Customer Spotlight – Matt Hughes
June 14, 2012
Matt Hughes, his wife, Connie and their two children, Thad and Marissa, raise soybeans and corn in SW McLean County near Shirley, IL.
While Matt grew up on a small farm near Litchfield, IL, he and Connie are now the sole owners of Connie’s family farm. Their operation has been 100% no-till since 1983, and they’ve been early adopters of most precision farming technologies – one of which is RTK.
“We started with a Beeline Arrow autosteer system 10 years ago,” said Hughes. “This was a High Precision (HP) system that used OmniStar Satellite correction. It was an affordable and accurate enough product for us at the time compared to the RTK systems that required costly and cumbersome base stations. We are only spread over about 20 miles, but we do go farther than a single base station could ever support. Even though our Arrow system was getting slower and outdated, we had been reluctant to go to RTK until we found out about the MyWay RTK option.”
After nearly 10 years of using a system that used OmniStar Satellite correction, Hughes decided to switch to MyWay RTK after a recommendation from his dealer. Since switching to MyWay RTK, Hughes has been very impressed with the system and its dependability.
“As far as the MyWay RTK correction itself, I am very impressed with both the speed and dependability of the signal,” said Hughes. “It could take up to 45 minutes to reach full accuracy under my old system and any hick-up or obstruction could start that process all over again. I could never get close to trees with my old system, but this year I have run next to trees with much success and even when I do lose the signal, like going under a tree, the signal comes back in less than a minute.”
The transition between providers has been simple for Hughes, and he’s received great support from both his MyWay RTK dealer and AgLeader, who he says understand the MyWay RTK system very well.
“I have been very impressed with the system,” said Hughes. “We get full accuracy in a matter of minutes now and the precision has been perfect. It has been reliable even in areas that I normally have bad cellular service.”
