places I’d rather visit than South Dakota. That being said, I was greeted by a warm welcome from the friendly folks at AgSense. 

A lot of innovative ideas and products come from small towns. Valley_® Irrigation and AgSense both have this in common. When you come from this type of environment, everyone in the company has to wear multiple hats. 

It’s great to see a company working as a team. Everyone at AgSense is cross trained and can do anything from answering the phone to helping on the assembly line. Don’t be surprised when Terry (the president of AgSense) answers the phone and helps a farmer with a technical question.

This type of hands-on approach allows AgSense to provide immediate, focused customer service. Not only does this benefit the customer, but the feedback from the customer can be applied to product improvement, fostering innovation and development. I’ve heard from many farmers how friendly and helpful the people at AgSense are when responding to phone calls and questions. 

It may sound cliché, but there really is a family atmosphere at AgSense. You can tell its people care about each other and the business on a very personal level. We, here at Valley, are very glad to have them on our team.

(Note: Valmont_® Industries, the parent company of Valley Irrigation, recently acquired a majority interest in South Dakota-based AgSense. Read more here.)

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Rob Smith Product Application Manager Rob Smith works with remote control and monitoring technology products including AgSense®, TrackerSP and BaseStation3™.  Rob lives in Fremont, Neb., where he and his wife do their best to keep up with their two boys’ sports activities, mainly hockey.

Why the ‘Three Legged Stool’ of Precision Ag Irrigation Matters | by AgSense

Having Precision Ag hardware or software isn't enough. Maybe this sounds weird coming from a company [AgSense] that sells hardware and software but trust us, you're going to want to read this.

Ever since Precision Ag was introduced into the irrigation segment of crop production, the advent of variable rate irrigation prescriptions, remote sensor monitoring and remote control of the irrigation equipment has led to an arms race among growers and companies to produce and implement the highest end programs to impact yield efficiency.

But none of it matters if there isn't a clear system to leverage the data you're collecting to make an impact on yield efficiency.


Think of Precision Irrigation as a 'three legged stool'

Precision Ag happens when hardware, software and agronomy work together. Done correctly, this should seamlessly provide the highest payback and trouble-free experience for the grower customer.

To achieve this harmony, there should be at least three people or groups of people involved in the Precision Irrigation process.

1. Growers
2. Agronomists
3. Hardware Supplier (example: local AgSense [or Valley] dealer)

If any single one of these groups are not collaborating properly, the whole program could fall apart.

Often times there are individuals that locally supply and support one "leg" of the stool but not the others. For growers, the challenge is knowing "who do I call about what?"

Each leg of the stool should understand the role the other two play

There needs to be strong personal relationships and lines of communication between each leg. For example, the agronomist maybe isn’t an expert on telemetry but understands what the equipment does, how it should work and who to call if it's not working.

Growers see the highest impact when they're committed to maintaining the process of keeping all relevant parties in communication with one another at the appropriate times.

Growers aren't alone in having to maintain this process, here are also some things that AgSense is doing to help solidify this ‘three legged stool.'
1. Online Resources - We've invested in making support material available to growers, agronomists, dealers and suppliers. You'll find many of them in our support section.
2. Boots on the ground - We currently have four locations from which to serve our customer base at a local level.
3.  Joint grower meetings - We regularly attend and host joint grower meetings where each leg of the stool is available to present information and answer questions. Along with that, we also conduct local dealer and grower training sessions, often done jointly.
4. Trade Shows - We're attending national and local trade shows and events in order to give customers an opportunity to speak to our staff and each other directly.
5. We're a call away - Our support center is available to growers and industry partners. You always talk to a real person who lives and breathes precision agriculture. Our number is 605-352-8350. 

How to strengthen your Precision Ag Process if you're a grower

1. Put your agronomist and hardware dealer on speed dial.
2. Make sure your agronomist and hardware dealer have each other's contact information.
3. Inform your agronomist of your goals for precision agriculture irrigation. 

These three simple steps will help get the conversation started or make it more efficient.

Do a good job of tapping the knowledge of the parties involved in maintaining Precision Ag on your operation and you'll reap the benefits.  

Reprinted with permission from the AgSense website.