data Archives - The Global Ag Tech Alliance

New precision technologies, techniques, and tools are shifting farmers’ agronomic expectations from year-over-year improvement toward an in-season, just-in-time approach.

By Karli Petrovic

For the majority of the agriculture industry’s storied history, farmers have focused on slow, methodical adjustments that improve marketable yield from one season to the next. This approach is rapidly becoming obsolete. With the adoption of sensors, weather stations, satellite imagery, drones, and other precision tools, today’s producers expect to be able to make decisive improvements in real time.

Erich Eller, a long-time industry veteran and the owner of independent crop consulting business ForeFront Ag Solutions, has experienced the shift to a just-in-time agronomic approach firsthand. It’s his job to help customers use the latest technologies to improve production and the bottom line.

“I started working in ag retail when ‘precision ag’ was just called ‘GPS,’” Eller says. “Nobody knew what it was back then. Now, there are multiple platforms that we can use to move data through cell signals and pretty much have instant information.”

The Transition to In-Season Gratification

A lot of what ForeFront Ag focuses on is making fertility recommendations based on what Eller calls “soil personalities.” The process begins with mapping the topography of the customer’s field and layering it with yield data to create production zones. The company then takes soil samples from the production zones and using nitrogen models, sets goals for different areas. Ultimately, everything from scouting to weather monitoring comes back to maximizing a production zone’s potential.

“We started calling them soil personalities because if you’ve ever taken a Myers-Briggs test, you know that everybody’s personality comes out just a little bit different,” Eller says. “Well, it’s the same with soil. We’re basically finding the strengths and the weaknesses of the soil, and figuring out how to manage the weaknesses while pushing the strengths.”

ForeFront Ag has been doing this work for the past seven years, but things are certainly moving a little faster than they used to. The company uses soil moisture probes, a network of weather stations, and smart insect traps to foster a just-in-time approach. These tools empower faster, more precise decisions because these days, no one has the patience for year-over-year improvements. Times have changed.

“Growing up, my generation would sit down with a big atlas book and plan out a road trip,” Eller says. “Now, you just say, ‘hey Siri, how do I get there?’ It’s that whole thing of instant gratification, and I think that’s moved into the agricultural space, too. We all want that instant gratification, and by doing some in-season management, we can save money, improve our ROI, and use things like satellite imagery to pull together the essential information that will give us that real-time gratification.”

In the fall, for example, Eller can access nearly instantaneous information from the combine as it’s being used. The information comes directly to his laptop, enabling him to start prescribing fertility recommendations right away. He can accomplish something similar at the beginning of the season during corn and soybean planting.

“If the weather has changed, we can actually reduce some of our prescriptions and send that information up to the cloud, so that a tractor sitting in the field can grab it within minutes,” Eller says. “If I have to take a thumb drive out of the tractor, I’m not even in the office. Now, I have to drive from the field where I’m working to the office. You don’t have that kind of time during the season. When we’re talking hours of downtime, we’re also talking about thousands of dollars.”

The Future of Just-in-Time Agriculture

As the industry continues to invest in the tools and technologies that deliver real-time information, everyone will reap the benefits of being able to make effective real-time decisions. This, however, requires a great deal of understanding. A failure to analyze and use the data will render it meaningless.

“One of the key components of a just-in-time approach is understanding what the sensors and smart devices in the field are telling us, so we can document what’s happening and ensure we’re making the right decision about how to address what we’re seeing,” Eller says. “In the spots where the plant health is declining, for instance, we need to be able to put eyes on that area. We need to be able to make precise applications and do whatever we need to in order to increase crop health.”

Things are already moving fast, but there’s a lot more potential coming down the pike. Increased adoption of the current technologies will lead to smarter, faster machines. Eller says patience will be key.

“Last year, we started working with drones that are using artificial intelligence to find crop disease and identify nutrient deficiencies; I was really impressed with what we were able to do,” he says, noting that he’s also particularly excited about how this information can be used with autonomous sprayers and tillage equipment.

“I’m already looking ahead and starting to work toward those goals today,” Eller says. “Patience isn’t my big thing, but I’m trying to do it patiently because those things will be coming out in the near future.”

Armed with the right tools and information, growers have the confidence to change their operations for the better.

Those who work in agriculture understand an essential fact: Farming is a delicate mix of art and science. There are the complex application schedules that ensure optimum plant nutrition and the precise calculations that inform irrigation timings. But there are also the tricks of the trade, the family secrets, the practices that positively impact crops in the absence of rhyme or reason.

Since the first fields were sown using horse-drawn plows and hand hoes, growers have used this combination of institutional knowledge and crop whispering to support their families and sustain the increasing population. This has created a certain comfort level among producers. If the system isn’t broken, most farmers aren’t keen to try to fix it. As the industry moves toward changes that center sustainability, however, maintaining this mindset can be a costly mistake.

