GPS is a very important tool in designing and maintaining corn mazes. Farm Works has been providing GPS products to the ag industry for over 15 years. With a client base of over 30,000 farmers, we understand how valuable GPS can be and how it can be used to better utilize your time. Below are a few of our users who are finding success using this technology on their farm.  This is what they had to say...

Leaders Family Farm

Leaders Family Farms of Napoleon, Ohio created Ohio’s first corn maze in 1997 and their agritainment business has grown considerably since. Once farming over 1500 acres of farmland, Evie Leaders said the family cut back on regular farming to devote more time effort, and money to agricultural recreation. Their operation has grown from the single maze to an autumn tourist attraction employing 100 seasonal employees. The family’s primary agritainment enterprise, and one of their major farm enterprises, is ScreamAcres. Brad Leaders oversees ScreamAcres, a haunted cornfield complete with false building fronts, props, lighting and sound effects, and his efforts have resulted in an entertainment source with two to three hour waiting times, as well as an excellent revenue source.

“Unlike the maze, guests will return to ScreamAcres more than once during the season making it a profitable venture,” Brad Leaders explained. Work has already started on this season’s maze and ScreamAcres layout. “This is not a sideline business, but a full-time job,” Brad Leaders noted.

Only after several months of the designs being sent back and forth between the family and a graphics design company are the files ready for importing into Site Mate. “Once in Site Mate cutting the maze is a breeze,” said Leaders. Evie Leaders, who is responsible for employee scheduling, advertising and securing sponsorships from community businesses and major companies, said the increased tourism has been of benefit to their community. Napoleon,

Ohio is a rural community of only 8,000, but as Evie Leaders explains, “There is money to be made in a rural area, however, a commitment of time and money is required.” In addition to the mazes and ScreamAcres, Leaders Family Farms offers Little Farmers Barnyard for children complete with a corn box, mini straw jump and inflatables. Children may also enjoy a cow train, straw tunnels and slides. At the Coop Shoot , guests shoot eggs from air cannons and win prizes for hitting a target. Plus there is a U-Pick pumpkin patch, food and drink concessions, and souvenirs. This year many new mini mazes and challenges are planned. On their website, which is maintained by Kristi Leaders, are photographs and information about the farm’s recreational and entertainment activities.

“There is something for everyone and people have thanked us for providing a clean, fun source of recreation, entertainment, and education that is appealing to all ages,” remarked Evie Leaders. When asked about advice for farmers interested in agricultural recreation, Evie Leaders said that in addition to the commitment of money and time, “Location is everything,” and urges anyone considering this type of venture to research whether similar operations already exist in the area. She explained this is especially true with mazes since visitors will generally visit only one maze a year.

Evie Leaders
Napoleon, Ohio

Thistleberry Farms

“We created our first corn maze in 2005. Covering about 6 acres, it was a very simple design consisting of straight lines and ninety degree turns.  We had to count the rows to determine where each turn would be.  It was laborious and very time consuming.

In 2006, we realized the need to invest in some equipment to make things easier and improve the look of the corn maze.  We were very pleased to discover Farm Works Software.  They had a complete package available of hardware and software that would do everything we needed.  Suddenly, if we could draw it, we could make it into a corn maze.  Circles, curves, pictures, words – anything we could imagine we could do.

Since we are in complete control of the entire process, we are able to be more creative with how we use the technology.  We currently put in three different corn mazes of various sizes covering a total of 16 acres. This year we are going to experiment with creating custom waypoint files for customers who want to bring their own GPS to the maze.”

Dave Frushour
South Bend, IN

Westview Orchards

"The simplicity of the software program made it a breeze to cut the maze. Once you GPS map the field boundary, use the desktop software to design the maze. If you can dream it, you can cut it. We scheduled a “fly over” of the finished corn maze, and it turned out absolutely awesome. It was a tough year with little rain; however, it still looked wonderful and the maze was a hit. We are excited about the corn maze this year and plan on using Farm Works Software to create the maze again. I am serious when I say, “You will spend a little time with the handheld in the field, a little time on your computer and then you will be cutting your own maze.” You will be able to say the same thing, “That was easy why didn’t I do this before?” An important aspect of the software that we enjoy is the management side to the operation. We have begun using other parts of the software for our animals, equipment, and chemical usage. We really like the fact that we can consolidate a lot of records into one program. Just like any new system we continue to learn and grow with the system on a daily basis.

Thank you for the great system and keep up the good work."

David Staley
Washington, MI

Talladay Farms

"The maze project was quite simple actually. I hand-drew a design and scanned that into Photoshop then squared everything up as well as marked the lines with the line tool. The Farm Works office software would have worked just as well, only I did not have that on my laptop at the time. I then used my Ipaq and attached a GPS receiver to walk the boundary of the field where my maze was going to be cut out of. After I had the boundary, I just used the "3-point system" to geo-reference the image. I did the geo-referencing in the Farm Works calibration program. I sent the image back to my Ipaq as a jpeg for my background in Farm Works Mobile.

I opened a new path log file and from then on, I just kept my GPS positioning cursor on my lines, which were my paths, and the path log file would color in where I had been so I knew where I had already cut. I just used a 60" zero turn mower, my Ipaq and GPS receiver. It was tricky at first trying to keep the cursor on the lines, as you can see by some of the mistakes in the aerial photo, but since then the corn has grown back in and I was able to "repair" my mistakes. 

The calibration and mobile software were very simple to use and were a perfect fit for this type of project. Next year will be even easier because I've got a better handle on the whole process now. Thanks for all the help! Farm Works is a great company and I really appreciate all of the support from you."

Matt Talladay
Milan, MI