Digital Ag Advancements Enable Split-Planting Trials That Pay Off
March 25, 2021
On-farm field experimentation matters to help with seed product decisions for the following year. Farmers who manage their own on-farm trials - through planting hybrid strips through their field split planting with their planter or seeder - are able to create hybrid-specific yield results that work on their farm.
With all the best planning, recommendations, and crop management practices, there’s still nothing that replaces empirical on-farm data. Digital ag platforms are able to help change the game of on-farm trials in regard to keeping record of experimentation and identifying crop performance insights.
On-farm trials aren't new. Though until recently, the tech for split planting trials remained stagnant: elevator weigh-ins, anecdotal scouting and crop management notes from the field, weigh-wagons, and more recently, real-time yield monitoring. Advances in digital agriculture are changing the game for many operations, enabling zone-level management, from real-time planting or seeding information in the cab to crop performance at harvest time. And it’s not just planting and seeding that farmers can experiment with. FieldView™ users are testing fertility treatments, fungicide applications, tillage impact, and more.
A few specific developments can be credited for the large percentage of digital ag users running on-farm trials:
- Broad compatibility — Equipment colour matters less. FieldView has the broadest equipment connectivity in the industry, so you can run data on machines from many manufacturers and have all your data collected in one place.
- Ease of use — Getting data from the field has gone from cumbersome to convenient. For example, Climate FieldView Drive™ allows for seamless data transfer through Bluetooth to an iPad, and syncs to all devices through CloudSync.
- Field region reporting — Makes head-to-head comparisons anywhere throughout the field, or operation, easy — to see which seed won on the most productive acre, as well as the least productive acre.
For more information on how to get started with your split planting trials this season, watch the video below.