• May 21, 2001: Pocket HERB Puts Weed Control in the Palm of Your Hand



• April 9, 2001: Herbicide Software Developed at NC State Assists Growers in Making Weed Control Decisions

Pocket HERB Puts Weed Control in the Palm of Your Hand

For immediate release: May 21, 2001

Weed control is a big issue for agricultural consultants, herbicide applicators, extension agents, and growers. Quickly determining the best herbicide for a particular crop results in healthier crops while saving time and money.

Pocket HERB™, one member of the HADSS™ family of herbicide decision aids, is software that runs on PocketPC devices and helps determine the best herbicide for various crops. This analysis is based on entering information such as the type of crop, soil moisture, and average weed density while standing in the field. In a matter of moments, the Pocket HERB™ software generates suggestions for the best possible herbicide to apply to the crop. There is no need to leave the field to process data and wait for the results.

”As more people involved with agriculture move to using handheld computers such as the PocketPC for tracking and recording data, software such as Pocket HERB™ will be invaluable, giving the user the functionality of a desktop program without having to carry a laptop to the field,” says David Krueger, President of AgRenaissance Software. “With no internal moving parts, such as a hard drive, the PocketPC is less likely to be damaged in an agricultural environment.” All that and it's small enough to fit in your pocket.

Pocket HERB™ takes a lot of the uncertainty out of weed management by providing an economic analysis as well as assistance in controlling weed species that may be unfamiliar to the grower. With small profit margins on most crops, this is a very important decision for many growers.

Developed, owned and maintained by North Carolina State University, with databases customized by Mississippi State University and several other universities, the HADSS™ family of decision aids is distributed exclusively by AgRenaissance Software. Pocket HERB™ is available for $95.

To learn more about Pocket HERB™, go to www.hadss.com or call toll-free 877.518.8030.

AgRenaissance Software LLC is a privately held company founded in 2000 to provide software solutions to the agricultural community. Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, additional information can be obtained at www.AgRenaissance.com; Phone 877.518.8030; Fax 919.518.2166.

Legal Notice: HADSS and Pocket HERB are trademarks of North Carolina State University.

Herbicide Software Developed at NC State Assists Growers in Making Weed Control Decisions

For immediate release: April 9, 2001

AgRenaissance Software, an innovative agricultural software company, today announced the availability of the latest version of HADSS™, a unique software product that provides users with a tool for making herbicide decisions. Targeted toward growers, consultants, and pesticide applicators, HADSS™ assists users in making economically sound weed control decisions in corn, soybean, peanut, and cotton crops.

Developed, owned and maintained by North Carolina State University in conjunction with several other universities, the HADSS™ software is distributed exclusively by AgRenaissance Software. There are three versions of HADSS™: HADSS™ 2001, a desktop PC version; Pocket HERB™, a handheld version; and WebHADSS™, a free ‘try before you buy’ version that runs interactively over the Web.

Users of the HADSS™ system simply enter basic information such as the type of crop, field size, soil pH, and average weed density, and a list of possible herbicide treatments is automatically generated, ranked by economic return. Results are based on data from university trials and weed scientists from universities across the southeast and are updated every year. The current version of HADSS™ contains efficacy values for nearly 400 postemergence herbicide treatments against 87 weed species in four crops.

"HADSS™ allows growers to examine various treatment options in terms of economics, as well as in terms of maximum efficacy,” said Dr. Andy Bennett, weed scientist at North Carolina State University. “Without the use of a decision aid such as HADSS™, it can be extremely difficult to determine if a weed population is high enough to require treatment, and even more difficult to determine the economic benefit of any given treatment."

HADSS™ allows growers to determine the most effective herbicides to control a given weed or group of weeds. This can be difficult to determine without the aid of software such as HADSS™. Although no decision aid can provide the final answer, HADSS™ allows users to evaluate the efficacy and economics of a wide range of possible herbicide options, which can be very beneficial to the decision making process.

In 1985, researchers at NC State developed HADSS™ (known as HERB at that time) to assist in the determination of an economic treatment threshold, according to Dr. Gail Wilkerson of NC State. “Since most fields are infested with several types of weeds, and herbicides differ in cost and efficacy, determining whether a field is above an economic treatment threshold is not easy. We thought that a computer program could perform all the calculations and help growers to decide upon the appropriate course of action for each individual field.”

“We’re very excited about this revolutionary application and how it will help growers here in the Southeast and across the country,” said AgRenaissance Software president David Krueger.

To learn more about HADSS™, or to run the free Web version of the software, go to www.hadss.com or call toll-free 877.518.8030.

AgRenaissance Software LLC is a privately held company founded in 2000 to provide software solutions to the agricultural community. Based out of Raleigh, North Carolina, additional information can be obtained at www.AgRenaissance.com; Phone 877.518.8030; Fax 919.518.2166.

Legal Notice: HADSS, WebHADSS, and Pocket HERB are trademarks of North Carolina State University.