Advanced Ag Solutions' December Newsletter

• “Attack Your ‘L-Factor” by Daryl Starr
• A New Approach: Advanced Ag SOLUTIONS
• Featured Service: Ground Imaging Beats Aerial
• Team News: Thompson Farms Dealership
• New Developments - Daily Yield Text Alerts
• Event Planning: Innovator Round Tables

A Word from Daryl...

We broke more records this fall for total seasonal acres through our company. Thank you all for entrusting a portion of your farm to us! One client said to me, "You know, Daryl, yields are lower overall because of the lack of rain, but our variable rate seeding and nitrogen paid handsomely this year." The reason… more seed in higher moisture holding soils yielded 250+ bushels per acre, while the lighter ground balanced their costs and prevented throwing blank ears (which we saw in final scouting passes on several farms this year! Yikes!) In the end, they were yielding higher margin corn… more bushels, lower costs. I am excited to refine this further with more real time updates, including a weather tool that sends yield estimates daily via text message… or variable rate recommendations at the last minute given historic and forecast weather. Take that information and some crop sensors and GPS plant stands and we are poised to explode our client's yields with lower risks! Thanks again for your feedback, it spurs us onto greater and more applicable services. Please continue to contact us with your ideas!

Integrated Crop Management

“Attack your "L-Factor” by Daryl Starr, CCA

Every square inch of your farm has a limiting factor. This is the "L-Factor." This limitation restricts that little seed from achieving its fullest, record setting yield. We've all heard that the highest yield potential is while it is still in the bag, but when does that yield potential really start going down? And what causes it to go down? And finally, and most importantly, what can we do to protect that massive potential?!

In our experience, farmers are experts at machinery invention and operation. They can build and operate some of the most sophisticated equipment in the world to deliver a seed into a precision environment and cover that acre with the least overlap of herbicide or fungicide. Harvest losses will be minimized and acres per hour will be optimized. However, we have also noticed that farmers are predominantly business managers and lack time to diagnose and respond to the growing environment changes in their plant factory. If equipment optimization is their key passion then acres per hour is their proudest moment… NOT their bushels per dollar invested.

Of course you might say that weather yanks this from their control, but alas, if that were the case, why would timing equipment in the field versus soil conditions matter? Farmers address and respond to weather as it relates to running their equipment so why not adjust and respond to changes in yield potential? Probably because no one quantifies their yield expectation and actually projects their limiting factor for every square inch of the farm. It's just too much data and too dynamic and way too difficult to even consider. Or is it?

We believe that a yield prediction model that assigns a limiting factor to each inch of the farm does not have to be perfectly accurate to provide massive value. Imagine if you had a tool that told you the likelihood of nitrogen loss after a big rain? And that this nitrogen loss was adjusted for your actual application timing, form and soils for your actual fields, would that have value? Of course it would! Even if it were not perfect you could go to the field to assess the odds, or you could wait until it became obvious. You might not respond exactly according to the model every time but it would provide you with a baseline to spur further investigation and better management decisions.

A New Approach

Advanced Ag SOLUTIONS

After more than 5 years in business we have a few proven SOLUTIONS that we are very proud of. These are basically packages of various services that have proven to increase yields, lower risk and make farming easier and more fun for our clients. If you have not been on our web site recently, there are a number of changes we have made. We've dropped some slow to catch on services and dialed in better on our core competencies. These changes are really nothing more than a maturing of our strategic plan. While recharging our idea engine this past year we realized just how critical SOLUTIONS are to the intent of our business. To that end, we are rolling out popular and powerful service bundles for key management challenges, including Nitrogen, Seed, Fertility and Workflow. Each of these will be branded with the term SOLUTIONS. We are not doing this as a gimmic or something, we honestly believe in the combination of services in each and in the whole of each. Independently, the services are of value, together they provide real and tangible Advanced Ag SOLUTIONS. Stay tuned to learn how these components fit together for maximum returns.

Featured Service

Ground Imaging Beats Aerial

We now have a GreenSeeker sensor available for field mapping! While running Veris EC data this fall we mounted the sensor onto the rig and mapped some annual ryegrass cover crop. Amazingly, the tool picked up very fine detail in variability that coincided with the EC data and the heaviest soils that were mineralizing the most nitrogen this fall. However, it also picked up stronger annual ryegrass stands across particular clay soils that appear to be highly productive areas. We envision this service mapping anything and everything that grows on your farm. We can mount on an ATV and high speed capture observations and turn around a VR recommendation within 24 hours! This tool has proven to reduce costs and increase yields in wheat and corn. We make it so you don't have to own one or mess with the data.

Team News

AAS signs up Thompson Farms as Dealer

Bryan Thompson joined our Dealer network to help service the West Central Ohio marketplace with our services. His growing team will be trained in Lafayette, IN and data processing and job routing will dispatch from here while they provide in-field solutions to clients there.

New Developments

Daily Yield Text Alerts

Early Sign Up has begun for daily Yield Alerts via text message. You get projected yields and limiting factor for your county for free… or for your actual farm fields for a small monthly fee.

Event Planning

Innovator Round Tables

We’re in the process of planning for the next Innovator Round Tables coming up in early February. We are considering changing the format slightly to include more “workshop” type exercises in order to learn more from each other.

Do you have any ideas you’d like to share on ways to improve our meetings? Would you like to be a part of the planning committee?