Steps To Take Now To Maximize Every Dollar Next Growing Season

Mar 23, 2017

From United Soybean Board News www.unitedsoybean.org

Champions are made in the offseason. And so are higher profits.

Although the crop is out of the ground, it’s never too early to start planning for the next growing season. Winter is the time to look back and assess your operation while preparing plans for the future.

These strategic plans could lead to high returns in the fall.

Five steps to take now for a more profitable 2017

1. Data Analysis - Data analytics can help determine what areas of the field performed well and the underlying cause of any deviations in yield. Compile data this winter to set reference points of field performace to better prepare for next year.

2. Adding and Testing Technology - Incorporating new technology can aid in almost every task on the farm. Familiarize yourself with the technology now to ensure it will be ready to perform in the spring.

3. Weed Management - What you do in the short term can have an effect in the long term when it comes to weed management. Develop a strategic weed plan now to eliminate herbicide-resistant weeds and reduce money spent on unnecessary applications.

4. Fertilizer Application - Applying fertilizer is an investment and the costs add up. Study your soil fertility history and set up a two-to-four-year game plan.

5. Review Revenue and Expenses - Looking to cut back on unnecessary spending can be beneficial, especially when commodity markets are low. Carefully consider high land-lease contracts or hold off purchasing that new piece of equipment.

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Video: Seeing the Whole Season: How Continuous Crop Modeling Is Changing Breeding

Plant breeding has long been shaped by snapshots. A walk through a plot. A single set of notes. A yield check at the end of the season. But crops do not grow in moments. They change every day.

In this conversation, Gary Nijak of AerialPLOT explains how continuous crop modeling is changing the way breeders see, measure, and select plants by capturing growth, stress, and recovery across the entire season, not just at isolated points in time.

Nijak breaks down why point-in-time observations can miss critical performance signals, how repeated, season-long data collection removes the human bottleneck in breeding, and what becomes possible when every plot is treated as a living data set. He also explores how continuous modeling allows breeding programs to move beyond vague descriptors and toward measurable, repeatable insights that connect directly to on-farm outcomes.

This conversation explores:

• What continuous crop modeling is and how it works

• Why traditional field observations fall short over a full growing season

• How scale and repeated measurement change breeding decisions

• What “digital twins” of plots mean for selection and performance

• Why data, not hardware, is driving the next shift in breeding innovation As data-driven breeding moves from research into real-world programs, this discussion offers a clear look at how seeing the whole season is reshaping value for breeders, seed companies, and farmers, and why this may be only the beginning.