Speakers represented the seed and satellite industries
By Diego Flammini, Farms.com
Two hundred or so farmers made their way into the Crystal Ball Room at the Best Western Lamplighter Inn in London, Ontario to take in the opening panel discussion of the 2nd annual Precision Agriculture Conference.
The theme for the conference in 2015 is “Practical Pathways to Drive Real Results”.
“We’re trying to get more information, more knowledge to farmers and agronomists so they can get started with their farmers and on their acres,” said Farms.com Executive Vice President Joe Dales during the opening panel discussion. “The benefit of having a group like this together for a day and a little bit is the transferring of knowledge and learning experiences.”
The group not only includes the attendees, but also the exhibitors and expert speakers who are present at the show. The conference’s opening panel consisted of Steve Redmond, David Scott, and Steve Denys.
Steve Redmond, a precision ag specialist with Hensall District Co-operative started off the panel presentation by discussing five things farmers learned in 2014.
1. Precision ag is spatial management – Every field is different so there’s no need to try and average the results for an entire field to see if it works on your farm.
2. Farmers need to build a precision ag team – The team should consist of people steeped in agronomy so the farmer is receiving the best guidance when they ask for it.
3. NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) maps are useful – Sensors like GreenSeeker map crop vegetation and are highly correlated to final yields
4. Plants do not lie – Yield monitors can have errors due to various factors, but getting dirty and looking at the plants will tell you the truth about what’s actually going on.
5. Do not give up on yield monitors – Processing is becoming more automatic and everything is relevant so farmers need their yield monitors and data to validate what they’re doing.
Stay tuned for the second part of coverage about the opening panel at the 2015 Precision Agriculture Conference and don’t forget to join the discussion. Did you attend the opening panel? What did you take away from it?