John Deere farmers discuss how yield maps and operator performance data help them run more efficient operations. One farmer explains how tracking what works on different field sections lets him make better decisions about seed and fertilizer placement.
Oh.
Get in here and get some data.
All right.
Get out of this cold weather.
Absolutely.
Right now it's January. We've been through the holidays. We kind of relaxed for a little while.
Usually get back together about this time. Just start working on equipment.
The data we've been collecting previously, we've been doing yield maps. We've done mapping in general from the planters, from, well, all passes. But we've not gone steps further because.
Right now we try and use it, but it's just things aren't set up how they need to be set up.
It's like we're right on the cusp of something really, really great. And this will kind of push.
Push us over the edge.
Yeah.
Retrieve data. Right.
Put the USB into the site.
The avenues between all the data is there right in front of them. And I think they're about to see what the door could open.
Information is power. We're generating that information on a daily basis. Why not capture it and use it and utilize it to our advantage? We have that avenue now available. We just need to adapt to it. When I first visited with my employees about this, I think there was certainly reservation.
I think, for the most part, the farmhands will adopt it. I think it'll be hard for a few of them to really grasp it.
But I have a good group of guys that want to do what we need to do to make us a better operation.
With the age gap and, you know, younger guys compared to the older guys, there's a lot of trade and information.
Of course, the younger guys are more tech savvy, which is great.
And the older guys are helping, you know, shortcuts on some manual labor.
They all respect each other's opinion and knowledge. So I think it'll be a good marriage. I am the world's worst at trying to document or keep records or write things down. I'm horrible. Yeah. My wife says I spend more time trying to get organized to be so disorganized than anybody she's ever seen. The reason previously, we did not use the data. Some of it was laziness, some of it was frustration. Now I think we have avenues to much simpler formats to use. And I need simple. I like simple.
Just playing around on it. It's a lot more user friendly. And, I mean, I feel like anybody could just jump in and, you know, even me get some things done. Even you.
Minimize this one. So we're gonna go and pull in that data from the USB right now.
The best I can figure, the only way to increase profit is cut inputs or increase yields. So I can see this as an avenue to possibly do both.
The difference between operators, I think that'll be a big landmark for them.
One operator may be doing a noticeably better, more fluent job than another.
Not saying that operators are doing anything wrong, but one might be able to have a little bit more influence on the second one to hit. You know, that possible perfect mark you can bring up side by side.
Maybe the sprayer wasn't putting out the proper amount of water, was it? Off a gallon? I mean, here we can see exactly in detail what was put where on that field.
With JDLink, he's going to be able to see the differences between, say, this tractor only used 2/3 of the horsepower that the tractor is capable of putting out.
We can visually see where you're maybe making some errors that certainly are correctable.
If there's an issue anywhere on the farm, you can see that issue before it costs you money.
We can prevent mistakes snowballing.
There's avenues everywhere.
What I've been doing, I've been successful with. Why do I want to change? Why do I want to rock the boat? If you don't keep pace, you're going to be behind real quick.
I'm looking forward to the spring when we can see what it can really do.
