Yield Data

How Growmark’s New AI Agronomy Agent Turns Data Overload into Field-Level Wins

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 17:21:16 GMT

“When we look at who we need to be for our farmer customers in 2035, technology has to be at the core,” says Brendan Bachman, FS agronomy director. “I don’t think we see it as an option. We have to embrace technology for who we need to become in the next 10 years.”

As such, Growmark is embedding AI into the myFS Agronomy platform. The “AI Agronomy Agent” is a specialized tool built on the Anthropic Claude model, customized with Growmark’s proprietary data and Intelinair’s interface.

The Data Inflection Point

Agriculture has moved from a lack of data to “paralysis by analysis.” Growmark is acting now to turn decades of raw data into “decision aids” to manage risk and associate value.

The AI Agronomy Agent is designed to act as a digital assistant for the crop specialist, and will be exclusively available to FS crop specialists for 2026.

“It doesn’t take out the art of agronomy. Because it allows the FS crop specialists to create their own ecosystem of tools and technology to apply the agronomic recommendations that they’ve seen justified,” Bachman says. “And we’re training our team to be cautionary about just taking what the AI tools as the gospel and applying that to a farmer’s field without any critical thought process from a professional agronomic lens.”

The technology supports, rather than replaces, human expertise.

Speed to Insight

The “why” is driven by efficiency. Processes that previously took hours or days of manual data cleaning now take minutes, allowing agronomists to spend more time on strategy and less on spreadsheets. The AI tool uses planting, weather, environmental models, as-applied information, in-season crop insights, yield information, soil test information, as well as many different source materials on management practices.

Benefits from the tool include:

Automated Decision Insights.
The AI replaces the need for “hard-coded” software. For example, it can recreate the “FS Profit Maximizer” break-even analysis on the fly in minutes using real-time data.
Gap Analysis & Hybrid Positioning
The tool uses millions of acres of spatial data to perform “gap analysis"—showing farmers not just what performed best on their farm, but which hybrids in the region would have outperformed their current top choices by 10+ bushels.

(Growmark)

This AI announced is on the heels of the app’s Yield Estimation Tool, which can help predict yield within 5% at the field level yield in July-August and was also the result of a partnership with Intelinair. Bachman says the team has seen great benefits provided to farmers with that tool because it gives farmers another month or two-and-a-half months in their marketing strategy based on its yield prediction on their total production.

(Growmark)

Viewing 2035 As the Goal

The MyFS Agronomy app was launched two years ago with now 98% of FS companies using the platform and more than 5,000 users.

To remain relevant to the next generation of farmers, Growmark believes they must “disrupt themselves” today to build the technology-core required for 2035.

“As I look forward, what excites me the most is for people to really start to embrace the change because we are at a point of inflection, and how we have historically done agronomy is not going to change. Good agronomy is always going to be good agronomy. But what data we use to inform the right decision on that farming acre, just got accelerated,” Bachman says. “And it’s no longer about hard-coding features and functionalities, it’s about feeding the AI the model and asking the question, and having it bring about the value outputs that matter to the individual user.”

Bachman says the team at Growmark believes in their tech-forward strategy not as an optional add-on, but as a fundamental requirement for the future of the cooperative system. And for the 2026 season, this advanced AI functionality is being included at no additional cost to FS member companies, framed as a “progressionary add” or standard upgrade to their existing cooperative technology suite.

App Delivers Yield Predictions Via Remote Sensing and Artificial Intelligence

Thu, 16 Oct 2025 22:25:13 GMT

With at least 95% accuracy at key estimate timings in late July and early August, Growmark’s myFS agronomy platform gives its retail advisors and farmers new insights. Brendan Bachman, FS Agronomy Director, explains how the tool works and what it means for the future.

“We started the pursuit of what is now the MyFS Agronomy tool back in 2018, and really the mindset was as farmers continued to get better at collecting data it was very much real reality in the fact that we were data-rich and insight-poor. What we’ve tried to do is solve that problem,” Bachman says.

He explains the myFS Agronomy platform aims to be hub for all the data a field generates through the growing season, adding in weather, and additional insights. With technology, he says there’s been a learning curve of what works well, and what doesn’t achieve the quality expected, but in the past seven years, his team has achieved a view of a field via data that factors in the agronomic inputs and outcomes.

“We’re able to do now is really kind of synthesize a crop year in almost real time, utilize remote sensing and different modeling aspects to make some better decisions in season, but ultimately help that farmer really analyze how well their crop performed throughout,” he says. “For example, in a 2025 cropping season to make those appropriate changes going forward into ‘26.”

(Growmark)

The latest agronomic insights being delivered are in-season yield estimates, which are in partnership using Intelinair technology. The company says in late July/early August the application has achieved results with yields of at least 95% accuracy. This past year, FS agronomy teams had 4.9 million acres of farmland monitored through remote sensing (airplanes, drones, and satellites), to generate corn yield estimate data.

Bachman shares how the FS team is bringing this tech to farmers in the latest episode of The Scoop Podcast.

2025 Farm Journal Corn and Soybean College: Making A Stand

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 22:40:25 GMT

A record-breaking harvest of corn or soybeans is built on the foundation of a good stand. That concept is the focus for the 2025 Farm Journal Corn and Soybean College.

Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie and team will be addressing some of the key agronomic practices and tools farmers use to accomplish high yields during the two-day event – slated for July 22 through July 23 – near Heyworth, Ill.

“We’re going to focus on what the elements of a good stand are in corn and soybeans and how you can achieve them through agronomic decisions and the tools you use,” Ferrie says.

The program includes a variety of both in-the-field sessions as well as inside, classroom sessions.

Planter Selection For Your Farm

One of the key topics being addressed this year for corn growers is the planter and how to select one that’s a good fit for your specific farm.

“There are so many different systems out there today, and when it comes to making planter purchases, add-on purchases and such, you have to think through the whole process and how they will work for you,” Ferrie says.

Farm Journal Field Agronomist Missy Bauer will also be on hand to help farmers identify the impact of planting practices on corn and soybean stands.

“Missy will be talking to us about how to identify a good stand and also what contributes to a poor stand,” Ferrie notes. “We’re going to talk about hybrid characteristics and different aspects of the rooting structure of corn. We’ll then blend that information all in with farmers’ tillage practices, including strip-till, no-till, and also cover crops.”

Success With Early-Planted Soybeans

On the soybean side of the two-day program, Ferrie and team will be addressing early-planted soybeans and how to build a systems approach to growing them – from variety selection and planting preparation through harvest.

“We want to talk about row spacing, population, soybean characteristics, when can we stress plants and when to not stress plants,” Ferrie says. “We want to help farmers adopt a systems approach to early soybeans versus just planting them early and then trying to treat them like you would normal beans.”

In addition to these topics, the in-field and classroom sessions at the event will address:

Science behind spray nozzles: selecting the right nozzles for the job and making sure they perform well in the field.

Establishing corn ear count: examining the differences in rooting depth and stand establishment across a variety of tillage practices.

Closing systems: analyzing a variety of systems in different agronomic conditions to demonstrate how such systems impact stand establishment.

Put everything together, corn edition: evaluating everything from hybrid characteristics, leaf orientation, ear flex and how plant height affects light interpretation to ear development and plant stress in conventional corn and short corn.

Put everything together, soybean edition: looking at planting date, variety characteristics, tillage system, plant nutrition, row spacing and population all play a hand in bean stand establishment, overall light interception and yield.

