I recently attended the Farm Progress Tech Forum 2018, in Iowa City, Iowa. This event was designed to bring producers, academics and the industry to one location to share each other’s experiences. I think of this as a journey, because Digital Agriculture itself is a journey, not a defined destination. This journey will be different for everyone and everyone is at a different point in their journey. One of the speakers referenced building a Digital Ag Business plan and following the plan. I felt this was a good way to bring focus and direction. Once a Digital Ag Business plan has been designed producers can focus their efforts on researching the right products, the right companies and asking the right questions.

Talking with some of the producers, it seems like there is wide range in adoption of the different technologies and producers’ motivation in utilizing them. Most of them felt that Digital Ag helps them make better decisions, even if it’s hard to put a concrete value to the software and hardware investments.

Tracing ingredient’s origination and the degree of crop management is an area that has become increasingly popular for food companies. A few growers felt that soon they are going to be encouraged to provide traceability records to the end user of their crops. Digital Ag is providing a tool for many growers to track all the applications across their fields such as tillage, nutrient application, herbicide records (products, rates, dates) and seed information down to the acre (hybrid and rate).

As with any journey we take in life, there will be some challenges and obstacles that must be overcome along the way, but if we have a good Digital Ag Business Plan in place and keep an open mind, the end result will be worth the effort.

Grower Example 1: I do not currently utilize any form of digital/precision ag on my farm, but I’m interested in using auto guidance for my tillage and planting.

Grower Example 2: I currently use GPS guidance, but I’m interested in variable rate seeding.