Scouting Season 2019: All Hands On Deck
A recent AgProfessional.com poll showed that 77% of our audience is investing in more scouting resources this year. And perhaps there is no better year to do so than 2019.
With delayed planting and uneven emergence, it’s likely we’ll see our fair share of agronomic challenges this growing season.
With more boots on the ground and more technologies ready to assist in the scouting process, take the time now to set protocols. I recently visited with Chip Flory on AgriTalk about this opportunity retailers and consultants have to help protect yield in 2019:
Here are just a few things to think about before sending out scouts or signing up to use a new tech tool:
- Evaluate all the in-season data you have access to for a field.
- Collect that data and have it ready for the scouts before they head to the field. As one person recently shared with me, there is nothing more frustrating that aggregating data from the side of the field and not being sure you have everything.
- Set the baseline expectations for the level of detail you are looking for. And stress to everyone on a scouting team what that minimum is because this year’s data not only affects this crop year but is carried forward for future years as well.
- Using the data and tools you have, set scouting priorities. For fields with uneven emergence or fields identified with remote sensing as having problems, go to those first to try to fight for every bushel.