The two-day event brings together presenters, farmers, and industry personnel that are passionate about raising the bar in farming, Ferrie says. “This is an unsponsored event making more time for our agronomists to spend with attendees, getting their questions answered, and more time to spend in the field,” he says.

Day 1 of the Farm Journal Corn and Soybean College starts at 8 a.m., Tuesday, July 22, and runs through happy hour/dinner.

Day 2 starts at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 23, and sessions will go through lunch.

“We will finish the second day with a Q & A following lunch. Our agronomists will be available to answer questions until your questions run out, so be sure to come with your list,” Ferrie says.

Price: $625 (includes access to one-day virtual event in January 2026).

Get the complete agenda details and register here .

Research to Results: Salin 247 Robot Advances Iowa Corn Strip Cropping Knowledge

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 20:10:50 GMT

A former Corteva Agriscience research scientist and the CEO and founder of Salin 247, an ag tech startup focused on autonomous planting and spraying equipment for corn and soybeans, have joined forces in Iowa to advance research on strip cropping corn and cover crops.

Using Salin 247’s four row, autonomous planting robot, Bob Gunzenhauser is planting strip crop test plots in a field near Corydon to evaluate the practice and collect data on its potential to boost corn yields.

The concept is rather interesting, especially if you’re farming corn and raising livestock: corn is planted in strips at two different seeding rates with cover crops interseeded in opposite strips, and then the plan is to push fertility via in-season nitrogen application at V4-V6 with drop nozzles.

In a real world scenario, a farmer could harvest the corn and leave the cover crops and corn stalks behind to graze livestock on. Soil health would be one ancillary benefit, as would reduced compaction via the lightweight, battery-powered robotic planter.

Here are some videos of the Salin 247 robotic planter Gunzenhauser shared:

Small plots with varying seeding rates and shut offs for alleyways built in thru the prescription, cruising along at 2 MPH. @ptx_trimble pic.twitter.com/emAgf7T0WE
— Bob Gunzenhauser (@BobGunzy) April 16, 2025

Salin247 autonomous running a test plot outside of Corydon, IA today. Including corn/cover strips and Nitrogen x Seeding Rate small plots. @jasonmauck1 @zebulousprime @PfanstielJunior pic.twitter.com/MdWLY4eR9w
— Bob Gunzenhauser (@BobGunzy) April 16, 2025

Gunzenhauser says the trial will also variable rate apply zero to 240 lb. of nitrogen per acre and three different seeding rates to demonstrate the Salin 247 autonomous planting technology and how it can enable small plot research. The data will also be used to build economic, optimum nitrogen rate response data for south-central Iowa farmers, he adds.

“Mainly I think Bob is doing this to get the data and to show the value of strip cropping, which is increasing corn yield because of the sunlight effect,” says Dave Krog, CEO and founder, Salin 247. “There’s data out there that shows generally the outside two rows of a corn strip benefit from extra sunlight, but we want to advance this research.”

In 2023, Salin 247 commissioned a similar experiment on its own test plots, and the total average yield on the check rows came in at 235 bu. per acre. The corn strips ended up yielding just over 300 bu. per acre, and Krog says August was very dry that year, so theoretically the plot could have had higher yields if it were irrigated.

(@BobGunzy/X.com)

Gunzenhauser also invited some students from the local Mormon Trail high school ag program, he has a connection with the student’s teacher, to show them how applied research is conducted in field trials. He is also hoping to enlist their help in harvesting the small plots this fall.

While a small, robotic Salin 247 planter was showcased in planting this trial, Krog says his system has applications beyond small plot seed sowing.

“Strip cropping is just one example of something unique you can do with small, autonomous equipment,” he says. “Our platform, we’ve built a small, autonomous toolbar. We can take the planter off and put a liquid or dry system on, we have a cultivator for the organic guys, and we’re working with Yetter on a strip-till pressure study.”

Gunzenhauser and Krog will lean on the local cooperative to deliver some mid-season sprays for the plots, and then return in the fall with the high school students to harvest the plots and calculate the yields. He says he plans to keep us updated on the results.

Your Next Read: Elevate Your Corn Planting Game Instantly With 7 Proven Tips

John Deere Challenge: Watch a New York Tech Journalist Farm 20 Acres of Corn for $20 Profit

Fri, 18 Apr 2025 13:52:49 GMT

You might recall this viral stunt from when it was announced last spring: John Deere and tech influencer David Cogen (@TheUnlockr) joined forces to set the New York-based journalist up as a row crop farmer for an entire growing season. Using 20 acres of prime Iowa farmland, Cogen’s mission was to find out if he could accomplish what farmers must achieve to put food on America’s dinner tables: turn planted crops into cold, hard cash.

Unlike most farmers, though, Cogen was basically given every cheat code in the game: He had guidance from John Deere experts throughout the crop journey, all of the latest John Deere equipment with all the tech bells-and-whistles any farmer could dream for —not to mention a blank check for seed, crop inputs, fuel and labor.

Cogen began by ordering up soil tests and custom fertilizer applications. Then he flew back to Iowa to complete the spring tillage pass and seed the field. Next came another trip to spray weeds post-emergence with Deere’s See & Spray smart application system before returning in the fall to harvest the finished grain and haul it down to the local ethanol processing plant.

Along the way Cogen learned a handful of lessons any seasoned farmer already knows all too well:

The weather never seems to do what you want it to do, when you want it to do it. That’s farming.
You have to eradicate weeds or they will rob your yields and destroy your profits.
Variation is the enemy, it’s all about consistent production and harvesting at the precise moisture level and timing.
A dry late-summer and early-fall is a factor you can’t control but it can cost you real dollars on your final yield. The corn will dry down too fast in the field if you don’t get it off on time, so in this case, water is truly money when it comes to corn and soybean farming.

In the end, Cogen’s field averaged 209 bushels per acre and produced just over 3,000 total bushels of corn, which equates to over 200,000 lb.

His total expenses for the year (land costs, seed, fertilizer and “other”) totaled $16,456, while his total revenues for the 19.24 total acres of corn harvested was $16,478.

Don’t adjust your monitor. Yes, you read that right.

The New York tech editor farmed all year long and only brought home $22 in total profit. It just goes to show, turning a profit on only 20 acres is incredibly hard to do. Small acre farmers deserve just as much respect as the big boys.

“Honestly, I hope that like myself, that this has opened your eyes into what it actually takes to farm,” Cogen says at the end of the video. “Just all of the work that goes into it and you can have a new appreciation for farming and for farmers.

Your Next Read: Farmer Finds A Silver Bullet For High Corn Yields

Eyes In the Sky: Be Aware of Data Collected About Your Farm

Thu, 20 Mar 2025 15:30:01 GMT

There has been a lot of discussion about data ownership, data sharing and data value for on-farm information such as application rates, planting dates, yield and harvest dates. It’s a working assumption that as you enter into any kind of data collection and data sharing agreement, you read the fine print, scroll and sign the usage agreement.

Farmers themselves generate more than 10 MB of data per acre between the planting, application and harvest passes they make in the field.

That does not include additional scouting, soil sampling or other data-driven missions in the field conducted by the farmer or a designated consultant.

But what if you were told some of the data from your land and your farming practices is being collected without your consent. And furthermore, your consent wasn’t required.

“Many farmers are not completely cognizant that imagery is being collected by multiple sources that are freely available such as Sentinel from European Space Agency,” says Terry Griffin, professor in the department of agricultural economics at Kansas State University and sole proprietor of Griffin Consulting LLC.

Since 2017, the free-to-use 30' resolution images from Sentinel-2 L2A have captured satellite images every five days or so.

