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Are you planning a corn maze in 2016? Farm Works offers the perfect combination of software and mobile solutions to create your own maze. This solution can handle anything from simple designs to more elaborate mazes that people will be talking about for years.
Where do you start? Utilize the Farm Works™ Maze Kit by taking your design (such as an image from a maze designer) and easily geo-reference it using simple mapping tools on your desktop computer. Next, take your image to the field on a mobile computer and start cutting the design using GPS. Farm Works offers a variety of mobile computers that provide different levels of GPS accuracy. The Trimble® Juno® T41 "G" series handheld is a high performance integrated GPS solution that offers repeatable 1-2 meter accuracy in the palm of your hand - a perfect partner for cutting corn mazes.
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| About Farm Works Farm Works software is the world leader of farm management and maze design software. The corn maze kit includes valuable software and hardware that can be used for other farm purposes. Among the uses are field record-keeping, farm mapping (including yield, soil test, soil type, and other maps), field boundary mapping, soil sampling, and scouting. Additional software can be purchased from Farm Works to add accounting, herd management, variable rate application, and water management. |
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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
“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 Farm Works Mobile. “Once in Mobile 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
“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 USA
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, Indiana USA
Devine's Corn Maze & Pumpkin Patch
"The customer service is fantastic and provided helpful instructions on how to utilize the solution for my maze design. The first step was to map the maze boundary with the Farm Works™ Mobile software which was installed on my Trimble® GeoXT™ rugged handheld computer. I decided this one because of the built-in high accuracy GPS which is perfect for cutting corn mazes. Then I used the calibration program by using 3 points within the boundary to be calibrated to my maze design. Once I had the image calibrated, I transferred the image to the handheld computer as a background layer/map which allowed me to use my zero-turn mower to cut the corn. Our maze covers about 10 acres and it took around 10 hours to cut the entire maze.
All of my research kept coming back to the Farm Works software for corn maze cuttings. After studying the different options, I made my decision to purchase Farm Works at a local farm show in Louisville, Kentucky. It has worked great and looking forward to the next cutting."
Jason and Christie Devine Harrodsburg, Kentucky USA
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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.
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. 
