5 minute read
What’s the Point
Agronomy basics and advanced technology go hand in hand as growers continue to work their way through the fall harvest season and begin making plans for next year’s crops.
“Agriculture technology and agronomy are designed to work together to enhance decision making and field performances at the highest level currently possible,” said Chapman Bodiford, Ag Technology Specialist with GreenPoint Ag in North Alabama.
“Combining the two together is how agriculture will continue to advance,” he said. “The goal of agriculture technology is to utilize agronomic research to provide refined solutions and insight for decision making. We are now able to easily compile point-specific and widespread agronomic data to form conclusions and make decisions at a faster rate.”
From a technology standpoint, yield data is the last data set for the 2021 crop flowing into AccuField – a web-based precision-ag platform offered through Alabama Farmers Cooperative that is designed to store, manage and analyze field data.
“Accurate and collected data must be put to work to reap the benefits,” Bodiford said. “AccuField has multiple yield analysis tools such as yield by variety, yield by soil type, yield by soil test, yield by management zones, and many more advanced tools.”
These tools, he said, enable growers to compare and contrast performances of different crop varieties and the field conditions they were grown in to help make decisions for 2022’s crop. A unique tool in AccuField is Seed Matrix, which stores years of variety trial data performed in a specific area and across the Southern region.
“For instance, when selecting for a cotton variety, the varieties that were tested on soils similar to the field of interest will pop up,” Bodiford said. “The grower can then filter the varieties further by irrigated versus dry land tests, how they ranked in yield performance, and how many tests that particular variety has been through.”
The variety or hybrid selected is one of the foundations of next year’s crop, and it is important to utilize the results from research when making such a monumental decision.
“While yield tends to be of paramount importance when deciding what to plant next season, other factors also should be considered when selecting a variety or hybrid,” said Taylor Dill, Agronomy Manager with
GreenPoint Ag in Tennessee. “These factors include vigor, maturity, disease package, traits, lodging, placement, herbicide tolerance, row patterns, grain and fiber quality, and price.
“Yield is not always the most important factor,” Dill said. “There may be other characteristics that would make you not want to plant a specific variety or hybrid. You cannot always make your seed choice just by looking at the top yield in a trial.”
Other agronomic decisions to consider during the fall and winter, he said, include soil sampling, applying lime, controlling Italian ryegrass, making fall fertilizer applications of phosphorus and potassium, ripping the ground, rotating crops, and determining the crop acreage for next year.
Another valuable tool in AccuField, Bodiford said, is AgSolver, a farm planning and budgeting feature that enables growers to analyze field economics on a farm and subfield level.
“Budget layers are created based on input costs such as land rent, seed, CPP, CN and any other costs,” he said. “They are then overlaid onto this year’s yield data and commodity prices.”
Return-on-investment (ROI)-based field report cards are then generated to display not only how each field performed across the farm, but how each field performed on a sub-field level.
On a subfield level, AgSolver will display areas of a field that underperformed economically. “The grower is now able to visually see and determine from an economic standpoint whether or not that low, wet spot is worth planting next year,” he said.
AgSolver tools and reports also can help answer farm-level questions such as whether or not the corn or soybean fungicide application returned a larger ROI compared to fields that were not treated.
“Maybe a grower is questioning renewing their lease on rented ground,” Bodiford said. “AgSolver makes it easy to visually see whether or not that field is performing to the grower’s ROI standards.
“Farming is constantly evolving, and next year’s crop will have new challenges that are difficult to prepare for, from varying input costs, to new seed, chemical and equipment technologies, and the always unpredictable weather.
“With each year creating new challenges, it is very important to define and address the successes and mistakes made in last year’s crop,” Bodiford said. “Good record keeping and data management tools help growers really beat the bushes to determine why certain fields didn’t perform compared to fields that achieved their goal.”
Successes and mistakes can only be defined by the grower, he said. However, almost all successes and mistakes have a ROI aspect to them.
“As we all know, ROI is how the farm stays afloat for not only next year, but hopefully for future generations,” Bodiford said. “This again heightens the importance of addressing mistakes as soon as they arise.”
Dill agrees that it is important for growers to face and correct the mistakes that were made this year though the temptation is to move on to the next crop.
“We all have areas where we can improve,” he said. “You need to know what your successes and failures are to know whether to repeat or change. It’s 40 years of experience versus 40 1-year experiences.”
The adoption of precision agriculture and pushing the limits of technology is creating more confident and progressive growers going forward, Bodiford said.
“At some point, these growers decided to try something new, but like everything, there is a learning curve,” he said. “Not every ag technology tool is for every operation, but there is at least one tool that will fit every operation.”
A key focus of GreenPoint’s AccuField team is customization and seeking the right tools that will enhance a specific grower’s current management style and operation.
“I encourage growers to ask questions,” Bodiford said. “Learn what tools are available and maybe even test a tool on a small portion of the farm before adopting it widespread. You cannot measure or make a conclusion on what you have not recorded or tested.”