Using the NDVI values and how they change between flights, those images can be used to detect crop type, planting date, harvest date and more.

And because they are captured from public air space, your consent isn’t needed.

NO CONTROL

Todd Janzen, an attorney with Janzen Schroeder Agricultural Law LLC, says farmers creating the field level data still expect to have control of its sharing and usage.

“There’s still a big expectation of privacy in the data farmers generate themselves,” he says. “But for data that is available publicly, there’s no court that would say there’s an expectation of privacy in that data.”

For example, Janzen cites the Open Fields doctrine stating anything visible in an open field that can be seen by the public comes with no expectation of privacy.

Griffin says the two data sources — those generated by and shared with permission from the farmer and the publicly available images — are being used together to refine models and algorithms for all kinds of land management applications.

“The big one everyone sees as the target is yield modeling. We aren’t there yet, but there are a lot of people working on it,” he says. “There are others such as carbon emitted or stored, water usage or runoff, and more.”

Griffin uses the satellite data as a lookback tool in consulting work.

“It’s a magic eye in the sky that you can rewind and playback,” Griffin says. “I have consulted on herbicide drift cases, and by the time it gets to me, it’s two years old. So, using the Sentinel images, I can go back as needed and look up images at specific times.”

Griffin says planting and harvest dates can be determined within a few days. He can also assess other management practices such as irrigation, cover crops and tillage.

Using the Sentinel satellite data, the 30' resolution is available for free, and more detailed 3' and 1' resolution imagery are available with a paid subscription.

“What none of us know is how detailed the military satellites are or what kind of resolution can they reach,” Janzen says. “But regardless of whether it’s with a satellite, airplane or drone, if someone wants to collect the data they can do it from the public air space.”

With the technology already in place, the applications for the images will continue to development.

“Farmers need to know the satellites are watching,” Griffin says. “You are more vulnerable than you realize, and this data can be used against people. When it comes to this data, the farmer and landowner aren’t the customers — they’re the product.”

Griffin also points to farmers who have already acknowledged they are being watched from above out in the back 40.

“A lot of farmers find themselves on Google Earth when they are harvesting or planting, and then they screenshot that, and it becomes their social media profile pic,” he says. “But there are applications for this data beyond that for sure.”

Yamaha Ag Q&A: When Can Growers Buy Farm Robots? North America Rollout Explained

Sat, 15 Mar 2025 12:59:00 GMT

Yamaha is a Japanese legacy automotive and motor sports giant known the world over, but many aren’t aware that the company also has a long and storied history in ag tech.

Yamaha’s R-Max gas-powered spray helicopter launched in Japan in the 1990s, making it one of the first unmanned aerial application vehicles on the market for applying crop protection products to growing crops. FAZER-R was its next iteration of spray drones, and the company says it has over 2,800 units of both R-MAX and FAZER remote controlled spray helicopters deployed today with farmers around the world.

In late January, the manufacturer announced the launch of Yamaha Agriculture , a new U.S.-based company that will focus on delivering autonomous equipment and AI-powered digital solutions. The company came together as a single business unit as a result of strategic acquisitions of robotics and AI focused startups Robotics Plus and The Yield.

We recently connected with Nolan Paul, who was named CEO of the relatively-new ag tech division, to learn more about the venture as it gets a footing established on the West Coast. Previously Paul was Head of R&D Strategy and Emerging Technology for Driscoll’s, the global market leader in production of fresh berries.

Farm Journal (FJ): How long of a timeline do you anticipate until commercialized robotics solutions are available for growers to purchase?

Nolan Paul (NP): Robotics Plus’ Prospr vehicles are already deployed with customers and distributors in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.

FJ: What type of specific use cases do you envision bringing to market that will leverage advanced data analytics and AI?

NP: A multitude of use cases with time to market based on the degree of technical difficulty. We already offer weather-driven predictions to customers in the form of yield forecasts and harvest and spray timing. The next set of use cases will be variable rate spray applications based on real-time sensing on the vehicle (e.g., spray volumes based on canopy density).

(Yamaha Agriculture)

FJ: How do you envision Yamaha’s robotic solutions being marketed/sold to growers?

NP: Robotics Plus already has distributor partners in the U.S. and Australia/New Zealand. However, it’s important for Yamaha to maintain direct relationships with growers, especially our larger customers, to optimize customer success and develop our product roadmap. Regarding our monetization approach, we believe growers should purchase our hardware solutions the same way they prefer to purchase the rest of their machinery. Some prefer to buy outright. Others prefer a financing or lease option. We remain open to alternative monetization options if it makes life easier for the grower.

FJ: Where will the new division Yamaha Agriculture be based? How many employees will make up the division?

NP: Yamaha Agriculture is a U.S.-incorporated business with subsidiaries in Australia and New Zealand. Our headquarters is in the Bay Area as it provides easy access to Tokyo, Sydney and Auckland. We also have local offices in Napa, Calif., and Wenatchee, Wash., along with team members based up and down the West Coast. Currently, Yamaha Agriculture has approximately 175 employees.

FJ: Ag technologies that solve a specific problem for the farmer seem to be the solutions that are adopted by American farmers. Are there any specific issues that your technology will be able to solve for growers?

NP: Currently spraying and weed control with our Prospr vehicle. However, it’s a modular platform, so the product roadmap includes several implements such as mowing and under-row cultivation. Our goal isn’t to develop implements from scratch. We are partnering with implement companies to integrate their tools on Prospr.

Separately, we also offer yield predictions and crop recommendations through our acquisition of The Yield. These two capabilities lay the foundation for increased closed-loop opportunities (actionable insights) with a focus on reducing block-level variability.

FJ: Do you have any concerns with the new U.S. administration’s trade policies considering Yamaha Agriculture is targeting the U.S. as a primary market for your technology?

NP: Yamaha sells a lot of products in the United States, ranging from motorcycles to outboard motors, ATVs and golf cars. As a result, we will take guidance from our broader organization and implement a strategy that is most effective for Yamaha Agriculture and our customers.

Your Next Read: What Technologies Are Farms Using and Why?

Bayer, AgVend Collaborate, Aim To Improve Retailer Connectivity To Farmers

Thu, 12 Sep 2024 01:32:31 GMT

Climate FieldView and AgVend are collaborating to simplify data sharing between farmers and agronomic advisers. As Bayer’s flagship digital farming platform, Climate FieldView now offers an option for farmers to share those reports directly to AgVend platforms.

Leaders say the goal is to improve how ag retail teams share agronomic insights, drive strategic recommendations, and help their farmer customers with the management of their operations.

“Our customers want to maximize crop performance, realize a solid return on investment, and ensure their fields reach full potential. Alongside their trusted advisors, our mission at FieldView is to help farmers achieve these goals, " said Brandon Rinkenberger, Chief Customer Officer for Climate LLC and Digital Farming at Bayer. “Building options so farmers can permission data easily and securely makes it possible for their agronomic partners to tailor recommendations in real-time, improving the experience of our shared customers.”

This is available via a select group of AgVend retailers this harvest system to fully test sharing the FieldView reports which include: harvest summary reports − including yield, harvested area, moisture, seed performance, and productivity data.

“As trusted advisors, our goal is to provide farmers with the most precise and timely recommendations to maximize their crop potential,” said Jeff Crissinger, VP of Agronomy Sales & Marketing at NuWay-K&H Cooperative. “This new integration between FieldView and AgVend enhances our ability to do just that, allowing us to access and utilize critical field data more efficiently. With these insights at our fingertips, we can better serve our customers, helping them make informed decisions to achieve higher yields and overall success in their operations.”

