By Nathan Otto, Vice President, Customer Operations

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What do you get when you combine Farmobile PUC™ device collected data with contextual information such as field boundaries and inputs?  

You get the Farmobile Electronic Field Record (EFR). An EFR gathers agronomic data as your machine works in the field, classifies the data based on activity type and crop/product, and aggregates the data based on field boundaries. The end result is a container of organized information by farm, field, year, activity type (plant, harvest, etc.) and crop/product.

Why are EFRs so unique?

The Farmobile EFR transforms field data into information you can use.  Here are my top three reasons (and sample scenarios) WHY Farmobile EFRs add practical value for your operation.

REASON 1 – PAST: Look back to understand field activity

EFRs help you understand what you did in the field last week or even last year. This comes in handy if you missed recording details in your field notebook.

Value: Understand when planting (and replanting) started and ended for each field.

• Sample scenario: You finished planting two weeks ago and a huge rain storm came through a few days later drowning out a portion of your field. You replant the wet area after it dries out, and now it is time to file your acreage report. When did you originally plant? When did you replant?
• How you benefit: EFRs not only capture your planting population and location but also capture the date and time the activity occurred. Navigate to the field within the Farmobile DataEngine℠ platform and locate the EFR for each activity.

PRO TIP: EFR’s are automatically generated using a defined window of time for each activity. Activity that occurs longer than the window will result in a new EFR. The windows of time are as follows:

•  Spread: 3-day window
•  Plant: 18-day window 
•  Spray: 3-day window 
•  Harvest: 70-day window

 

REASON 2 – PRESENT: Track day-to-day field activity

EFRs are generated/updated every night based on the previous day’s activities within the field boundary. This allows you to see both coverage and aggregate field level information the day after it occurs.

Value: Understand yields within your field.

• Sample scenario: It was a dry summer; you are about halfway through harvest and just finished a field yesterday that was partially irrigated. You want to know how the irrigated and non-irrigated parts of the field yielded. How did your irrigation plan impact yield
• How you benefit: Harvest EFRs capture yield along with total production, moisture, etc. You can view the EFR map showing the relative yield throughout the field and review the aggregate yield for the entire field. If you want to dig in further, you can also export the EFR point-by-point data into your agronomic platform to perform more analysis.

REASON 3 – FUTURE: Use field performance for informed, future decisions

When planning for the next crop cycle, EFRs provide field performance from past years.  This information helps make informed, data-driven decisions on input purchases and field preparation.

Value: Determine your fertilizer and seeding plan based on harvest yield.

• Sample scenario: You are working on your fertilizer and seeding plan for next year. You (and/or your agronomist) have always used the best information available to you. Last fall, you collected harvest data with a Farmobile PUC device, and EFRs were generated using the field boundaries and crop information that you provided. What seeds are you putting in the ground this crop cycle? What fertilizer will be needed? How much will be needed across different parts of the field?
• How you benefit: You now have ground-truthed, as-harvested data in your EFRs (and at your fingertips). You (and/or your agronomist) can use EFR data to either start building a plan (if using data to help with the plan for the first time) or add EFR data to your existing data sources (soil samples, imagery data, etc.) to further refine your plan and generate prescriptions.

There you have it – my top three reasons WHY Farmobile EFRs add practical value for your operation. The use cases and values are endless!

Already using EFRs and want to share how they add value to your operation?  

Have an idea on ways EFRs can provide even more value? I would love to hear from you. Just send me an email at notto@farmobile.com.

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