Eric Eller, president of Forefront Ag, discusses the 2025 growing season’s primary challenge: changing farmers’ mindsets to optimize profitability through data-driven decisions.
“The biggest challenge we have to overcome is mindset. It’s the mindset that we have to do this way because we’ve always done it. Or the mindset that in order to get top bushels we have to put more on–fertilizer, nitrogen,” he says.
The shift in thinking comes to look at the variance across a field and address potential productivity and profitability with data, agronomics, and technology. He emphasizes the use of farm planning tools to manage fields at a finer resolution, identifying high and low-profit areas.
“This means we use the data that many of us have at our fingertips already. We start to understand, hey, here’s a high productive, high profit area of my field, and here’s a low profit, low productive part of my field, and how do I start to manage those different,” Eller says.
He says that baseline understanding is ever more important this year as with higher input costs, lower commodity prices, and weather uncertainty amplify the risks.
Some examples of taking this approach in the field include variable rate nitrogen and spray drones for in-season nutrient application.
“We’ve been able to do variable rate nitrogen and at a level that that’s very profitable and we’re not giving up any bushels,” he says.
Forefront Ag has also introduced its Trailblazing program which uses drones and instant tissue samples via Leaf Tech to enhance in-field decisions.
“We are starting to build a database of information that helps us drive some in season decisions,” he says.
And that’s the new threshold for return on investment according Eller, providing instant action based on data including weed identification and selective spraying,
“On time, in field passes are here and will continue to grow as our capabilities with sensors grow,” he says.
Erich Eller and the Forefront Ag team work with growers to conquer legacy using technology, agronomic advising, and an openness to try new things. He and his team are looking to move the needle while recognizing risks.