Bayer and AgVend expect the offering to be more fully available to all AgVend retailer partners in 2025.

“At AgVend, we are on a mission to create a digitally connected supply chain that prioritizes both retailers and their farmer customers,” said Alexander Reichert, CEO and co-founder of AgVend. “By partnering with Bayer, we’re laying the foundation for a more efficient and tailored approach to agronomic support, ensuring that the right insights are delivered precisely when and where they’re needed to drive farmer profitability.”

Technical Debt: Self Scout to Avoid Tech Pitfalls

Fri, 15 Mar 2024 18:28:10 GMT

Farm Journal’s Smart Farming Week is an annual week-long emphasis on innovation in agriculture. The goal is to encourage you to explore and prioritize the technology, tools and practices that will help you farm smarter. Innovation today ensures an efficient, productive and sustainable tomorrow.

Just as any top NFL Draft prospect must run the 40-yard dash within a similar range to the other top prospects at their respective position from previous draft classes, there are boxes any ag tech new release should check off to ultimately prove useful and profitable.

“At the end of the day, you want your technology to make you money, save you money, or create new opportunities for you,’ Cubbage says. “Or, some technology may even save the day as far as having battery or generator backup, or even redundant internet (options). You want it to do something for you and you want it to return something to the bottom line.”

With that in mind, farmers should annually complete an accurate “self-scout,” (former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belicheck is noted as one of the NFL’s all-time great self-scouters) or unbiased self-evaluation, of their tech stack.

Taking a hard look at what your technology is doing for your farm – and what you absolutely need it to do going forward – can save you from spending capital on technology or machines that don’t return benefits to your bottom line.

That was one basic premise of The Scoop columnist and ag tech industry expert Steve Cubbage’s Top Producer Summit presentation, “What’s Your Farm’s Technical Debt?” .

Cubbage had a few salient points in how farmers should look at new technology before adopting.

Efficiency Matters: Automation is where production agriculture has historically seen the greatest leaps in productivity (think Eli Whitney’s cotton gin). Or a modern-day example would be the advent of auto-steer. Machine guidance is the fastest and easiest ROI a farmer can find.
Robotics and AI: Advances made across these two technology segments will “likely lead to leapfrog gains in productivity,” according to Cubbage.
Opportunities May Require New Tech: Carbon credit markets are just one example that fits here. There may be systems or implements you must upgrade to collect the right type of data to participate (ie get paid). Even though it costs money up front, these are the type of investments that can have a big impact when farm revenues go flat or into the red.

“Production ag is a costly business. You write six, sometimes seven figure checks for putting a crop in each year,” Cubbage said. “Reducing waste is important, but so is looking at technology that can increase your ROI and shrink costs at the same time. Anytime you find something like that, that’s a pretty good day and probably a pretty good investment.”

Autonomy In Ag Is Firing On All Cylinders Right Now, And It Looks Different Depending On Where You Live

8 Field Activity Data Types You Need to Collect Now

7 Ways to Make Data Pay

Smart Seed Selection Tool Pledges to Close Yield Gap

Fri, 15 Mar 2024 13:12:46 GMT

Yield Optimizer by AcreShield is the new kid on the block when it comes to seed selection tools.

It’s an intriguing concept: a digital platform that aggregates massive amounts of independent seed performance and soil data (other data layers play a part, as well) to drill down to a performance-ranked list of the top corn and soybean seed varieties for each user’s unique location.

What is AcreShield and Yield Optimizer?

AcreShield is not a crop insurance provider. Rather, farmers who use Yield Optimizer and select their varieties based on the performance data presented get additional yield protection coverage of 100% of their farms historical average. This is beyond the standard 85% that most risk management programs typically offer.

“Every row crop farmer out there can buy crop insurance up to 85%, but not from 85% to 100%. This is what we call the ‘Yield Gap’ where they can’t get any protection for that last, very important 15%,” AcreShield CEO Billy Rose explains.

Rose says Yield Optimizer is the only seed selection tool that provides a yield performance guarantee. The company, which is independent of any seed company or retail channel affiliation, is testing over 1,000 corn varieties in over 250 field trials across the Midwest this summer.

AcreShield provides market transparency due to independent testing that is conducted in real-world conditions. It’s being viewed by some seed companies as an independent testing source to validate their marketing claims. Plot trial managers even conduct some “secret shopping” to be able to test the latest varieties.

Users can claim cash payouts up to 7X if the seed they selected doesn’t exceed 100% of their historical yield average. All based on the farmers yield history and harvest performance, not the county.

“From a pricing viewpoint, we have good ($5 per acre), better ($8) and best ($15) with different features at each Yield Optimizer tier, and the performance payouts are 5:1 (good) or 7:1 (better and best),” Rose says. “We give a performance guarantee that if you don’t get over 100% of your yield history (APH), we’ll write you a check for up to seven times what you paid for the Yield Optimizer.”

Rose himself knows a phenomenon when he sees it. The ag entrepreneur grew up on a farm outside Dyersville, Iowa, right around the corner from the original Field of Dreams complex. AcreShield’s operations are headquartered in Des Moines, home of another cultural phenomenon: Iowa Hawkeyes sharpshooter and future WNBA #1 Overall Pick Caitlyn Clark.

“When I go back, I would like to be able to say we’re helping these farmers survive these really tough commodity prices right now,” he says. “When you think about a 200 APH corn field per acre, if you could find 40 bushels in extra yield per acre with smart seed intelligence, that’s a 20% improvement. Now you’re solving that yield gap problem with the confidence of a performance guarantee.”

Where does the data come from?

Yield Optimizer conducted three years of seed trials to build out its database. Again, it is completely independent of any of the big seed companies or ag retail network. Rose likes to tell farmers that AcreShield is the Consumer Reports for seed variety testing, with trusted and unbiased data.

“What we’re able to do is really put what we call the farmer first,” Rose adds. “We’d like to turn the pyramid upside down and say, let’s focus on our farming friends and their problems. It’s your farm, it’s your legacy. So, protect it with intelligent seed selection that comes with a guarantee.”

Watch: AcreShield CEO Billy Rose Explains the Yield Gap

Additional Smart Farming content:

8 Field Activity Data Types You Need to Collect Now

Gripp Garners Top Honor at Top Producer Summit 2024

6 Tech Tools and Trends To Watch In 2024

4 Point Checklist To Bridge The Data Gap With Farmers

Thu, 14 Mar 2024 11:00:00 GMT

There continues to be an assumption by those outside of production agriculture’s inner circle that the farmer has complete possession and control over their farm’s digital data history. Reality begs to differ as many important pieces of digital field data are created and retained by someone else—often an ag retailer and/or trusted adviser.

This large data gap has been exposed by outsiders because an expanded digital dataset is needed in order for emerging sustainability and carbon credit programs to be viable. The new normal is now someone other than just the agronomist wants and needs farmer data in order for the farmer to be a player in the sustainability game.

Fertilizer and crop protection product applications are considered key cogs in most sustainability and carbon credit programs. However, because an overwhelming number of acres are applied by local ag-retailers and independent applicators the handoff back to the farmer of the digital record of such field activity has been sketchy at best — at least up until now.

For farmers to be in control of their data, they need complete access. As such, ag retailers need to be ready to answer the call when data sharing is requested.

