3 Field-Based Learnings about Precision Ag and Sustainability

As we barrel through the remnants of summer and approach the fall harvest season, I find myself reflecting on some valuable time I spent this past spring walking fields and riding in tractor cabs with farmers and ag input retail partners during corn and soybean planting across the Midwest.

Every day I learn new things as I help bring to farmers SIMPAS technology that allows them to prescriptively address multiple agronomic challenges at planting. But nothing compares to spending time with farmers and their trusted advisors as they work to move forward precision agriculture programs and sustainability efforts.

What are farmers thinking and saying, and what are some of our collective learnings as SIMPAS nears the end of its first full market year? Here are my top three takeaways from #planting2021 as they relate to precision agriculture and sustainability.

1. Better to prescriptively manage each planter pass rather than to try to manage the entire farming operation. Increasingly we talk about reframing the mindset of precision agriculture to focus more on sub-field management decisions rather than the entire operation. I saw firsthand the wisdom of this approach based on two adjacent passes in a 24-row planter in the same field as I rode with Jim Orr, a farmer outside of Rowley, Iowa, and an initial SIMPAS adopter.

From one pass to the next, we could see the transition to a much sandier soil type as well as a slight change in elevation. Jim noted how these subtle field changes often have a significant impact on the prevalence of various pests and diseases, on the performance of crop inputs, and on the overall productivity of the soil. Developing prescriptions for application of inputs on that field requires tremendous granularity to ensure each pass addresses the changing agronomic needs that can come with such variability.

2. Sustainability is not a buzzword—it is a farmer’s primary objective. Sustainability is being built as a separate pillar of focus within most every agriculture-related organization today. But to farmers, sustainability is an inherent objective to maximize the productivity of their land in a way that sustains it not only for their own continued use but also by that of future generations.

This means not simply using fewer crop inputs in a prescriptive manner; rather, the sustainable approach is about applying the right products in the right places, at the right time, at the right rate. Many precision agriculture technologies (SIMPAS included) give farmers the application power to do just this—to apply inputs prescriptively.

This approach represents sustainability in action, yet it is also a simple byproduct of farmers’ objective of applying agronomic inputs more judiciously.

3. Precision agriculture truly takes a village. A key theme of every conversation this spring was how complicated precision agriculture can be. From data acquisition and assimilation to analysis and implementation, there are myriad software options, service providers, and technology platforms to try and utilize. Farmers are not looking for an “easy” button—rather, they seek partners who can personalize service offerings, even if that means working across multiple organizations and platforms.

While I may think that in my role with SIMPAS that I have the best tool to implement a prescriptive approach for multiple inputs at-planting, I also know farmers need data analysis and prescription-generation support from trusted advisors. The sooner that all of us on the crop inputs and technology supplier side recognize we all can work together to help each farmer succeed, the more successful we’ll all be.

This article was written by Jason Jimmerson, SIMPAS Technologies Commercial Manager, responsible for SIMPAS and SmartBox sales and manufacturing. He is based in Bozeman, Mont.