Remember when getting ready to plant meant making sure equipment was serviced? Those days are slipping away. Sure, you still have to service the tractors and implements for the new season, but you also have to make sure the electronics on board are ready to rumble, too.

And you will want to do some final analysis on the data you collected in 2017 to determine if final changes are needed for 2018. Or perhaps this is the year you start looking at data as more than pretty maps with a built-in tiling guide. Either way, data are moving to the top of the must-do list for many thriving producers.

And before you send me an email with either an example of someone who went broke using data or someone who never uses data and they’re retiring rich, keep in mind that data are a tool for leveling the playing field for all producers. Those who embrace the tools — including the adjustment headaches of putting them to use — will see a benefit.

In my “other job” here at Farm Progress, I am involved in looking at and following new technology. We’re building a new farming framework, where internet-connected sensors can help you better understand your crop: where yield maps help build better fertility maps that boost yield and help keep nutrients with the crop for utilization, and where in-season mapping provides information for disease and pest control.

Tech and the West
Out West some of the best tech is still just coming on, since a lot of companies are focused on Midwest row crops or specialty crops. For specialty crop producers, there are a range of sensors that can be put to use to measure a range of indexes: crop stress to soil tension to best moisture management. Yet it still starts for many at the yield monitor from the combine.

What is that colorful map telling you? Was there a field area that looked great all last summer that turned up with more red in the low-yielding side of the legend than you expected? Why did that happen?

Tech can alert you to the what, but you — or your trusted adviser — have to get out there and find the why. Those relying solely on yield maps are working with last-year’s data — that may not be enough information for the future, but it’s a start.

Once you’re deploying those yield maps for best results, the next step is to figure out what in-season measurements you should be taking to make changes, applications or other improvements for boosting yield. Satellite imagery can alert your field scouts to trouble. A drone can capture crop stress before you can (or a malfunctioning pivot head in an irrigation rig). These newer in-season tools make you ask new questions, or provide you guidance for new tactics for your crop.

And all this information is going to teach you something about that field, crop or production practice you may not have known. Every field has its quirks. Grandpa knew them, but things are changing. We know more about soil-crop interactions than before, and with this tech, we’re just getting started.

For 2018, consider the information you’re collecting and how you’re using it. If there’s something we should be covering, send me a note and we’ll look into it. Just email [email protected].