To clear the higher bar that is currently being set, farmers will start asking more detailed and more frequent questions. Here’s how you as an ag retailer can be prepared:

Will the data contain following: date applied, product(s) applied, actual rates, field totals and the actual GPS point-by-point data.
How will the data be delivered to the farmer: access via the cloud or online portal is preferred, USB storage will work, but the potential for data loss or failed transfers is much higher.
Will farmers be able to download the dataset and send to other parties: Being able to down-load an electronic field activity dataset from a trusted third party provider is key to assembling a complete record of the products applied on each individual field. Being able to share such data with other parties for add-value and future opportunities is critical for future market opportunities.
In what file format will data be delivered: It is best to deliver electronic field records in the most common data formats. The ESRI shapefile is by default the most prolific format and is a good choice when requesting your data to be shared back to you. The other even more basic format are text files which can be delivered via either the .txt or .cvs file formats.

Being prepared will further instill you as a trusted advisor and someone ready to outfit a customers farm for the future with its complete digital dataset.

Put Your Data To Work: Layers Of Information Pave The Road To Higher Yield

Tue, 05 Mar 2024 21:01:19 GMT

Before yield monitors, farmers knew where to find the best- and worst-yielding areas of each field. After yield monitors came along, farmers knew the yield from pass to pass, but didn’t have a map of yield variation.

“Now, GPS lets us make maps, so we can study layers of data to discover what’s happening in every part of the field,” says Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie. “It’s like the difference between looking at an oil painting and a photograph. We can even see beneath the surface.”

Here are some tips to help you translate your data into higher yield and ROI:

1. Start with accurate yield maps.

“Only half of our new customers have good spatial yield maps,” Ferrie says. “The rest are accurate to scale tickets, but don’t give good details of the field. A good spatial map with accurate data points — not one that has been ‘krieged’ or interpolated to create zones — will talk to you. Once you see one, you’ll want to make one every year, and use years (layers) of data to improve yield and ROI.”

When combine operators know the importance of good maps, he says, they will create accurate ones.

2. Solve mysteries by adding layers of data.

Soil-type maps and topography maps (called LIDAR, for Light Detection and Ranging) are key information sources.

“GPS soil-type maps are free on the internet,” Ferrie says. “Laying one over an accurate, spatial yield map instantly adjusts your focus.

You can collect topography maps from equipment in the field or get them from the internet. While these maps are still somewhat coarsely focused, they can explain a lot of yield swings.”

Ferrie and his team have used LIDAR maps to fix many surface drainage issues. He says: “Sometimes you need to remove only 3" or 4" of soil to cut a ditch to a wet pocket, and you see the effect the next year.”

3. Let yield, soil and topography maps guide your soil test.

“Soil test zones should represent how a field yields,” Ferrie says. “When you collect samples, try not to mix low- and high-yielding areas or silt loams and sand loams.” This information can guide you into variable-rate fertilizer application, making you an effective steward while boosting your profits.

4. Decide what you can fix.

“Fertility is still a somewhat coarse adjustment, suitable for treating larger areas such as sand knobs and hilltops.” Ferrie says. “We can focus on very small zones, but if our applicator spreads a 90'- or 120'-swath and a zone is only 50' across, it’s too small to fix. But technology will soon provide the tools to do this.”

On the other hand, he says, you can vary plant population and hybrid or variety by row and by foot of row, to treat small areas such as sand lenses and gravel veins running at an angle across the field but only 50' wide. Then you can hit areas with lower population and defensive hybrids.

Some technology can map soil properties deeper than a standard soil test can read. “We can pinpoint subsoil features such as sand lenses and depth horizons that explain issues invisible to the eye but visible in a yield map,” Ferrie says.

5. What data do you need?

That depends on what you will use it for. “Aerial photos and NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) images can reveal differences in the crop throughout a field,” Ferrie says. “Some of the free satellite photos available on the internet are of low resolution, very coarse and cheap, while photos taken from a plane or drone are higher resolution, but also more expensive. Aerial images can be as high resolution as you want to pay for, so decide what quality you need, and ask what resolution your images will be — for example, 5 m x 5 m or 1’x1' — before you commit.”

Each image shows only one moment in time, Ferrie says. So you might want to take multiple images through the season to avoid missing something.

“Elevation data can be collected from a combine, and LIDAR topography maps, which are much higher resolution, are free from the internet. Both types of data can help us decide where to put drainage, although neither is accurate enough to guide a tile plow,” he says.

Soil data can be obtained with electroconductivity mapping, which involves running coulters through the soil, or by swath mapping, in which a sled is pulled over the surface. But don’t sacrifice accuracy by running a mapper at wide intervals and “krieging” the data to make a map, Ferrie warns. You also can outfit your planter to map soil temperature, conductivity, moisture at seed depth and organic matter as you plant.

6. How to use your data.

“Look for zones tied to perennial yield swings on your yield map,” Ferrie says. “Aerial images will reveal both perennial yield swings, which you may be able to fix, and annual issues such as spray drift or overlapping spray from a neighbor’s field, which you just need to know about.”

If high-resolution images show repeated yield drops that layers of ground data can’t identify, Ferrie suggests taking a closer look. Soil tests, tissue tests and parasite tests in those areas can help identify the problem.

”If it isn’t fixable, adjust your yield goal and variable rate your fertilizer, population and pesticides,” he says.

Your goal is to get repeatable data with good resolution, Ferrie says. Then, use it to plan changes. Problem areas too small to remedy now will become fixable as technology develops, if you have the right data.

SWAT Maps (Soil, Water and Topography)

Soil texture, organic matter and topsoil depth can impact yield and fertilizer response.
Water has the biggest influence on yield and fertilizer response.
Topography can influence soil moisture, erosion, organic matter levels, pH, and soil fertility levels.

Mark Your Calendar

Join Ken Ferrie and team for the 2023 Farm Journal Corn and Soybean College.
July 25 - 26
Heyworth, Ill.

Learn more.

Case IH AF11: What You Need To Know

Fri, 09 Feb 2024 15:08:23 GMT

Proclaiming 2024 the “Year of the Combine” Case IH hosted an exclusive preview in Orlando, Florida, to showcase its newest grain harvesting technology: the AF 11 combine.

The sleek, muscular model will be available for pre-order from Case IH dealers later this summer – albeit in a limited production run – before a full rollout for crop year 2025. Case IH says it is the largest harvester of its kind available in North America.

Customer driven product development – customers sought a similar look and feel to Case IH’s popular Steiger, Magnum, and Puma tractor lines – was a driving force along AF11’s development curve. Pricing details for the new machine will be available later this summer through the dealer network, according to Case IH executives.

As the farm consolidation trend continues (again, Case IH polled its customer base and they overwhelmingly believe it will), and equipment buyers prioritize performance metrics and tech integrations over pure paint color, Case IH is pushing all its chips to the center of the table.

“We’re reemerging as the leader in harvesting supremacy with this clean, simple and best-in-class design,” said Kurt Coffey, vice president – North America, also noting the machine’s dual rotor design and ability to harvest 8,000 bushels of corn per hour.

Coffey, a Central Illinois farm kid, spent this past summer entrenched alongside the design team as well as riding alongside test farmers in the U.S. and Western Canada.

“Harvesting corn at 7 mph – this thing just kept eating,” he added. “What you see here today in this AF11 combine represents real-world problem solving with a purposeful design. This isn’t a beauty pageant.”

Leo Bose, harvesting segment leader, says the release of AF11 represents a major career milestone, and for Case IH’s customers it portends the future of harvesting.

“We focused on three key areas: capacity, technology, and run time,” Bose said. “Our harvesting technology will help farmers save grain and harvest faster, with more quality grain going into that tank. And our farmers overwhelmingly told us: we have to have (more) run time.”

