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Precision agriculture is now simply modern farming

Growers embrace technology to produce healthy, profitable crops

3 Min Read
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by Mark J. Davis, Regional Manager, Simplot SmartFarm®

Technology in farming is now mainstream. Growers have used precision agriculture techniques for more than 20 years. Long gone are the days of treating a field holistically. Site-specific agriculture is now commonplace on many farms. Growers have embraced technology as a way to produce healthy, profitable crops. Hexa Reports projects precision agriculture will grow to $43.4 billion by 2025.

Maybe “precision agriculture” as a term has run its course. Today, agriculture is all about precision, accuracy and exactness made possible by better technology and more detailed data. Perhaps the precision now common in agriculture is simply modern farming.

Modern farming with modern technologies helps growers treat each acre differently and identify optimal value in three steps. It's a value equation that leads to better results.

  1. Gain a better understanding of field variability to guide field sampling

  2. Identify the specific requirements within a field and create data-driven zone prescriptions to maximize field productivity

  3. Improve the quality and quantity of harvested crops with precise variable rate applications

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Value doesn’t happen magically. When done right, it takes proven specialists using digital sensing tools, conducting complex analysis and data analytics, and applying extensive knowledge of local conditions and weather patterns to provide growers with valuable data.

FROM PRECISION AG TO DECISION AG

Modern farming is farming with facts. Simplot SmartFarm® harnesses modern technology, precise data and boots-on-the-ground agronomy to produce real-time recommendations for variable rate applications. With the ability to make more informed decisions about every acre through all stages of farming, farmers can decrease their costs and reap increased yields without wasting resources.

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While precision agriculture was game-changing, “data-driven agronomy” may offer even greater potential because it encompasses the whole data collection, management, and analysis process. It offers more insights. Data-driven agronomy means looking at agricultural data from a total perspective.

We’re migrating farming from analog to digital, pixel by pixel, as we work to get more granular about really understanding the complete dynamic picture in a field. Digitization, multiple data sources and precise soil sampling help to identify field variability, tease out opportunities to make agronomic adjustments and deliver more accurate nutrient recommendations.

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With modern tools, data connections can be made among the growers’ own equipment, third-party applicators, field imagery, soil conductivity mapping sensors, soil testing labs, and more. With connected technologies, the data can flow seamlessly for more rapid analysis, eliminating time-consuming manual uploads and downloads and hand entering information. Modern tools allow for faster and more thoroughly informed decision making.

With data flowing into a central repository of historic yield, field imagery, soil test information, elevation, soil conductivity, and more, growers and agronomists can now see several layers of information simultaneously and can better identify long-term trends, and factors influencing yield and quality. The comparison of more data points, coupled with the grower’s experience, helps us truly understand what’s happening on a specific acre and what can be done. Data integration helps us to think, act, and manage more quickly and with greater reliability.

We still have work to do, but the goal is to use data is drive action and decisions. We have moved from precision agriculture to decision agriculture. Or in other words, modern farming.

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