Planting season has arrived for some farmers already, with many more getting ready to roll over the next several weeks.

And 2021 is likely to showcase an extra-busy planting season, with the latest Farm Futures survey hinting at one of the largest crop footprints on record this year. Corn acres are projected at 93.6 million acres, the fourth largest on record if realized. Soybean acres are expected to rise 6.5% year-over-year to 88.5 million acres, meantime.

Farmers who use various precision ag technologies may have a leg up on using farm, field and task data to ensure optimized workflow when planting commences, according to Jesse Chisholm, North America director of sales for Trimble Agriculture. But there are some best practices to ensure everything runs smoothly this spring, he says.

“First, it’s important to export your display data into a larger data management system to clean and structure that data,” he says. “If not properly set up and organized in the preseason, you could incur costly downtime waiting to enter the field with the proper settings.”

One of the most common problems operators encounter is having duplicate or similarly named guidance lines that were set up in error, Chisholm says.

“Cleansing data so the fleet works on the same fields, guidance line and application rates will greatly improve efficiencies as you move from one field to the next,” he says.

Next, Chisholm recommends going to your tech provider (such as a Trimble Expert for those who use those services) for a “preseason system function check.” Some things to consider:

“One area in particular to check is your power source,” Chisholm says. “Precision ag guidance and implement control technologies require a good, clean power source for proper operation. This simple multipoint inspection will reduce costly future repairs or intermittent malfunctions throughout your season.”

Just like any tool, precision ag equipment can be quite helpful if it is used properly and hinder progress if it isn’t. An ounce of prevention is likely to go a long way in avoiding headaches later this spring.