AF11: What You Need to Know

Class 10+: The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) benchmarks combines up to Class 10, with the top end of that classification topping out at 680 HP. Case IH is slugging AF11 as a “Class 10+” – a class that currently does not exist on the scale – because it puts out 775 HP of grain chopping power.
Higher capacity: Case IH test farmers who ran the AF11 this summer realized its larger grain tank (567 bushels) and wide configuration allows operations to potentially downsize their harvesting fleets while still covering the same amount of ground. Its 50-foot draper head or 16-row corn chopper – which eventually will be available in even wider configurations – also enable higher capacity and more harvesting per hour.
Tech and Automation: AFS Harvest Command comes fully integrated off the factory line, and a radar-controlled residue spreader at the rear ensures grain stubble is evenly distributed. Inside the spacious cab, dual mounted Pro 1200 displays provide operator visibility and data visualization. The new AFXL2 dual rotor represents a step forward for the company in what its calling a “dynamically optimized cleaning and separating system”, and automated grain leveling keeps harvested grain level when traversing uneven ground.
Runtime: Farmers will notice improvements here via AF11’s 6 bushel per second offload rate, unlocking more operating hours in an already time crunched process. Also of note is a new drivetrain configuration (horizontally mounted at the rear of the combine) that distributes weight and torque for more efficient drivetrain operation and fuel savings. And the entire power plant is set into the machine in a way that makes it easier for techs to access components for preventative maintenance or DIY service.

Saskatoon, Canada, canola and cereal grains farmer Jason LeBlanc ground tested the AF11 this summer on his 1,600-acre operation.

“It will help us cut down on hired labor, the capacity in this machine is something we’re really excited about,” he said. “The capacity, the grain unloading time, harvesting the same amount with less fuel burned per acre – it’s a massive deal for an operation like ours.”

Of course, there is more to know about this new machine than we can fit into this article, so head over to caseih.com/en-us/unitedstates/products/harvesting/af-series to explore further.

You can also catch the new combine in person as its unveiled to the greater public for the first time at the upcoming National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky .

The Three Agronomy Tools Every Farm Should Be Optimizing

Tue, 01 Aug 2023 18:36:16 GMT

Andrew Lambert, technology services manager at Centra Sota Cooperative, shares how his team is structured to help farmers advance their yields and return on investment. He says technology can be overwhelming because of how everything intertwines like a cobweb. But as a baseline: the exponential benefits will come when they are able to get a majority of their farmers optimizing soil sampling, variable rate fertilizer, and yield mapping.

A few years ago, the department re-organized under three teams:

Precision ag services
“This includes services to the farmer and the internal precision ag tools that benefit us and the farmer,” Lambert says.
Environmental services.
“This is the newest idea for us. We actually have a small team dedicated to helping our farmer customers work through government programs and offerings such as CAP and EQIP programs,” he says.
Equipment sales and service.
“This is bulit on a long term Precision Planting dealership. We have expanded sales and service by adding new equipment lines. The goal is to be a solution dealer to our farmers for a specific range of equipment,” Lambert says.

He says this has helped bring structure and focus to how the co-op team can bring value to farmers.

“It’s a cobweb–everything’s touching each other and kind of play off of each other,” Lambert says. “The conservation buzz is real in our area. A lot of times, farmers want some extra help in those areas specifically.”
In the recent years, Centra Sota added Zimmerman strip-till equipment to their lineup.

While yield monitors have become base equipment on new combines, Lambert says there’s still a lot of gains to be made. He says within their customer base only 25% are maximizing their use of soil sampling, variable rate fertilizer, and yield data.

“The piece that is missing is we are using the tools, and the amount of acres that are being pushed to 100% of potential or realizing the limited potential on certain acres,” he says. “What’s undervalued is spending time with a an agronomic advisor that can use a combination of those three simple tools that have been around for a long time, and put together a realistic plan that’s going to give you the biggest bang for your buck.”

The team is Centra Sota is also ready to help farmers adopt new technologies such as variable rate irrigation and spray drones. Lambert says they are keenly focused at helping farmers find success.

“A lot of the customers that we work with its their livelihood, their income for the year is based on their success of their business,” he says. “The ability to buy Christmas present comes down from good advice and good products. So that’s what my boss told me and I tried to tell everybody. We’re here to do what’s right for the customer first.”

Hear from on The Scoop podcast

7 Agronomic Tips For Greater Yields, ROI and Profitability

Wed, 21 Sep 2022 02:14:24 GMT

At the National Farm Machinery Show, Farm Journal Field agronomist Ken Ferrie walked the aisles to soak up the latest technologies and tools in agriculture.

“It’s neat to see what’s going to be new on the horizon, what’s coming. And then what was new a year or two ago, how they’ve improved it– whether it be hardware or software,” he told AgriTalk host Chip Flory.

As Ferrie is helping farmers gear up for the 2020 growing season, he shares these seven agronomic tips to optimize yields, maximize ROI and increase profitability in the year ahead.

1.Teach the planter to dance. Of all the technologies he saw in the field in 2019, the one that stood out with the highest ROI was planter hydraulic downforce–but maybe not in the way you’d expect, because it was uplift that really shined.

“So typically, when it’s marginal conditions, you have to be very, very careful how much downforce you use and if you can’t get the slot to close, you smear the sidewall, and decide, well, we would say take all your downforce off, see if that disappears,” he says. “If your sidewall smearing disappears, you’re causing that problem with the weight of the planter, and this year we went back and forth trying to get into these fields or realize just the weight of the row unit was too much.”

“We actually had to lift up on that row unit, which of course adds weight to the planter wheels. We were carrying 100 plus pounds of up force on these planters so we could plant in those conditions,” he explains. “We use the term teaching the planter to dance, and that’s something that we couldn’t do five years ago. And it’s something that I would have said, well just be patient, wait for the soil, wait for it and make it happen. After this year there’s probably a situation now where we can use this technology to push our planting window just a little bit into more marginal conditions that our dad wouldn’t even think about planting into because we didn’t have that technology.”

2. Planter speed also allowed big gains in productivity. Ferrie says planting windows are now measured by hours—not days.

“Up until this year, we didn’t think about acres per hour because that’s not how we were planting corn. The high-speed planters were able to get us into some acres that we normally wouldn’t see in a two day window,” Ferrie says.

3. Yes, planter tech can help farmers can gain bushels, but don’t overlook the fundamentals.

“Your planter pass is a foundational piece to yield, but just like anything else, if you don’t manage the disease and insects and challenges after that, it doesn’t make any difference,” Ferrie says.

He shares hybrid selection is also paramount.

“When we’re talking about corn, as an operator probably the most important decision you’ll make comes back to hybrid selection,” he says. And he adds, if a hybrid was challenged in 2019, it may not need to get kicked out of your consideration set if it had genetics that have performed well on your farms in the past.

4. Prepare for disease pressure. Ferrie says while farmers are still sorting out their marketing strategy and planting intentions, they should keep their eye on disease pressure in 2020.

“To go into this year and assume that the amount of inoculant we have a different disease out there isn’t going to show up again, that would be poor planning,” he says.

5. Recognize if you have a steep learning curve in the year ahead. While many didn’t get all their fall tillage done, Ferrie says the challenges are compounded for farmers who may be behind on field work and are facing a new production practice.

“In a scenario where it’s something totally new to them, there’s where we usually get into trouble. We know we have people in the prevent plant acres that for the first time are going to not only no-till but no-till into cover crop. While a lot of people do that successfully, if you’ve never done it before in your farming career, it’s a pretty sharp learning curve that you need to be prepared for,” he says.

