New app helps farmers predict corn yields throughout growing process
February 2012 Farmers can better predict corn yields throughout the year using a site-specific Web application developed and commercialized by Advanced Ag Solutions LLC, an affiliate of the Purdue Research Park.
Daryl Starr, founder of Advanced Ag Solutions, said Optimizer 2.0 provides farmers with data through a daily text message and a Web login portal. Messages include the projected corn yield and the most limiting factor for their farm.
Read the complete press release.
Learn more about Optimizer 2.0.
Another Group of Successful Innovator Round Tables
February 2012 Early February 2012, Advanced Ag Solutions hosted our third annual Innovator Roundtable meetings. The first group was held in Crawfordsville, IN. At the meeting, a group of high tech farmers, seed suppliers, farmland acquisition specialists and leaders in agronomy were discussing the implications of possible industry shifts over the foreseeable future and the impact . Larry Kline of BoA shared their business model for helping professional farmers integrate with institutional investors for a long term relationship that has been working over the last 5 years. He shared their outlook and plans for the future and how current deals are taking shape. Bruce Erickson, Education Director at American Society of Agronomy shared a number of statistics on adoption rates and progress for precision agriculture. His insights into the components and adoption rates of various practices were thought provoking. He went on to suggest areas of the industry that needed to change to gain more rapid adoption. This made for a nice transition as Daryl Starr, Founder and President of Advanced Ag Solutions shared the first public release of Optimizer 2.0. A site specific yield model that combines soil, seed and weather profiles that enable a farmer to better understand the development and limitations of his crop.
January 2012 The most difficult task for any farmer and crop adviser who is developing a N management plan is estimating the fertilizer and/or manure N rate for the expected crop uptake demand. Although crop N uptake demand can be estimated based on a three to five-year yield history, knowledge of expected uptake (and removal) at the targeted crop yield, new crop genetic yield potential, and the provision of other essential nutrients and adequate plant protection, but the most unpredictable factor that complicates such estimation is the weather.
Fall soil sampling for next year’s fertilizer decisions
November 2011 Farmers have made excellent progress on this fall’s harvest and it’s time to think about next year’s fertilizer needs. The steady climb in fertilizer prices over the last year, the volatility in grain prices, and the precipitation and flooding extremes across Nebraska this past year make it even more important to do a good job of soil sampling this fall. Recent rains across the state should provide great conditions for sampling after harvest.
This year has produced a range of precipitation across Nebraska. Varying corn yields due to N leaching, disease, or weather damage produce variability in soil residual nitrate-N. Because soil nitrate is mobile, soil sampling is the only reliable way to determine what is left in your soil. Soil samples for nitrate should be taken to at least a three-foot depth for next year’s corn crop.
October 2011 Now, as soil temperatures cool down, is the time to plan your nitrogen management for 2012. The first important question is “How much nitrogen should I apply?” University of Minnesota Extension nitrogen guidelines should be a starting point.
A new Extension nutrient management website houses current fertilizer suggestions and data from the University of Minnesota. This website was made possible by funding from the Minnesota Agricultural Fertilizer Research and Education Council.
Farmers network, discuss agricultural technology during tour organized by Purdue Research Park-based firm
August 2011 Farmers and other agriculture industry leaders participated in a two-day, two-site networking event Aug. 11-12 in Illinois and Indiana covering topics related to on-farm research, mobile technology and farm risk management.
The 2011 Summer Farm Tour was organized by Advanced Ag Solutions LLC, a Purdue Research Park affiliate. The company was founded in 2006 by Purdue alumnus Daryl Starr, CCA. He said the tour, which was held at privately owned farms in Chrisman, Ill., and Springport, Ind., brought progressive farmers together to encourage discussion about innovative methods to conduct business.
Firms develop, market software to help farmers determine farm, field profitability
July 2011 New software developed and marketed for the agricultural sector by two Purdue Research Park-based firms helps farmers calculate the costs and income of each farm and field. It also better determines at what price they can sell their crops and be profitable.
ProfitShot software, developed by DelMar Information Technologies LLC and marketed by Advanced Ag Solutions LLC, helps farmers more easily determine which farm acres are most profitable. Daryl Starr, Certified Crop Adviser and president of Advanced Ag Solutions, said profitability isn't normally easy to determine because farmers segment their business.
Advanced Ag Solutions becomes affiliate of Purdue Research Park
June 2011 A privately owned company that specializes in precision agronomic consulting and has developed data management technologies has become an affiliate of the Purdue Research Park.
Advanced Ag Solutions LLC was founded in 2006 by Daryl Starr, CCA, a Purdue University graduate. The company has 13 employees that provide services including on-farm research, fertility management, seed selection, GPS crop scouting and GPS soil sampling in Indiana and eastern Illinois. The company's clients include both farmers and seed companies.