“In agriculture, the status quo is so comfortable,” says Jim Hedges, vice president of seed marketing at WinField United and a farmer himself. “I honestly believe that the seven most expensive words in farming are ‘that’s the way we’ve always done it.’”

The solution lies in effective data collection. Growers know the ins and outs of their fields, but having access to detailed information about crop yield, growth models, plant nutrient levels, and more is essential for making the right decision at the right time.

“If you have the right type of field data and the right type of digital tools,” Hedges says, “it gives you the confidence to change the way you’ve always done it into a different way—one that not only drives productivity and drives efficiency, but that also makes a lot of sense.”

Getting Started with Valid Field Data

With the abundance of data collection, storage, and analysis tools on the market today, it’s understandable that growers starting out with data management may feel overwhelmed by the options. Hedges suggests starting small.

“The first thing I would do is go find a grower who is doing this successfully and ask them what they find valuable and beneficial,” he says. “Most growers have a couple of folks they work with that they would consider to be trusted advisors. That’s where I would begin.”

Hedges also cautions growers against going “full bore” right away. It can be tempting to dive in and do everything at once, but a slow, gradual approach is best for implementing data collection strategies with staying power. Hedges often sees growers use variable-rate fertilizer applications as a starting point because the science and reasoning behind this process makes sense.

“Then, you can go from there,” he says. “It might be variable-rate seeding. Then, you start to get into in-season type projects where you use satellite imagery or field forecasting tools. Start out with the basics that have the biggest impact and go from there.”

From there, Hedges says, a trusted advisor can take the data, analyze it, and transform it into decisions that are specific to a grower’s unique operation and production methodologies. This is the sweet spot—collecting and understanding data that empowers informed decision making.

“Some of the most expensive decisions I’ve made over the years have been the ones I did or didn’t make because I either didn’t have the data or I didn’t have the confidence to make the decision,” Hedges says. “I honestly believe that data without action is irrelevant. Making decisions based on the data is critical. Otherwise, it’s just noise.”

Using Data to Achieve Sustainability Goals

From soil types and fertility to pest management, generations of farmers have grown used to making decisions based on the average. This often means that crop inputs are applied evenly across a field, even if some areas would benefit from higher or lower concentrations. With valid field data, Hedges explains, growers are able to make more predictable, probable decisions that lead to improved outcomes.

“If I ensure that the decisions I make as a farmer are having that predictable, probable impact, it’s going to effect my ROI,” he says, adding that it’s imperative that growers understand the data that’s available to them, whether from universities, private sources such as the WinField United Answer Plot® program, or their own fields. “When I understand the data, all of a sudden, I can make those predictable probable decisions while also optimizing yield—getting the most bushels per acre possible with the most efficient use of inputs.”

Optimizing yield is particularly important for sustainability because in a carbon market like the one that exists today, growers can produce additional yield and more biomass. The additional biomass can go back into the soil. When growers are more profitable per acre due to optimized production, there’s also the potential for them to be growing and reducing carbon at the same time.

“Now, growers potentially have a new revenue stream along with the probability they’re gaining from the crop,” Hedges says. “That all has environmental impact from a sustainability perspective.”

There are other benefits, too. Using nitrogen as an example, growers that can effectively lower the amount of nitrogen it takes to produce a bushel of corn while maximizing yield have a positive impact on the environment. Hedges has experienced this firsthand on his farm. The university standards for average nitrogen applied is 1.1-1.2 pounds per bushel. On Hedges’ farm, he’s been able to reduce that to .65-.8 pounds per bushel. Basically using the same amount of N, just driving more bushels of production with timing and placement.

“We’re driving higher yields with lower nitrogen NUE’s, and what that equates to from an environmental standpoint is time,” he says. “I’m releasing less nitrous oxide into the atmosphere, and nitrous oxide is 288 times more harmful from a greenhouse-gas standpoint than carbon dioxide. I’m also leaching less nitrogen into the groundwater.”

Making Sustainable Changes

Hedges has been experimenting with using valid field data to make informed decisions for many years, but growers who are less experienced at working with data have an abundance of helpful tools at their disposal. The Truterra™ Insights Engine, for example, is a user-friendly interactive platform that makes the work of advancing a farm’s sustainability goals a whole lot easier. Created by a farmer-owned collective, the platform helps growers make decisions that will have the greatest impact.

This is one tool among many that already exist within the ag industry. There are even more in the pipeline. All the tools in the world, however, won’t make a bit of difference if growers resist change.

“We try to change one to two things on our farm every single year, and it’s not all just technology and digital. I remember the year that we switched to strip till,” Hedges says, laughing. He’d sworn never to strip till. The farm implemented the practice four years later.

“I think that that embracing change and trying to change something every year is pretty critical,” Hedges says. “And once you see success with any of these steps, it is a catalyst to doing more.”