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Company’s computers are top-of-the-line in GPS technology The business operations of Topcon Precision Agriculture are tucked away in a small building in an industrial/commercial park south of Sioux Falls, distinguished by a window sign.
 Dan Iseminger of Topcon Precision Agriculture, demonstrates one of the company's GPS models. (Inertia/for the SFBJ)
“Raven (Industries) is kind of the Goliath in our business,” said Dan Iseminger, business development manager for Topcon Precision, which is a division of Topcon Positioning Systems Inc. “We’re the David.”
Until September 2006, the company doing business inside this building was KEE Technologies USA Inc., an Australia-based firm with more than 25 years of experience in agricultural electronics and applications. This was KEE’s North American headquarters until Topcon Positioning bought the company.
Headquartered in Livermore, Calif., Topcon is a developer and manufacturer of positioning equipment in construction. Its products are used worldwide in precision land-leveling, mapping, data acquisition and management, machine control and water-use management.
The company moved into the construction market 12 years ago and has increased its share of that market from 1 percent nationally to 42 percent globally.
The acquisition of KEE allows Topcon to expand into the agriculture market. Iseminger, who worked with KEE before the acquisition, said that market is vast and mostly untapped.
“Only 10 to 20 percent of American farmers are using a GPS system, so that shows the potential,” Iseminger said. “We’re really at the tip of the iceberg.”
Topcon’s major system is the X20, a handcrafted control console that’s manufactured in Australia and retails for $5,665.
Iseminger said Topcon also manufactures the only GPS systems that can tap into as many as 72 satellites to steer a piece of farm equipment within 2 centimeters of a line.
“That will really increase your accuracy,” he said.
The X20 will steer equipment over straight, circular or contour patterns. Features include visual and automatic steering, mapping, automatic boom leveling, and variable rate controls for spraying, planting and spreading.
It even has an end-of-row warning for any farmer prone to falling asleep.
Iseminger said the advanced GPS systems are capable of operating unmanned farm equipment remotely from an office. However, for safety reasons, the United States and Canada have laws that stipulate someone must be in the cab at all times.
The X20 system has a 1-gigahertz processor and a 2-gigabyte hard drive, runs Windows XP Professional and has a touch-screen display.
“You can take it in your house and use it as your home computer,” Iseminger said. “You can run any Windows program you want. You can hook a printer, mouse or camera to it.”
Development of a GPS system for agricultural uses had to meet certain criteria. Because tractor and combine cabs already resemble lunar capsules from all the clutter, the console has to be small, Iseminger said.
And because of harsh operating environments and machinery vibration, it is beneficial not to have any moving parts, such as a spinning hard drive or a fan. The X20 has a solid-state design.
Iseminger said a GPS system can save seed, fertilizer and herbicide by eliminating overseeding and overspraying.
Dakota Lakes Research Farm near Pierre began using crude GPS systems in the early 1990s. Manager Dwayne Beck said technological advancements have increased benefits to farmers and have the potential to do much more.
For example, Topcon’s system can automatically control sections of a sprayer boom. That’s a benefit to a farmer who uses a 90-foot boom to apply herbicides in a field that has waterways. It’s a big challenge to avoid spraying waterways and not double-spray other areas of the field.
“This keeps you from doing that,” Beck said. “It automatically shuts sections off.”
Beck said his dad used to harvest corn by hand and didn’t need GPS. His yield monitor was in his head.
In today’s world, farmers with big planters and 12-row-head combines need sophisticated equipment to track yields, grain moisture and variances in parts of a field.
Sprayer Specialities of Des Moines is one of seven Midwestern dealers that sell Topcon equipment.
Owner Scott Killian said he sells a variety of GPS systems and most buyers are farmers and custom applicators.
“In terms of farmers, anyone around here who has 1,000 acres or better has a GPS system,” Killian said.
He said the X20 is a Cadillac model, both in terms of price and capabilities.
“It’s really high-featured,” he said. “It can run anything.”
For those looking for a less-expensive model with fewer capabilities, Topcon is introducing its PCS-100, at a retail price of $1,995.
THE TOPCON FILE
Company: Topcon Positioning Systems Inc.
Headquarters: Livermore, Calif. It’s a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Topcon Corp.
Local site: Regional sales and service center at 27071 Mueller Place, No. 3, rural Sioux Falls
Employees: 780 nationally, three at the regional center
Interesting facts:
• Ray O’Connor, the chief executive officer, hired a number of Russians with doctorates who worked on that nation’s space shuttle program to head up Topcon’s research and development office in Moscow.
• The United States, Russia and the European Union each are allowed to place 24 satellites in orbit. The U.S. Wide Area Augmentation System has 24 in operation, and Russia’s Glonass has 17 with plans for seven more. Europe’s Galileo program is just getting started.
• KEE Technologies, which was purchased by Topcon in 2006, was founded by Kim Eldredge, who more than 20 years ago invented the first ultrasonic depth control system. That system uses an ultrasonic sensor to bounce a signal off the ground to adjust the depth or height of farm equipment.
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