Your 2021 Planting Checklist
Don’t Let Data be an Afterthought This Spring
While you’re likely getting anxious to hit the field and working hard to ensure your planter is ready to roll, don’t let all your prep work be for your equipment alone. Now more than ever, you’re farming bushels AND gigabytes of data, and that data holds a wealth of knowledge for your farm when it comes to making both in-season decisions and seed and input decisions for next year. Use our checklist below to prevent being stalled in the field waiting for software updates or dealing with incomplete data later in the season.
Get Your Whole Team on the Same Page
- Talk with those you farm with about how and why getting planting data captured is critical. Share the “why” so everyone in a cab is accountable for data accuracy.
- Train and/or refresh operators on how data will be captured and transferred, calibration expectations, and how to trouble-shoot data issues.
Strive for Accuracy
- Set a standard name for hybrids and varieties and be diligent about spelling them out in each machine. This consistent naming will make data easier to analyze later.
- Verify the speed source for your planter. If you are using radar or wheel speed, verify calibration, as this affects the recording of the applied rate.
- Verify all measurements in the GPS monitor.
Remove Roadblocks
- If you’re not wirelessly transferring data, consider upgrading. Talk to your Pioneer rep if you run John Deere for a free connectivity voucher to help with upgrade costs.
- Clean old prescription files off your monitors to avoid confusion and make space for new files.
- Make sure your software is up to date and all cables are secure.
- If you file-upload, be mindful of your folder structure and split files larger than 10 GB into smaller sizes for upload.
You get one shot at planting. Make it count this spring by taking time now to remove data-in roadblocks so your seed AND data get off to a strong start this growing season.
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