Funded by the Illinois Soybean Association checkoff program.

Ag Technology

Welcome New Precision Conservation Management Specialist

Frank Rademacher is the newest edition to the PCM team and heard about the position because he himself has been a part of PCM for several years and seen, firsthand, the benefits of the program. After graduating from the U of I in 2018 with a degree in Crop Science, he started farming with his father and helped transition their operation to 100% no-till, cover crops, and non-GMO. “I’m excited to use my agronomy background and on-farm experience to help maximize the success of the PCM farmers,” Frank says. Frank enjoys the variety farming brings – combining biology, chemistry, [...]

By |January 3, 2022|

Viewing Your Yield Data Through Different Lenses

As harvest begins to wrap up and our minds shift towards next year, for many of us that brings opportunity, optimism, and perhaps a bit of concern. With rising input costs, we as growers are going to be forced to make some tough decisions between economics and agronomics. As an agronomic consultant and grower myself, when those decisions come up for our operation, I look to my yield data to help guide me. Sometimes it takes looking at our yield data through different lenses though to help make those decisions. (For reference, I am using AgLeader SMS Advanced as [...]

By |November 11, 2021|

Drive Harvest Profitability with Digital

It’s gettin’ busy in the Midwest. When it comes to harvest, no one knows your land and crops better than you. But don’t forget to dig into your data. On average, U.S. corn and soybean farms generate more than 2,500 data records during a typical 10-month growing season. The data captured this season, and years past, can take you well beyond last year’s yield and this year’s growing conditions and provide invaluable insights to prioritize decisions before, during and after harvest. Digital tools like Granular Insights™ make it easy for farmers to tap into the often siloed data on [...]

By |October 1, 2021|

Calibration: The Key to Harvest Data Utilization

As harvest quickly approaches, many things are on the minds of farmers, from who is going to be running the grain cart to when is the best time for each specific field to be harvested. Farmers are chomping at the bit to start harvest, however with harvest comes a very important step in the precision ag cycle: calibration of the machines. What is Calibration? Calibration, in terms of harvest calibration, is the act of baselining a machine’s sensor to a standard measurement in order to have the most accurate yield detection system. Though there are multiple types of calibration [...]

By |September 3, 2021|

Getting the Most Out of Your Investment: Unraveling the Benefits of Imagery

Adopting imagery can be attractive to farmers given the vast array of benefits touted throughout the industry. But if you’re considering making a purchase, be sure to take a few moments to understand why it will fit into your specific operation and what you can expect from the differing products on the market. Here are a few areas to consider when it comes to value imagery and analysis and your operation: Management Optimization With imagery, growers receive a new perspective of the field with the ability to see the entirety of the field at the same time. From this [...]

By |August 20, 2021|

SOYLEIC Varieties Provide Food Market With High-Value Soybean Oil

SOYLEIC, patented by the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council, is a non-GMO, high-oleic trait available for today’s soybean varieties, which results in high oleic oil and meal. Through funding from the Illinois Soybean Association (ISA), researchers at the University of Illinois are conducting a project focused on the development of high oleic, low linolenic (HOLL) soybean varieties that will be marketed under the SOYLEIC name. This is a source of high-quality soybean oil that can be used to win back the market share of soybean in the food industry and increase its industrial uses. The goal of this research is [...]

By |July 13, 2021|

The Sustainable Blockchain Solution to Deforestation-Free Soy

Deforestation-free Soy The soy industry is under fire. In May 2021, retailers threatened action over the deforestation of the Amazon. Although deforestation of the Amazon region is a regional problem - or rather global as most of the world is deforested by now - it reflects badly on the soy sector as a whole. However, it is difficult to make deforestation-free claims. Take pork for example. By and large, pigs are soy-fed but equally certain is that farms have no idea where their soy comes from. Soy supply chains, like all commodities, are long and complex and operate with [...]

By |June 30, 2021|
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