Farmers don’t need more data. They need to get more meaning from the data they already have.
That’s the message from Kess Berg, co-founder and chief innovation officer of Advanced Agrilytics, and an Indiana farmer. His approach to using data starts with a simple premise: Every acre you farm is different, and field averages can hide the factors that drive those differences.
“You never buy, rent, inherit a perfect piece of ground,” Berg says. “Sometimes you get pretty fortunate, sometimes you don’t.”
Environment-First Approach
Berg grew up in Ohio, spending hours in the field and learning to recognize subtle changes in topography, soils and crop performance.
Those years of experience shaped what he calls his “environment first” approach to agronomic decision-making.
Rather than starting with a product or input, Berg believes farmers benefit most by first understanding the environment in which their crop is growing — particularly how water moves (or doesn’t) across fields and through soil.
That involves looking at data layers differently and across various tools, including yield maps, soil tests, field elevation and planter data.
Ask ‘Which Years?’ Not ‘How Many?’
One of the first questions farmers often ask Kess when discussing yield data is how many years of information are needed to make a useful analysis from which to make decisions.
Berg believes the better question to ask is: Which years are important?
In much of the Midwest, he says, some growing seasons – especially those that are challenging – reveal far more about a field’s production limitations than others.
Berg points to 2012, a drought year, as being particularly valuable because it helped expose where fields could access and hold water.
He also references 2010 and 2015, when heavy rainfall and saturated conditions in his area revealed a different set of limitations in fields.
Contrasting seasons can help farmers identify areas where water becomes a limiting factor — either because corn and soybeans can’t access enough of it or because excess water remains in the soil.
“It’s not specifically the amount of years [that’s important],” he told Andrew McCrea during a recent episode of Farming The Countryside. “It’s how do you define outcome of each one of those individual years? Because the weather effect will tell you something valuable.”
That same data can also help farmers think about nutrient losses, including nitrogen lost through denitrification or leaching.
Follow the Water For Insights
The availability and movement of water are central to how Berg farms as well as how he evaluates agronomic and management practices at Advanced Agrilytics.
“Our group focuses on where water runs and where water runs from,” he says.
Elevation data can also help tell that story. Many states now have statewide lidar-derived elevation data available. This is three-dimensional information about the shape of the Earth’s surface, giving farmers access to much more detailed information about their field topography.
Berg believes many farmers are not aware that information is available or haven’t fully tapped the value of that information.
Untapped Value in Planter Data
From an equipment standpoint, Berg says he believes most farmers haven’t tapped the full value of information they’re collecting, particularly planter downforce data.
Modern planters measure the force needed to maintain seed depth. Berg converts those measurements into soil resistance maps that reveal infiltration problems.
“If you are applying 300 pounds or 250 pounds of downforce to get a seed placed 2 inches deep, what do you think the infiltration rate is there?” Berg asks. “Not very good.”
That information can help farmers identify areas where rainfall runs off or pools near the surface — critical intelligence many growers collect every spring often without realizing its value.
Don’t Trust Field Averages
Berg encourages farmers to not rely on averages when evaluating data and making decisions based on it.
“The average of four and six is five. The average of two and eight is also five,” he says. “It’s really important to understand what is that variability inside of a field, so you can address it better.”
A 200-bushel corn yield average could mean there is consistent production across the entire field — or massive swings between high-performing and struggling areas. He notes those scenarios demand completely different management strategies, and illustrate why relying on averages can be faulty.
Given such variability, Berg emphasizes calibrated, accurate harvest data and connecting multiple datasets rather than examining each in isolation. Planting data, tillage tractor engine-load information, and yield maps all tell part of the story.
From Data to Valuable Decisions
The goal of precision agriculture is being able to make better decisions.
A farmer managing 100 or 200 fields doesn’t need another report showing variability exists. That farmer needs to know which fields deserve attention first and exactly what action to take.
“It’s taking the data that we have and truly making an actionable decision, and prioritizing those decisions, too,” Berg says.
That requires moving beyond identifying what’s working or failing to understanding why something occurs — and then what to do about it. Berg says combining spatial data with plant physiology helps provide those answers.
“If you can understand where nitrogen and carbon are moving in the plant every day, you can figure a lot of things out,” he says.
Opportunity To Drive ROI
With tight margins continuing to squeeze farmers, the value of data increasingly comes down to one measure: Does it improve the farm’s economic performance?
For farmers who are already outperforming their county averages, Berg sees an opportunity to build on that advantage. Growers consistently producing “30, 40, 50 bushels better than the county average” have an important advantage because they can “make the most out of what that low market is” without necessarily adding more input costs, he notes.
Berg says detailed, environment-first analytics can help these farmers understand what is driving those higher yields — from water movement and infiltration to other field-level limiting factors — and use that knowledge to keep improving. The goal, he adds, is to make the most of every acre in good years and build greater resilience when markets tighten.
You can listen to Berg and McCrea’s complete conversation on Farming The Countryside at the link below:
