4th Annual Midwest Mechanical Weed Control Field Day – Episode 1: Drone Wars

Friday, Sept. 11 | 12:30 – 1:10 p.m.

4th Annual Midwest Mechanical Weed Control Field Day in partnership with The Land Connection

Episode 1: Drone Wars – “An Exploration of Camera-Guided Cultivation in Row Crops”

The Midwest Mechanical Weed Control Field Day is the nation’s largest event devoted to weeding tools. This year, due to COVID-19, the field day will be held online. In this three-part series, MMWC field day organizer Sam Hitchcock Tilton and farmer-friend Peter Seeley will host a series of virtual mechanical weed control field days. Join the pair to see and discuss new and old weed control equipment, including set-up and use in both row crops and vegetables.

Hosts: Jared Oomen & Sam Hitchcock Tilton

The Presenters:

Sam Hitchcock Tilton is a horticulture instructor at Lakeshore Technical College near Sheboygan, Wisconsin. He has a background in vegetable farming and a master’s degree from Michigan State University with a focus on precision weeding tools. Sam has designed weeding machines for KULT-Kress and visited farms throughout Europe and the U.S., and he organizes the Midwest Mechanical Weed Control Field Day.

Jared Oomen grew up on the family farm in Hart, Michigan. He farms conventional and organic crops with his father, uncle, brother and cousins. They grow 3,000 acres of conventional asparagus, carrots, squash and green beans mostly for processing. On their 500 acres of organic land (and more in transition), they grow primarily green beans, carrots, parsnips and squash.

Topics:

Setting up a camera-guided cultivator with finger weeders in corn and beans
Field conditions that need to be entered into the computer for a camera-guided cultivator
Calibrating tools for field conditions and run in crops
Conventional front-mount cultivation

Tools and Tractors: