Drinking from the Fire Hose - Using Big Data and Digital Ag to Improve Decision Making for Grower.

Each year, growers make many key decisions to determine the best way to address yield variability and maximize productivity. Looking at the planting season alone, these decisions include type of crop, type of seed, field choice, timing of planting, row width, planting rates, fertility, crop protection, and types of agronomic practices. At the same time, we live in a world that faces burgeoning food security needs, shrinking arable land, water uncertainty, as well as a strong desire for sustainable agriculture practices that limit input resources.

These challenges require new knowledge, insights, tools and practices with the ability to respond to fast-changing agricultural situations. Agriculture systems are receiving boosts in productivity from advanced seed genetics, biotechnology and crop protection technologies. There are also vast amounts of data being collected on the farm through a wide array of precision ag equipment, field implements, weather stations, and soil and plant measurements. These inputs are augmented by new, advanced sensors of increasing capability and sophistication. The confluence of Data Science and Precision Ag promises to help growers manage this huge amount of data, enabling more integrated and refined decision-making on the farm.

In this presentation, we describe how precision ag and data science are being brought together through digital ag tools to assist growers in making the best decisions to increase farm productivity, improve input efficiency and maximize profit while minimizing risks due to uncertainties in weather, soil performance and management practice variabilities.