Better Farming – September 2016

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Better Farming September 2016 Farm News First > 51
MACHINERYAT WORK
Yet, once a producer acquires yield
mapping for the combine a different
picture of the field comes in mind.
Yes, in the end, they trucked away the
180-bushel per-acre average. But, all
of a sudden, the 260-bushel per-acre
spots stand out from the 90-bushel
per-acre spots which the eye does not
see. And questions arise: what
happened? How can we get 260
everywhere?
Yield mapping started in the early
1990s with a Midwestern U.S.
company which figured out a way to
register yield on the go in a combine.
Some of the main manufacturers also
adapted this technology, and others
came out with their own variants.
Farmers judged yield mapping on its
accuracy by the scale tickets from the
elevator, but it did not always live up
to the expectations.
You could print a nice colourful
picture, showing the different levels
of yields, from the highest yield in
nice green to the lower yields in
“screaming” red. But what can you do
with that? In the best case scenario,
the picture was simply printed and
stuck in a binder.
But some early adapters saw there
had to be something to yield map-
ping, puzzled with it and used it to
their advantage. I personally know
someone who took a printed map
with him in the tractor and started
spreading lime on the lower-yielding
areas. Voilà: the first controlled
spreading system for putting lime
where it was needed and not just
spread over the whole field. Yield
mapping gives you an overview of
your field, in terms of what it actually
did versus what you think it did.
I know a lot of you know your
fields and are well in tune with how
they perform. You are well aware of
drain issues or sand knolls in your
field, but how do you relay this
information to your agronomist? A
picture is worth a thousand words,
they say. Yield mapping gives you a
way to communicate your specific
needs to someone who does not
know your fields as well as you do. In
turn, they can use this information to
send a fertilizer spreader in the field
and control its output according to
the needs in the field. The applicator
can avoid applying fertilizer on a
poor area that cannot utilize the
nutrients and also prevent waste or
run-off.
Yield is a good start to collecting
data from your fields. Most new
combines are factory-equipped with
yield monitor systems and some even
have all of the necessary GPS-related
equipment included. Equipment
dealers and precision ag sales consul-
tants also sell aftermarket kits for
most machines for relatively reason-
able prices.
Please do not get hung up on
whether the yield mapping system
reads 105 bushels per acre where it
should read 95 or 115 bushels per
acre. Sure, accuracy is important and
nice.