Growing

In season, scouting and application activities should be geo-referenced and recorded electronically. Hand-held pocket PCs can be used to make notations electronically to improve your ability to analyze field data and identify problem areas of a field. Backpack GPS units and four-wheelers can make data collection a snap, enabling you to keep records on weed and insect pressure, wet spots and crop health. Even if you don’t have a pocket PC or care to use one, you may be able to collect data with the help of your crop input retailer or arrange the service from a consultant.

Remote sensing and aerial imagery are also ways of tracking changes in crop health and pest pressure and have the benefit of being able to cover larger acreages more rapidly. Imagery developed with infrared photography taken from aircraft can be used to overlay field-mapping systems, thereby adding another layer of data captured to enhance your decision-making.

With weather still being the greatest variable in most cropping systems, some growers have put in electronic weather stations to track weather events more closely field by field.