Was 2016 a year of constantly reacting to problems in your fields? What if you could proactively manage your crops to help you improve your return on investment potential?

Here’s how ag technology can help you anticipate problems, quickly remedy concerns and use your learnings to make the coming season even better. I’ll also provide some examples from Craig, a farmer I work with in northern Minnesota, about how ag technology helped him optimize his fields’ potential.

WILL MANGEN 

Get daily reports. Ag tech services bring information to your phone or tablet, including daily summaries of field performance, information on how weather might impact your workweek and in-season imagery (ISI) that alerts you to areas needing attention. You can also monitor crop emergence and weed escapes in the early season through midseason, and see if a late-season fungicide application is needed.

Know where and when to tissue- and soil-sample. Plant growth problems are often the result of nutrient deficiencies, and technology can help you perform targeted tissue and soil sampling to identify them. This might be in your most productive fields, where simply addressing a slight micronutrient deficiency could help add bushels. Or it could be in a lower-producing field with potential, where correcting a more pronounced nutrient deficiency could help salvage yield. On Craig’s farm, I tissue-sampled and soil-sampled in areas where technology led me to do so. We detected a zinc deficiency and applied zinc, as well as a sidedress of nitrogen, to optimize production.

Monitor fields throughout the season. Check to make sure any nutrient, herbicide, insecticide or fungicide applications are doing what they are supposed to do through trend maps that show if things are improving with the crop. Technology can also help you monitor rainfall and save irrigation water as needed.

SAMPLE, SAMPLE: Tissue sampling and soil sampling in areas indicated by technology revealed a zinc deficiency, which was remedied with a zinc application and a sidedress of nitrogen.

Realize the immediate impact of severe weather. High winds, rain and hail badly damaged corn leaves in Craig’s fields. Shortly after, technology detected a slight decrease in crop vigor. One month later, some corn smut was spotted among the damaged corn leaves. ISI showed overall crop vigor improvement, with the damaged field trending higher than the neighboring field due to timely rains and good weather. Using Craig’s input, historical data and ISI, we determined there was still an opportunity to obtain high yields with this crop. After reviewing response to fungicide scores, we made a fact-based decision regarding a fungicide application.

See if you are on track with previous growing seasons. Many ag tech tools use historical data from universities to let you know if things like growing degree days and rainfall are commensurate with previous years; these tools can give you information to help bring your crop successfully over the finish line.

Target applications more precisely. Using technology helps you know what areas of your field are the highest-producing and therefore warrant greater use of crop inputs, as opposed to poorer-performing areas where fewer inputs might be necessary. This can save you time, help you budget more wisely and promote sustainability.

Review performance postharvest. Compare this season’s field performance with that of previous years, and use it to make decisions for next year. A profitability map helped Craig determine where money was made or lost, and evaluate which inputs provided a good return. He was pleased with the gross margin and the positive return on his investment.

In today’s tough market, it may seem like a stretch to invest in technology. But looking at the big picture, technology just might help you increase both yield and ROI (return on investment) potential by helping you better spend precious input dollars. Talk with your agronomist about how technology could help you improve your crop management strategy.

Mangen is an agriculture technology specialist with WinField United in west-central Minnesota. Contact him at [email protected].