6. Use your in-field data. “Using data is getting better, but I do think there’s a lot of data piling up and people don’t know what to do with it,” Ferrie says. “And the biggest issue is that folks aren’t taking the time to sit down and say what do we learn from this information and while we go forward, how do we use it?”

7. There’s value in data every year. Particularly coming off back-to-back late harvest seasons and 2019 having widespread weather woes, Ferrie is concerned farmers may discount what can be learned from every year’s data.

“It’s the tough years that probably tell us the most,” he says. “You get into a drought and somebody wants to just forget about good yield maps and data collection, or you get into a year like this past year, and they think the information is not valuable because it’s such an unusual year. And that’s not true.”

He explains that when everything goes right in season, anyone can hit a home run.

“When you get up against the wall, you need to know what were the decisions you made that yield, and what were the wrong ones. That’s going to tell you what you’re going to do next year, and how you would handle those situations in the future.”

Saving the Planet Is Risky Business

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 18:29:14 GMT

“The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”

Those words are from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg captured during a 2015 interview. While I am not exactly Zuckerberg’s biggest fan, his words have an incredible amount of utility in the world of agriculture right now.

Farmers, faced with growing pressures from society, government, and last but not least the consumer, are being asked to massively overhaul the way they farm. The once distant drumbeats of change have now become too loud to ignore.

Truth be told, the word “asked” is too kind and too subtle given the real conversation happening now. Words like “told”, “strongly suggested”, “highly recommended” and now the most dreaded words of all — “required” or “mandated” — are the words that farmers are now hearing when listening to their new “to-do” list in how to save a planet by farming “differently”.

But there’s a problem. Despite all the talk, nudges, encouragement and arm-twisting, farmers still aren’t just rushing to transform massive amount of acres into the regenerative, sustainable “model” farms envisioned by those outside the farm gate. It has conservation groups, consumers, government officials and even the United Nations scratching their collective heads wondering “why” the adoption of such practices aren’t moving faster.

Anyone who truly understands the psychology of a farmer understands why this is not happening.

It is simple and can be boiled down to a single word — “risk”. Changing a particular farming practice only introduces more risk into an already insanely high-risk, low-margin environment. Telling somebody who has to deal with so many things outside of the their control — like weather, insects and fickle governmental trade and monetary policies — to voluntarily introduce more risk in mass to their business is beyond wishful thinking and flat out naive. It is a bridge too far for many farmers.

If it is being “suggested” by those “outside” of farming that farmers farm “differently” then maybe they need to think “differently” on how to lower the risk for farmers of adopting such practices. No farmer is suddenly going to wake up one day and deploy no-till, create buffer strips and plant cover crops across all their acres when they don’t know what the consequences will be. There’s too many questions and probably the biggest one centers around yield. Preserving yield is para-mount.

Yes, yield is everything.

Why? One super obvious reason is because it drives the current “safety net” in place meant to deal with the “risk” that a majority of crop producers face. That safety net we all know is Federal Crop Insurance. The irony here is when you really look at the current structure of governmental subsidized crop insurance today you start to realize just how much it is at odds with the sustainability goals currently being preached.

For example, the last thing a farmer would want to do is actually inadvertently lower his Actual Production History (APH) Yield. Every farmer knows the reality that whenever making a major change to practices such as no-till or cover crops there are going to be bumps in the road and a few kinks to work out. That may take a few years but most likely any those bumps aren’t going to be big enough to trigger a crop insurance claim and in the end you could end up with a lower APH.

That brings us to the real issue and opportunity.

Federal crop insurance was really designed for crop year failures like we saw in the drought years of 2012 and 2013 and the washout year of 2019. Typically, most producers choose policies that preserve income based on 65 to 75% of their APH yield. In the end, that still means a minimum of 25 to 35% of their yield based income is at risk. That “risk gap” is a huge stumbling block for scalable sustainability adoption. Granted, there are many other rules, regulations and reasons within current framework of crop insurance that stymies sustainability. For a more in-depth take on what those are check out this article by the Conservation Finance Network

Now it will be interesting to see if the Biden Administration will try to do some serious realignment of bringing Federal Crop Insurance more in sync with their “green goals”. Given the fact that about 74% of US cropland, or 290 million acres — is covered by crop insurance it is quite likely something will be brewing in this arena. Plus, given the fact that the government pays an aver-age of 62% of the cost of the average premium you now realize that the government holds both the carrot and the stick to make something happen.

While it seems likely something will emerge at the governmental level, you are already seeing the marketplace respond in very interesting ways with some very unorthodox partnerships.

Take the unique collaboration with a company named Growers Edge and The Nature Conservancy. To help accelerate the adoption of regenerative practices they are starting to pilot innovative risk management products that would cover the APH risk gap. They are currently working with farmers and retailers to roll out this concept. This sounds a bit like the 100 or 105% APH guarantees also being floated by crop input manufacturers or larger ag retailers. What’s different is it centers around practices more than it does products. In some ways that does make it more enticing and liberating. Will it work? Time will tell. But look for more carrots and sticks to come to either entice or enforce a much faster drive toward sustainability and re-generative ag at the farm gate. However, any time you can replace risk with reward — things are bound to happen much, much quicker.

Growmark Adds Yield Guarantee On AgValidity Platform

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 06:19:46 GMT

Partnering with Growers Edge, Growmark announces a yield guarantee for its AgValidity technology testing program.

“We are trying to make it as easy of a decision as possible for farmers to use new technologies and try new products,” says Lance Ruppert director of agronomy marketing & technology for Growmark.

The partnership between Growmark and Growers Edge has developed the Agronomic Performance Product (APP), which is a proprietary platform based on Growmark product yield trials and the Growers Edge analytic prediction system.

“This provides a new way to mitigate risk,” Ruppert explains. “It gives farmers another program to consider as they weigh their options in managing their business.”

If a field’s result falls below specific expectations, the grower receives some compensation for lost yield.

Participation requires using Growmark agronomic recommendations including: seed, grid soil sampling and variable rate fertilizer applications, as well as following farm-specific recommendations for phosphorus, potassium, lime, nitrogen, herbicides, fungicides, etc.

Ruppert explains APP does not require any additional data collection as it’s based on what farmers are already reporting to crop insurance.

The program will have a limited launch in 2020.

The AgValidity program was launched in 2019 to test early-stage ag technologies and new products.

The Cyber Worm has Turned on Soil Health

Wed, 16 Dec 2020 01:29:53 GMT

If you’re like Taryn Bauerle, an associate professor with the School of Integrative Plant Science Horticulture at Cornell University, you’ve spent a lot of time wondering what’s going on beneath the ground—and more specifically, that very small space where the root meets the soil. In that small zone, magic—some even call it chemistry—happens, and that chemistry has soil feedback loops with the microbiota living in the soil. Understanding this may help improve breeding efforts and soil management that improve yield.

To boldly plumb the depths of the soil and uncover these secrets, Bauerle knew she needed help. When you’re trying to solve a seemingly impossible challenge on earth, sometimes you have to look to a person with his eyes to the stars. So Bauerle turned to Cornell’s faculty list and reached out to Robert Shepherd, an associate professor with the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

Although they both work at Cornell, they’d never met. Her pitch to Shepherd: Help her shine a light into the black box of plant and soil interactions.

Shepherd’s response? “I was all in, right away,” he says.

The first challenge: create a device that could move within a matrix you can’t see and is difficult to access. The second challenge: figure out how to capture data in an environment that’s not friendly to wireless transmission.

