Since returning from Tulare, Calif., home to the world's largest annual agricultural expo, I've reflected on how much has changed since I first attended the annual event three years ago.

About the event: The World Ag Expo happens the second week of February and includes more than 1,600 exhibitors and an estimated 100,000 attendees.

For those seeking money- and energy-saving technology, there's everything from tractors to crop management solutions. Just about any agriculture-related product or technology can be found there.

But back in 2007, only one out of 1,200 exhibitors were using Trimble handheld computers as part of their Ag solution. A year later, that number increased to six. This year, nearly a dozen exhibitors featured Trimble rugged handhelds.

Before Trimble handhelds, those same exhibitors were using consumer-grade handhelds thinking price what was important to their customer. Once they started to offer their customers an option they discovered their customers wanted power over price. Customers told them loud and clear that they wanted a truly rugged handheld computer that allowed them to focus at the work at hand.

Thistells me a couple things. One, that people are quickly learning that rugged handhelds, such as Nomad and Yuma, are the perfect tool in environments that are dirty, dusty, muddy, windy and wet. And two, because of their power, speed and ability to handle extreme conditions, developers are eager to create high-tech solutions for farmers.

When oxen and horses were used for power and seeds were sewn by hand, farmers hand-wrote farm logs or simply kept the information upstairs, in their head.

Amazingly, this 18th Century form of data gathering hasn't change much over the years. Even today, many farmers still carry a little red notebook in their shirt pockets.

More and more, however, we're beginning to see farmers, especially those who are the first adopters of new technology, interested in easier, more efficient ways to manage their farm, dairy, or ranch.

Using Trimble rugged handheld computers and an array of industry and job-specific solutions, farmers can stand in the middle of their field, dairy or cattle ranch and record soil observations, planting information, take inventory, manage a herd and much, much more.

The U.N. estimates that the world's population will increase by 2.6 billion over the next 40 years. That's a lot of people to feed. And farmers can't do it without high-tech tools and solutions. It is one of the many reasons why I was excited to see so many new Trimble partners at this year's expo.

They included:

• Trimble Agriculture
• Agcode Inc.
• Agriculture Data Systems
• DHI-Provo
• TapLogic
• Fort Supply Technologies
• I.D.ology
• Valley Ag Software
• Advanced Dairy Technology
• HTS Precision Ag Solutions
• Precision Plant Systems

As I watched the busloads of Future Farmers of America pour into the expo to learn about the high-tech options they'll soon be using, I knew it wouldn't be long before rugged handhelds followed in the footsteps of all those little red notebooks.