Karon Cowan presents at the Precision Agriculture Conference
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com
At her breakout session during the Precision Agriculture Conference in London, Ontario, Karon Cowan, founder of AgTech GIS, referenced a quote that deals with two very different items.
“Data is the new soil,” she said, quoting data journalist David McCandless to a room of about 50 people during her presentation.
“There’s no better use for that quote than in the arena of precision ag,” she said.
Like soil, Cowan outlined three ways data should to be treated in order for farmers to get the most out of software they may be using to collect information about their farm.
Cowan outlined “data tillage” as getting organized information into a space, using tools like software to do so.
She explained “data fertilization” as adding different data types from a variety of sources, allowing farmers to compare, combine and learn from the information.
“Data harvesting” is using the information to add knowledge.
Cowan said data needs a place to live and software provides that.
When it comes to all the information precision agriculture can provide and the capabilities of that information, Cowan says software is the connective tissue between the two since it’s happening anyway.
Having software and using it can help farmers keep track of very detailed information, including insurance claims and neonic documentation. Cowan said having software and not using it is similar to buying a big screen TV and not taking it out of the box.
Cowan summarized what farmers should do with software in two words:
Understand
Share
E valuate
Information
Tool
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