Help Maximize Agronomic Data Value with a Six-Step Approach
Conducting a data health check can help save downtime and frustrations throughout the year, while ensuring primary focus remains on core tasks like planting, spraying, and harvesting.
Early in the year, most growers spend time in the shop getting equipment in prime condition for the upcoming season, writes Erin Hightower at CropLife. As they check lubricants, inspect common wear parts, and give machines proper care, it is equally important to remind them that now is the time to do an annual data health check.
An annual data health check is an opportunity to review data, set goals, and ensure everyone on the team is ready for the growing season. The challenge is…well, there are plenty of challenges when it comes to working with growers and data. With more than a dozen growing seasons under my belt, I have seen firsthand that data can be a burden or a boon, depending on how well growers prepare for and actually use that data.
Challenges With Data
Depending on the farm and its size, the person in charge of data management might be a designated data expert or an operator who’s relatively data-savvy. On other farms, especially smaller owner/operator ones, I see that responsibility often falls to an individual that may be more pensive towards data and technology.
The level of knowledge among operators and other staff is also extremely varied from one farm to another. Some operators are overwhelmed by the display enough that they are constantly in field one, operations one, planting variety one, while others are more savvy. These are just a few of the challenges that make our role as trusted advisors equal parts tough and crucial.
Data challenges can be remedied by taking a step-by-step approach with growers, covering the following six areas that are key to building a good data management effort. Conducting this overall data health check can help save downtime and frustrations throughout the year, while ensuring primary focus remains on core tasks like planting, spraying, and harvesting.
1. Install Updates
Name a piece of technology that does not seem like it needs an update every 20 minutes. Okay, that is a slight exaggeration but the truth is updates are a part of modern life. They have to be done and there is no escaping them. I admit, I pushed the “delay update” button on my laptop at least 50 times in the past several weeks. But we all do that. No big deal, right?
Nothing is worse than a piece of technology deciding, at that pivotal moment it is needed, that it cannot go any longer without the update that was put off time and time again. With those systems at the heart of data collection, it is crucial to take care of all system updates during an annual data health check. It is also a good time to complete renewals, such as extending subscriptions and renewing software agreements.
I find it is helpful to explain this to growers in a way that mirrors a conversation about preventative maintenance. By planning for important maintenance tasks, the grower is in control of that downtime and can do it when it is most convenient. The same reasoning applies to technology updates. Plan that downtime with growers to take care of important updates and renewals, and there will be less chance of interruption during an inconvenient time, say, at 5 a.m. when harvest is in full swing.