Yesterday, FARMserver launched its Management Zone Creation Tool, a secure, web-based application that helps farmers create their own management zones, giving them complete control of their data.
“Since the inception of precision agriculture, farmers have struggled with the time commitment and investment that came with outsourcing their zone management and product and rate assignments,” says Jim Schertzer, FARMserver lead. “Through a series of step-by-step instructions, the Management Zone Creation Tool will provide farmers the capability to analyze field maps based on historical data, and then create zones to generate variable-rate prescriptions for multiple fields at the same time.”
The tool — owned by Beck’s Superior Hybrids — allows farmers to analyze fields by soil type, crop health imagery or historical yield data. Then farmers can create zone maps based on assigned levels of productivity.
After users have created their zones, test blocks can be incorporated, which allows farmers to conduct their own research or trials using differing rates and products. According to Beck’s, FARMserver comes full circle with its field scouting capabilities. Farmers can evaluate and modify the zones created and then identify the best zones in their fields for future planting seasons. Field advisers and support staff are available to help farmers evaluate their maps and assign correct products and rates.
“We talked to farmers and saw the need to develop a tool that saves them time and money, while still being easy to implement,” Shertzer says. “We’re not telling farmers what to do with their management zones, we are providing them with the means to understand their data and eventually make decisions that will benefit their operations.”