Late-planted corn susceptible to black cutworm problems
May 2011 Expect black cutworm to be a problem this spring with late-planted corn due to cool, wet weather. “Black cutworm will be a real issue this year because of where the heat units are,” reports Chris Cook, vice president of field agronomy, Syngenta. “We recommend that growers get out there to scout as soon as the corn is in the ground and coming up.”
In addition to delayed corn planting, other risk factors for black cutworm are corn planted after soybeans, minimum tillage, weedy fields and adjacency to permanent vegetation.
May 2011 Advanced Ag Solutions is now offering a Dealership Program. This program was specifically designed to allow us to offer our progressive services outside our geographical region. Companies who have interest in helping farmers grow their businesses through unique service offerings without the headache of development and staffing, are a perfect fit for our program.
April 2011 The Corn Nitrogen Rate Calculator Web tool is a resource that aids nitrogen (N) rate decisions for corn production and is helpful in determining the effect of fertilizer and corn price on application rates. The method for calculating suggested N rates is based on a regional (Corn Belt) approach to N rate guidelines. Details on the approach are provided in the regional publication Concepts and Rationale for Regional Nitrogen Rate Guidelines for Corn. This approach and the Corn Nitrogen Rate Calculator are now being used by seven states across the Corn Belt: Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.
April 2011 We spent the day looking at cover crops and no-till practices in our clients’ fields and wanted to share it with you. We hope to create several videos this summer to demonstrate how we are helping farmers grow their business. We will also be posting many real-time photos of what our scouts are seeing out there on our Facebook page. “Like” our page and follow our scouts this summer!
Visit our Facebook page and "like" us to receive valuable posts throughout the season.
Purdue Research Park-based firm develops seed selection and placement technology
March 2011 A new high-tech product to help farmers select and determine the best ground placement for seed varieties in their fields has been developed by a Purdue Research Park-based firm.
Optimizer, created by DelMar Information Technologies LLC, finds the most suitable seed for a given field by combining yield data of numerous varieties of seeds, research and recommendations derived from seed companies, cropping practices, and farmer preferences.
"The problem of seed variety selection, at its core, is an information problem," said Mikel Berger, software developer at DelMar Information Technologies. "There are numerous data sources available to farmers about seed varieties and their traits, soil types, and other factors that affect the efficacy and profitability of each acre, but before Optimizer, they could not be quickly and effectively used to make data-driven decisions."
Optimizer is commercialized by Advanced Ag Solutions of Lafayette, Ind. President Daryl Starr, CCA, said the software program was developed to manipulate a wide variety of variables that account for seed placement and variety selection with more accuracy.
Read the complete article. Read more about Optimizer.
February 2011 On Tuesday, February 8th a group of growers from across West Central Indiana met in Crawfordsville to discuss a variety of topics. Crop consulting firm, Advanced Ag Solutions hosted the meeting with the goal of bringing together progressive thinkers and speakers with unique approaches in order to spur creative thinking opportunities.
AAS President, Daryl Starr, said at the meeting, “Farmers are forced to make decisions about what seed to plant and where to plant it at a particular rate. They want solid data but eventually need to make a subjective call for their particular field.” He and the group went on to discuss Monsanto’s Dekalb Knowledge Challenge program. Dekalb agronomist Brian Debord shared about the 50+ on-farm research plots organized over the last two years and the geo-spatial analysis of the yield monitor data resulting in better understanding of variety performance by soil type. This information is helping their sales team better place varieties for particular growers once they know more about the soils they farm. Expectations of many growers confirmed the need for this research to begin earlier in the development stages so that information is known before the variety becomes too outdated.
Starr’s company, Advanced Ag Solutions provides an alternative in their Optimizer Seed Selection tool. The program allows a farmer to provide field boundaries, yield goals and preferred seed supplier. The result is a back and forth interaction that improves the placement of particular varieties and more accurate seeding rates. When asked about where his research comes from he says, “We use all available information. This requires us to work with seed companies, but also allows us to use our client’s data and with a splash of intuition.” Something many researchers would caution against. However, Starr, among others are expanding on this approach more seriously with each year.
The idea that variety recommendations and seeding rates could be modified and updated via wireless uplink while in the field during a rainstorm had many shaking their heads. Perhaps the onset of drought tolerant corn and nitrogen management could improve the odds for variety switching on the go? The possibilities are endless but the data management appears to be paramount to the confidence level many growers will have with the decision.
“The precision tools in my cab are capable of more than I am,” said one farmer. No doubt tomorrow’s complexity will assure best management practices are rewarded. For this group, the main take away was the need and ability to trust the persons involved in the decision making process.
“At some point, the best farmers need to go to the source. They need to network with other, like minded farmers and simply ask them what they can and cannot trust about the on-farm research they are using to make the subjective part of business decisions,” said Starr.