“There are physical limitations. There are energetic limitations, communication limitations. It’s a really edge environment to be working in,” Shepherd says.

Even so, Shepherd was confident it was possible, and he looked to Mother Nature for inspiration.

“We know it will work because there are giant earthworms of the scale we’re talking about that can move underground. And we have assistance from an auger, which will give us an advantage over even biology,” he says.

The project is supported by a $2 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to conduct the soil research and a $750,000 NSF National Robotics Initiative grant to develop the soil-monitoring robots.

The plan is to develop 1’ to 2’ wormlike robots that both drill into the soil and can also mimic the peristaltic, or wave-like, movements worms make when they tunnel through the soil.

Initially, Bauerle expects the worms to cover small areas as little as a millimeter where the root meets the soil. Eventually she imagines the device could be used to traverse the length of a field, burrowing beneath a normal row of plants to gather data. One of the robot’s tests will be to travel an entire row of maize and collect data on soil density, compactness, temperature and humidity.

Sensors and testing may also include fiber optics to provide direct imaging of roots and reveal growth and angles. Fiber optics may also explore excitation and emission wavelengths of soil microorganisms and root chemistries, including carbon compounds exuded by plant roots.

Bauerle says there are many questions the robots may help answer—from how plants respond to changes in climate, including water availability, to how roots grow based on weather events such as droughts. Combining the in-ground data with information about above-ground characteristics may also help predict factors such as grain yield and stress tolerance.

“I think farmers have known for a long time the plant-soil interface is a very important one for growing crops and has a lot to do with plant productivity, and also with conservation and with soil properties,” Bauerle says. “Even though we’ve known that for so long, we haven’t been able to access it. So, understanding that subterranean system in a much better way can help with a lot of future questions about irrigation, fertigation, soil health—there’s a whole basket of opportunities there.”

Shepherd’s lab has provided initial prototypes and expects to have a digging robot that can do basic measurements like humidity and temperature in under a year.

“As with most people who are working within this arena, all of us are trying our best to help farmers and help food security,” Bauerle says.

Tech News: Purdue Researchers Use AI to Predict Corn Yields, Solix Robot Enjoys Successful Debut and more

University researchers analyze data, predict corn yields with AI

Purdue University geomatics PhD candidate Claudia Aviles Toledo, working with her faculty advisors and co-authors Melba Crawford and Mitch Tuinstra, demonstrated the capability of a recurrent neural network to predict corn yields from several remote sensing technologies and environmental and genetic data.

“This is one of the first AI models to add plant genetics to the story of yield in multiyear large plot-scale experiments,” Tuinstra said. “Now, plant breeders can see how different traits react to varying conditions, which will help them select traits for future more resilient varieties. Growers can also use this to see which varieties might do best in their region.”

Read the full report over at Purdue.edu

Reinke launches E3 precision center pivot system

Reinke Manufacturing has unveiled E3, which the company says is the first precision series of center pivot systems.

The patented irrigation system offers accuracy and performance, ensuring consistent and efficient water management and distribution across diverse field conditions.

E3 is the first precision series of spans and end booms with uniform coupler spacing (in 30” and 60” intervals) to ensure a uniform water application rate the entire length of the system, exceeding previous water uniformity benchmarks.

E3 also includes a variety of new features:

Customizable system configurations using precision spans.
ReinLock, a new anti-racking truss system designed for superior strength.
Reinke V-ring seals on every pipe connection.
Unique single-leg tower design.
ESAC, a series of Electronic Swing Arm Corners designed to irrigate corners for full-field accuracy.

E3 will be available for sale in select markets during the 2025 growing season.

Solinftec details Solix robot progress, challenges

Solinftec has shared an update on the first commercial season of its Solix application robot.

For the 2024 growing season there were 50 robots in use on farms in Indiana and Illinois, monitoring more than 65 million plants. Solix reduced herbicide volumes up to 98% and increased potential yields of row crops by 10%.

Solix is tackling three challenges faced by its customers:

Chemical reduction: by reducing chemical usage, Solix brings a return on investment (ROI) and supports farmers in their efforts to optimize costs.
Labor: the autonomy of Solix Sprayer Robots addresses labor challenges that many customers encounter in the market, reducing reliance on labor.
Sustainability: Solix promotes sustainability by enabling farmers to produce more within the same area, effectively allowing them to achieve greater yields with fewer resources.

Looking ahead to 2025, Solinftec will be expanding its Solix platform into additional states in the U.S. heartland.

Topcon launches Value Line Steering solution

Topcon Agriculture is releasing its new Value Line Steering solution, which the company says is designed specifically for farmers using mid-range tractors on small to medium-sized farms.

The new offering represents a significant step in making autosteering technology accessible to a broader range of farmers.

The Value Line Steering solution is a technology package that includes a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver, electric steering wheel controller, touchscreen console, and Horizon Lite software. The system is compatible with front-wheel-steer tractors. Farmers also have the option to add local, satellite or RTK correction services for enhanced precision.

The Value Line Steering solution is available now through Topcon Agriculture’s global network of authorized dealers.

Yield Data

How Growmark’s New AI Agronomy Agent Turns Data Overload into Field-Level Wins

The Data Inflection Point

Speed to Insight

Viewing 2035 As the Goal

App Delivers Yield Predictions Via Remote Sensing and Artificial Intelligence

2025 Farm Journal Corn and Soybean College: Making A Stand

Research to Results: Salin 247 Robot Advances Iowa Corn Strip Cropping Knowledge

John Deere Challenge: Watch a New York Tech Journalist Farm 20 Acres of Corn for $20 Profit

Eyes In the Sky: Be Aware of Data Collected About Your Farm

NO CONTROL

Yamaha Ag Q&A: When Can Growers Buy Farm Robots? North America Rollout Explained

Bayer, AgVend Collaborate, Aim To Improve Retailer Connectivity To Farmers

Technical Debt: Self Scout to Avoid Tech Pitfalls

More Smart Farming Content for you:

Autonomy In Ag Is Firing On All Cylinders Right Now, And It Looks Different Depending On Where You Live

8 Field Activity Data Types You Need to Collect Now

7 Ways to Make Data Pay

Smart Seed Selection Tool Pledges to Close Yield Gap

What is AcreShield and Yield Optimizer?

Where does the data come from?

Watch: AcreShield CEO Billy Rose Explains the Yield Gap

4 Point Checklist To Bridge The Data Gap With Farmers

Put Your Data To Work: Layers Of Information Pave The Road To Higher Yield

1. Start with accurate yield maps.

2. Solve mysteries by adding layers of data.

3. Let yield, soil and topography maps guide your soil test.

4. Decide what you can fix.

5. What data do you need?

6. How to use your data.

SWAT Maps (Soil, Water and Topography)

Mark Your Calendar

Case IH AF11: What You Need To Know

AF11: What You Need to Know

The Three Agronomy Tools Every Farm Should Be Optimizing

Hear from on The Scoop podcast

7 Agronomic Tips For Greater Yields, ROI and Profitability

Saving the Planet Is Risky Business

Anyone who truly understands the psychology of a farmer understands why this is not happening.

Yes, yield is everything.

That brings us to the real issue and opportunity.

While it seems likely something will emerge at the governmental level, you are already seeing the marketplace respond in very interesting ways with some very unorthodox partnerships.

Growmark Adds Yield Guarantee On AgValidity Platform

The Cyber Worm has Turned on Soil Health

Tech News: Purdue Researchers Use AI to Predict Corn Yields, Solix Robot Enjoys Successful Debut and more