Precision Agriculture

The thought of $3.50 corn for the foreseeable future seems pretty disheartening, but if you look and the precision ag space you might notice some light at the end of the tunnel. We’ve come to a place where we are collecting a lot of good yield, planting, and as applied data but when it comes to using this data beyond looking at a paper map, we haven’t been using it to its full potential.

Now that we’ve created a place to pull in all of these data layers into one place (FS AIS) we can finally do some advanced analytics with multiple data layers to create some really intriguing insight.

Imagine being able to identify areas in your field that have been consistently losing $250+ per acre per year over the past 3 years while other areas of your farm have production capped at 230 bushels because that’s all you fertilize for.

What if you could utilize the data you’ve already taken the time and spent the money to collect to give you a better idea of where to spend that same $250 to maximize your ROI? How would this change your operation?

Being able to put these layers together to generate profitability zones in your fields on a map is right on the horizon and is the sort of tool that will be utilized by the growers who will find their way back to prosperity the quickest.

Dry Fertilizer, Planting Prescriptions, and Nitrogen

There has never been a time when variable rate technology has been more valuable and crucial to your bottom line as it is right now. The technology is here to help you micromanage your fields further than ever before to maximize your ROI in a time of razor thin margins. Turning a profit is becoming less of an art and more of a science and with that in mind, our new variable rate prescription tools are a perfect fit to lead you on the path back to prosperity. Here are a few key variable rate applications we offer:

Dry Fertilizer

This is not a new concept and chances are that you’ve been variable rating your fertilizer for many years. However, we now have the technology to take your yield data and overlay it with your soil test data to create variable rate fertilizer maps that put nutrients back into the soil at the same rate that they were removed as well as build those soils to appropriate levels. By doing this, your fertilizer is being applied as accurately as possible to give you the most bang for your buck.

Planting

Many growers have been apprehensive to adopt this practice despite currently having the ability to utilize it on their planter right now. The issue has been that many variable rate planting maps up to this point have relied heavily on soil maps that are too often excessively inaccurate and inadequate to be able to base your planting decisions on. It is no surprise that many growers do not have very much confidence in those types of planting maps. Fortunately, with FS AIS we are able to create variable rate planting maps that use multiple layers of data such as yield, SSURGO soil maps, elevation, and grid sampling data to name a few. The best part is that an experienced agronomist who is familiar with your operation builds the recommendation with you and not a mystical, all knowing computer in some far off land. You can rest assured knowing that your planting recommendations are built with the best in technology and agronomy expertise to place your seeds as accurately as possible at planting.

Nitrogen

Years ago nitrogen was relatively cheap and since it is such an important input, we often errored on the side of over applying just so that N wasn’t the limiting factor. With lower commodity prices, increased pressure for environmental regulations, and improvements in technology; the table has been set to adopt variable rate nitrogen on a very large scale. When you think about how your management practices might change under a program like this, the thought of the increase of your ROI on your nitrogen dollars gets very interesting when you realize that you can more effectively place your nitrogen by decreasing your rates on your lower producing acres and increase your rates on your higher producing acres. Who wouldn’t get excited about that?

These are just a few things that are now possible thanks to our new FS AIS mapping program that is exclusive to FS member companies. Our capabilities stretch far beyond these key items, so please contact us here to see how we can meet your specific needs.

One fact that is often overlooked is that the best managers have boots on the ground throughout the entire growing season to monitor the ever changing condition of their crops. This valuable information helps you make the best possible management decisions that ultimately reward you with peace of mind and an increased return on your investment. If you don’t have someone in your operation that can do this, you’ll need to hire someone to do this for you or you risk leaving money on the table.

Ag View Precision’s scouting program has the ability to meet the needs of the diverse collection of farming enterprises in our trade territory, including yours. Our team of crop scouts participate in extensive weekly trainings with a team of highly experienced CCAs guiding them every step of the way through out every week.

By signing up for scouting through Ag View Precision, you will get a detailed written report, a map, and pictures of what our scouts are seeing in your field. Imagine being able to quickly identify the actions you need to take to make the very best management decisions for your farm every week, even when you are up in Canada fishing out on the lake.

Be proactive in managing your crop so you don’t set yourself up for any surprises in your yield monitor next fall by monitoring your fields all season long with crop scouting from Ag View Precision. For more details, contact us here or find your local Ag View FS location today.

Ag View Precision offers the full product line up from both Precision Planting and Ag Leader, providing you with aftermarket equipment solutions to keep your equipment up to date no matter what your needs are. With the addition of our DigiFarm dealership in 2016, we now can provide a very reasonably priced RTK correction signal. In addition to these dealerships, we are also a Climate dealer which makes us a one stop shop for all of your precision equipment, software, and data needs. For more information on what we can do for you, contact our Precision Tech Specialist, Matt Holmbeck here or call (815) 866-6025.