Advanced Ag Solutions specializes in helping high tech, progressive farmers grow their business through precision agronomic and economic data collection, analysis and consulting.
February 2011 During the AAS Innovator Round Tables, two groups of growers from across Indiana met to discuss a variety of topics with the goal being to help farmers from a wide region gain clarity about farm business decisions through networking. Speakers and topics included Scott Fervida with ProfitShot, Brian Debord and Kess Berg with Monsanto, and Daniel Kline with Trimble.
January 2011 Nitrogen fertilizer costs remain volatile but continue to be one of the most expensive variable costs for corn. Applying "more than enough N" is no longer cheap "insurance" as it once was many years ago. Applying "more than enough N" is also not environmentally friendly. High N fertilizer costs and environmental impacts should encourage growers to critically evaluate their N fertility program, including application rate, fertilizer material, and timing.
Nitrogen rate recommendations for a given field were traditionally linked to its historical yield levels3. For corn/soybean, the traditional rule of thumb was an N rate equal to about 1 lb of N per bushel of expected yield. For corn following either corn or wheat, the recommendation was equal to about 1.2 lbs. of N per bushel.
These rules of thumb infer that the more N you apply, the more grain you harvest. Actually, yield response to N is usually not a straight-line relationship. In reality, the first pounds of applied N typically return the greatest number of bushels and the last pounds of applied N typically return fewest number of bushels (figure to right). At some level of N, grain yield stops increasing with more N. Consequently, applying more N than the crop can use is dollar wasteful and environmentally distasteful.
December 2010 Fertilizer production costs will be substantially higher in 2011 than they've been for the past couple of years. (Retailers should remind farmers that commodity prices also have increased significantly.)
If you are a shrewd marketer, you have taken advantage of crop pricing opportunities that will help offset the higher production costs. You may still be able to find a few holiday bargains for pre-paid fertilizer, however, most of the good deals ended in November.
Following these tips can help you achieve a profitable fertilizer program for 2011...
November 2010 Farmers want a simple, fast and flexible production recordkeeping system that is easy to use. Why buy a powerhouse system that takes you years to
learn and is difficult to implement, causing you to make expensive decisions with pen and paper based on hunches anyway?
• SIMPLE. Not bogged down with GIS mapping tools or cluttering of your accounting.
• FAST. Only enter the data you want to track. Not limited by accounting rules.
• FLEXIBLE. Only a spreadsheet would be more flexible… but then you'd have to build it!
• INEXPENSIVE. Why pay more for features you won't use?
• SAFE. Data is on your computer and owned by you.
October 2010 A lot of exciting changes are in the works for Advanced Ag Solutions, one of which is the move to our new office headquarters. The other exciting change is the addition of Sarah Smith our new GIS Technician.
September 2010 With the challenging weather conditions that affected many of us this year, many growers are questioning if the nitrogen applied was adequate to meet the needs of the corn crop. One way to evaluate the nitrogen fertility management of a crop is with the Corn Stalk Nitrate Test (CSNT).
The CSNT determines the nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) concentration of corn stalk segments between 6 and 14 inches from the soil surface. Interpretive guidelines have been developed that utilize these NO3-N values to indicate if nitrogen levels were inadequate, satisfactory, or above levels necessary to meet the needs of the crop.
While this information cannot be used to correct issues with this year’s crop, it can be useful in evaluating a nitrogen program and planning for future crops. For more information on the CSNT, please contact us.
August 2010 The first Advanced Ag Solutions Summer Farm Tour was a huge success. Hosted by David Miers of Greensburg and Dan DeSutter of Attica, we were able to gather a great group of ag innovators to share their best management practices with each other. By bringing such creative thinkers together, we demonstrated how great businessmen and women can learn from each other in order to improve their farm profitability and streamline their farming operation. Many attendees were able to gain a unique perspective and network with neighboring farmers.
Today's Corn and Soybean Farmer Should Think Like a CFO
August 2010 Farmers who want to make money in today's unpredictable economy would do well to assume a corporate mindset and think like a chief financial officer (CFO), says Mike Boehlje, a Purdue University agricultural economist says.
With many farm businesses now multimillion-dollar operations and the operating risk in agriculture increasing, producers should focus more time on the financial side of their business, says Boehlje. CFOs think about profitability, capital structure and debt service, size and growth, risk and financial documentation and creating shareholder value, he says.
CFO-type thinking will help farmers navigate swings in commodity prices and production costs. Although price volatility is inherent to farming, price fluctuations are greater today than they were in the past.
June 2010 Successful corn production is the product of optimum planting and preparation. Francis Childs, an Iowa farmer who won the National Corn Growers Association yield contest with a world record corn yield of 442 bushels per acre, says, “…root systems and uniform stands are the foundation of high corn yields.” That is sound advice.
