Monsanto’s new product, which will launch in 2014, offers farmers two key benefits that will increase yield.
When Kip Tom started farming in 1974, he spent hours flipping through the pages of the booklet Purdue University produced each year showcasing corn hybrid field trial test results.
“I’d stare at those pages night after night,” recalls Tom, who farms near Leesburg, Ind.
But not anymore.
This year, Tom was one of 42 farmers who beta tested the new FieldScripts product from Monsanto. FieldScripts is the first product from the company’s Integrated Farming Systems (IFS) platform. This is the third season Tom has evaluated the product during the course of its development process.
“I won’t plant an acre without it anymore,” he says.
FieldScripts offers farmers two key benefits, a variable rate hybrid prescription by zone and a specific hybrid match for each field, according to John Raines, IFS Commercial Lead.
For 2013, Raines says the company anticipates doubling the number of farmers who will test the new product. In 2014, the company will then launch FieldScripts in the DeKalb seed brand on a limited basis with farmers in Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, and Minnesota.
Raines says FieldScripts will be offered through Monsanto’s existing dealer network. “Today, farmers consult with their seed dealers about the best Dekalb hybrid for their farm. That process will continue, but the conversation will be much more individualized by field to meet that farmer’s needs,” Raines says.
Farmers will provide inputs like field boundaries, yield data, and fertility test results to their seed dealer. Seed dealers will work with their farmer customers to select each field to enroll in FieldScripts. Using Monsanto’s seed-by-environment data, the company will deliver a variable rate seeding prescription by yield management zone and a recommendation for the best hybrid for each field. The prescription will be provided through Precision Planting’s FieldView app for the iPad handheld device to the farmer’s tractor. The prescription will then be executed using Precision Planting’s 20/20 SeedSense monitor and planter control system, notes Greg Sauder, founder of Precision Planting.
Sauder adds that the company is introducing its new 20/20 DeltaForce planter program to farmers this week during the 2012 Farm Progress Show. DeltaForce provides farmers with row-by-row planter control along with a sub-second response rate to soil variation.
In the following video, Sauder provides more information about new DeltaForce while Ted Crosbie, IFS strategy lead reviews the benefits offered by FarmScripts.
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Exclusive: Monsanto’s New Integrated Farming System
