This Arkansas farmer runs a 20,000 acre operation with a focus on the future

Travis Senter Jr. has been “farming on the carpet” since he was 3 years old. Now at 44, he’s farming on the cutting edge.

“I’ve always done this,” says Senter.

“I’ve always been involved, and I grew up right there, around every piece of equipment, it’s all I’ll ever know.”

Senter is a third-generation farmer in northeast Arkansas managing about 20,000 acres of cotton, rice, soybeans, and corn. He works closely with his 64-year-old father, Travis Senter Sr., who hasn’t quite given up work on the farm. Multiple generations working together is a family tradition.

“My grandfather passed away three years ago — he never officially retired,” says Senter. “We were doing the obituary and they were saying, ‘Well we need to put in that he’s a retired farmer.’ And I sit there, and I say, ‘He never retired because he was out every day.’”

The Senter family works across a 40-mile spread of land. While this has grown over time, Senter says a lot of their land is the same ground his grandfather worked on, now rented from family members of the same landlords his grandfather grew up with.

One of the biggest challenges in managing a large farm is labor, and much like the Senter family, some of their laborers run generations deep.

“I don’t think any farmer’s going to say they have an abundance of labor,” says Senter. “We have an extremely good crew. We’ve got some laborers working with us whose fathers were working for my father, and their grandfather worked for my grandfather.”

Future-Focused With Technology

Senter is a self-described “tech guy.” He builds all his own computers and manages networking for the farm’s internet connection, long-range wireless, and security cameras. He’s been quick to adopt new technologies as they’ve arrived.

His father is a little more old-school, but he also appreciates the benefits of new technology.

“[My father] loves everything we do, and is excited when I’m excited, because he knows it’s going to make me do better with what we have,” says Senter. “When I first showed him what we can do with auto steer and data collection, he’s like, ‘OK, we need more.’ And then I ask, ‘Why are we just putting it on two or three? Let’s just put it on everything.’”

Senter has been with John Deere’s programs for a long time, starting data collection with John Deere’s Apex software then migrating to Operations Center many years ago, and he has data in the cloud dating to 2011. He’s been striving to stay on the cutting edge of the agriculture industry’s recent ventures into autonomy and artificial intelligence.

Recently, he’s been part of John Deere’s autonomous focus group, and has tested some of the technology on his farm. Despite initial pessimism due to the layout of his farm fields, Senter says the technology blew him away — performing much better than expected.

He says it may not completely solve labor shortages, however. With autonomy, Senter says farmers aren’t going to reduce labor, instead it’s going to change how laborers work, shifting from regular fieldwork to a focus on machine maintenance.

“With autonomy, you’re not going to solve all the labor problems,” says Senter.

“There’s one thing that I always stress: Along with some of our challenges we deal with, every single day is a new adventure. With autonomy, you’re going to have breakdowns, you’re going to have problems — it’s not going to be perfect,” he adds.

Many companies are turning to different subscription models for autonomous and artificial intelligence-based technologies. Senter says he’s familiar with subscription models such as Microsoft Office 365 and Adobe Creative Cloud, which he had some apprehension about. Now he says he appreciates the subscription because it’s always on the cutting edge and he doesn’t have to worry about it.

“As long as you’re making sure that you get the right, and cutting-edge, technology, we don’t mind paying a subscription for it,” says Senter. “I know there are a lot of farmers against it because they’re going to feel like they don’t own it. But if you can make sure you have everything right on the edge, working to give you a return on investment, then there’s no reason not to do it.”

Sustainable Practices

Technological advancement is inherently tied to sustainability practices, according to Senter.

He says his idea of sustainability is the ability to have resources available when you need them, to improve yourself, and to be able to produce another crop next year. This means anything working to improve for the next year, which could be as simple as installing a drainage tile that will last 100 years instead of rotting away in a few years.

“In my entire life, my father’s entire life, his father’s entire life, we’ve always tried to be sustainable, and it’s just been a buzzword lately because somebody can market it better than we can,” says Senter.

“Farmers are the most sustainable people we know. I want to make sure we continue to have the resources we have, and not do anything to harm us or the environment,” he says.

The Senter farms recently purchased a John Deere See & Spray precision sprayer to help reduce waste. They’ve worked to improve irrigation and drainage using advanced land grading equipment and technology. They also use pump automation to remotely control irrigation wells.

In addition, Senter has installed more than 120 CropX soil moisture sensors to reduce wasting water during irrigation.

He was pessimistic about the sensors at first, but after seeing the results, he and his son, Trace Senter, installed one in nearly every field.

“For anybody that has asked me about moisture sensors, I’m all in,” says Senter. “If you don’t have one, get one, and if you can get one, get two, get as many as you can.”

Reaping the Rewards of Technology

Travis Senter Jr.'s most memorable growing season was in 2016, when he started focusing on installing soil moisture sensors, center pivot irrigation tracking, and pump automation.  

The previous year, he had laid the foundation for implementing these items, and when 2016 hit with dry weather in his area, irrigation was a top priority that summer. 

“Without those tools in place, I don’t think I would have succeeded the way that I did,” says Senter. “That particular summer I dealt with a lot of adversity, and getting through those situations increased my confidence substantially.”

As a third-generation farmer who is preparing his son to be the fourth, Senter encourages other farmers to take bold strides like he did.

“I would challenge the next generation of farmers to think outside the box, and never be afraid to try new ideas,” says Senter. “Those crazy ideas sometimes become common practice.”