The value of data capture and timely analysis

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Too often, data from your fields is left too long or never analyzed at all. Wireless technology can give you a rapid, organized and secure way of moving and archiving your data and having it in a format which will help you understand what has happened in your fields

by DALE COWAN

The technology of yield monitors has become ubiquitous on combines. Yields for crops such as grain corn and soybean can easily be captured and mapped at harvest. But often, the yield data is processed and analyzed at a later date and sometimes the information that is needed to interpret the data fades away with time. If left too long, some of the value may simply be lost or deemed unimportant at some later time. Too often, data is never analyzed and opportunities are lost.

I have often said that the value in precision agriculture technologies lies in setting up learning opportunities in the form of replicated strip trials or treatments that can be recorded and analyzed with captured data in GIS software in the office.

The integration of planting, spraying, fertilizer application, imagery and harvesting technologies is offering both the simplicity of "doing" along with analysis and "learning." The information cycle of managing data with an "in the office, to the field, back to the office" flow helps to organize data and add value to the use of the technologies.

One such example may be to record the planting of different hybrids, even as far as a split planter set-up where each half of the planter is planting a different hybrid. Once the planting layer is recorded, it can be transferred and stored in the GIS software to wait for the harvest layer to come in. Whether or not you do it yourself with a desktop application GIS or use some of the many cloud-based services, the most important thing is to have something worth recording which can subsequently be analyzed.

One way to facilitate and simplify the movement of data is to use some of the wireless transfer systems, such as Agfiniti from Ag Leader, JDLink or Connected Farm. These technologies can move captured data in real time, or almost real time, to a cloud server and then onto your computer or that of a collaborator. It assures a rapid, seamless, organized and secure way of moving and archiving your data and having it in a format with other layers to facilitate rapid analysis. In short, everything in the same place in an organized format to help capture and understand what has happened in your fields.

Waiting until harvest is over can be very disappointing. If, for example, the GPS unit was failing, you may have captured less than ideal maps all harvest season long. With real time movement, problems can be detected quickly, fixed and disappointment avoided.  

Last year at harvest time, we experienced firsthand the movement of yield data wirelessly with Agfiniti and JDLink. Essentially within five minutes of the farmer finishing harvest, we received the yield data directly into our GIS and used both the soil test data and the actual yield data to create a nutrient management strategy around build, maintenance and drawdown. The farmer had the information 20 minutes later and could then make management decision around fertilizer applications very quickly. Those files were then uploaded to the applicator and, within the hour, fertilizer was being spread using the 4R Nutrient Stewardship approach. The seed-ordering season occurs during harvest. Many farmers wait to see hybrid performance data before they order seed. Setting up the corn planter to record hybrid placement and using those same layers in the yield monitor at harvest, farmers can see immediately how the hybrids are performing right on the monitor. This facilitates the evaluation of hybrids on their fields rather quickly. Then they can even order online using a smart phone from their combine seat.

Setting up the learning opportunities, whether it is for hybrids, varieties, fertilizer rates or plant health treatments, starts you on a path of using your own factual data for calculating return on investment (ROI) and enables you to rely less on anecdotal observations. There is no point to setting up tests and not do an ROI calculation.

The value in precision ag equipment is realized when effective decisions are based on treatment results set by you on things you want to know that end up making you more profit. You are only limited by your capacity to determine what affects yield and income the most in your operation and set up the treatments to test them. The technology is of greater value when insight is gained that is beyond the obvious.

The map below, shows a split planter set up. This map will be used at harvest time in the yield monitor to display the harvest information by hybrid. We can also evaluate the information very quickly afterwards with a wireless transfer of the yield data after the field is completed. BF

Dale Cowan is a Certified Crop Adviser in Ontario and the Senior Agronomist and Sales Manager for Agris and Wanstead Co-operatives, located in southwestern Ontario.