Wet spring conditions are common in the Mid-South, but growers should resist the temptation to push planting when soils are marginally wet. Corn seed should be planted 1.5 to 2 inches deep to assure normal root development. Even though the soil surface may be dry and a tractor can get across the field, the planting zone may contain excess moisture, which can lead to germination and developmental problems.
Cover Crops Can Serve Corn Nitrogen Needs in Continous No-Till
June 2010 Cover crops incorporated into a continuous no-till field crop rotation can produce enough nitrogen to complement, or in some cases, replace corn nitrogen fertilizer applications, according to long-term Ohio State University Extension research.
Seven years of research at Ohio State University’s South Centers at Piketon have found that cover crops such as cow pea or winter pea worked into a corn/soybean/wheat rotation can produce enough nitrogen to support at least 150 bushels of corn per acre.
The findings indicate farmers can save money on spring nitrogen fertilizer applications while reaping the environmental benefits of cover crops.
Read more on the Ohio State University Extension website.
Will Early Corn Planting Affect Insect Populations?
May 2010 For every action, there is a reaction. With nearly 75% of the Illinois corn crop now planted, experts are discussing the potential reaction of insect populations to this year's early corn planting.
For several insects that migrate into Illinois each season, the severity of the infestation from year to year depends upon the intensity and timing of their migration flights. These insects include corn leaf aphids, corn earworms, black cutworms and fall armyworms.
March 2010 Nitrogen fertilizer costs remain volatile but continue to be one of the most expensive variable costs for corn. Applying "more than enough N" is no longer cheap "insurance" as it once was many years ago. Applying "more than enough N" is also not environmentally friendly. High N fertilizer costs should encourage growers to critically evaluate their N fertility program, including application rate, fertilizer material, and timing.
Nitrogen rate recommendations for a given field were traditionally linked to its historical yield levels3. For corn following soybean, the traditional rule of thumb was an N rate equal to about 1 lb of N per bushel of expected yield. For corn following either corn or wheat, the recommendation was equal to about 1.2 lbs. of N per bushel.
These rules of thumb infer that the more N you apply, the more grain you harvest. Actually, yield response to N is usually not a straight-line relationship. In reality, the first pounds of applied N typically return the greatest number of bushels and the last pounds of applied N typically return the fewest number of bushels. At some level of N, grain yield stops increasing with more N. Consequently, applying N above what the crop can use is dollar wasteful and environmentally distasteful...
February 2010 Recent yield contests in some states show that a handful of farmers are coming close to routinely raising 100-bu.-or-better soybeans in consecutive years. If these farmers can find a way to achieve ultra-high soybeans yields year-in and year-out, you can, too.
Many farmers in the central Corn Belt have the potential to raise ultra-high-yielding soybeans without irrigation, says Vince Davis, University of Illinois (U of I) Extension soybean specialist. “For most of our soils in Illinois, we seldom see water as the limiting factor for yields, with the possible exception of August rainfall,” he points out. “We don’t know yet what the greatest limiting factor is here, but we do know that soybeans need to be healthy all season long to achieve top yields.”
Keeping soybeans healthy throughout the growing season isn’t an easy task, however. “Basically, it takes a total management approach with an emphasis on stress reduction,” says Davis. “You need to take a lot of different things into account.”
To increase your chances to attain ultra-high soybean yields, Davis provides the following top-seven tip list...
January 2010 We had a great time at our first round of Innovator Roundtables! Thanks to Dave Swaim and Moe Russell for sharing their insights into the industry. Some hot topics about financial and strategic management included the use of ratios and working capital management during high growth times. When is it okay to have higher machinery and labor costs? And, can you have too low of costs? Dave Swaim led the group through various changes in notill and cover cropping. One particularly hot item was Precision Planting’s AirForce system and how technology advances continue to improve equipment’s adaptability to changing conditions. There was also great interest in Greenseeker’s on the go chlorophyll sensor and how Advanced Ag Solutions can provide a tool and help manage the data in a nitrogen rate trial. I personally, was excited to see so many fine leaders sharing ideas and learning from one another, even in the hallways and during meal time. The future of our industry is bright and the group was ready to influence the waves of change.
January 2010 Advanced Ag Solutions will be hosting “Innovator Round Tables” this month. The goal of the event is to bring together key people in the ag industry to discuss relevant topics together. This is an opportunity for everyone to share ideas, learn from peers and ask some hard questions about what it will take to remain competitive in 2010.
Moe Russell (co-founder of Russell Consulting Group, financial and strategic leader), Bill Haupts (Russell Consulting Group, financial and strategic leader), Dave Swaim (founder of Swaim & Associate fertility and conservation tillage expert), and Randy Wilken (Owner, MWS Seeds) will be the key speakers at the events. Along with these speakers, we will facilitate “hot topic” discussions where attendees can share ideas and concerns.
Watch for an update on what we learned at these Round Tables and check out pictures of the events on our Facebook Fan page.
