Big Data and Cloud Computing on the Farm

One of the newest program additions to our farm this spring has been our Climate Basic account.  The Climate Corporation has developed this program so farmers can identify where their fields are to monitor rainfall, growing degree units and soil temperatures in our fields.  This information lets us know where the fields are that are dry enough to plant or harvest without having to drive to each location to check the moisture of the ground.  Eventually the program will be able to monitor all of these environmental factors and give us yield estimates for our crops in each field and tell us when they should be close to being ready for harvest according to the crop, variety, maturity, plant date and soil types in the field.  This program has a lot of potential to help farmers manage crops and field activities.

The newest generation of technology from John Deere has given us the ability to have remote access and real time information from our machines while they are performing field operations.  The JDLink Program monitors all the performance metrics of our machines while they're working.  If there is a trouble or service code on a machine the service adviser from the dealer can dial in to know where the machine is located and which parts to send with a mechanic when they come to check on the piece of equipment.  We can manage the maintenance intervals from this platform as well.  If I need to know when the last time a tractor was serviced it will tell me.  We can look to see which machines need fuel and where they are located to send someone to refill the tank.  We can dial in from a desktop, iPhone or tablet to help diagnose problems and assist operators when we are not at the machine. 

As information moves away from hard drive configuration to cloud based computing we have the ability to push and pull data using wireless technology (a modem) to and from our machines.  This will assist our agronomy advisers in having up to date information about planting or application data.  We can create prescriptions at a desktop computer while the tractor is planting one field for the next field and send it without leaving the office.  If we need yield data from our combine to create a fertilizer prescription for the next crop based on the removal rates from the previous crop we can pull that information from the combine without having to stop the machine.  Cloud based data has the potential to connect the dots with our information and data to help us make better informed decisions on our farm.

RTK Guidance has given us the opportunity to explore new ways to better manage the traffic patterns in our fields.  Sub Inch accuracy and repeatability with this GPS technology lets us plan for the next pass in our fields when we start a growing season.  Row control and boom control allow us to have much better control of inputs going into headlands and point rows by automatically shutting rows and boom sections off to prevent double planting or application of fertilizer or chemicals in areas already covered in the field.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Managing, storing and processing our new found wealth of information on the farm presents its own challenges.  If we can utilize these new metrics and make smarter decisions, hopefully we can have a better environmental footprint by reducing inputs and  make us more efficient to the bottom line.