Page 7 - R&I Guide

Making Data Work For You

Do you remember being in school and taking a test, only to not get the
grade that you were hoping for? When the teacher handed back the test, the
first thing you do is look back at the answers that you missed to see what the
correct answer were so you could be prepared and study again for the next
test.
Agriculture isn't much different. Our grade at the end of the season is our
yield. Having yield data is our chance to look back and see what we missed
and how we can learn for the next year.
When we collect yield data from the combine and look at the maps,
there are probably a lot of things that we already know. We will see those hill
tops or those mud holes that show up every year. Maybe there was an old
disposal well that just doesn't produce like the rest of the field. There might
even be a trend in the field that keeps showing up and getting worse. If we
look at it year over year it doesn't stand out that much, but when you look over
several years you can really see some changes. Think about when you haven't
seen someone in a while how much they change. Being able to see a field
change over time might give some insight into a bigger issue that we might not
otherwise notice. From here we can take action to see what might be going on
in the field and how do we fix it. Maybe the field needs grid sampled because
pH is getting out of hand in a particular area or fertility is dropping and not
showing up in a composite sample. Simply put, yield data gives you a different
look at what might be going on in your field.
On farm research is another area that collecting data can be incredibly
beneficial. If there are two hybrids in the field, one might produce better then
the other. When we layer planting data with yield data, benchmarking hybrids
becomes a breeze. No longer do we have to worry about keeping separate
scale tickets to see the yield difference.