3 Steps to Get the Most Out of Your Yield Data

Now that harvest is complete, it’s an excellent time to gather and analyze the data you’ve collected all season to see what insights you can glean for next year. Here are three steps to help you capture, clean and upload your data.
 
STEP 1: Transfer the data from your combine.

• If you’re having trouble extracting the data, try searching for instructions on Google.
• If that doesn’t work, search on YouTube, which has a number of videos that take you through the process step by step.
• Here, for example, is a video on how to export data out of a John Deere 2630.

 
STEP 2: Use yield map converters to transform your raw data into .shp files.
Here are three well-known equipment manufacturers along with the software packages they commonly market to translate the data they generate.

• John Deere: Apex software
• Case IH: AFS software
• CAT/AG Co.: Farm Works

 Other software providers, such as AgLeader (SMS), offer the ability to import and analyze many different types of data, and also can convert files. You can use software like SMS to upload raw yield data and export it as an .shp file. While there are many software packages that can be used to convert raw yield data, consult your local ag technology specialist for the ones that best fit your needs.
 
STEP 3: Upload .shp files into the R7^® Tool to view cleaned yield maps.
A key benefit of using the “yield data upload” feature in the R7^® Tool is that it is simple; it doesn’t require hours of analysis and cleaning by you or your agronomist.

• Log into the R7^® Tool web version ? Click on the tools icon ? Click on the yield data tab ? upload files
• For a full tutorial, click here.

Once files are uploaded, your fields will be viewable in the R7^® Tool within 24 hours. Most of the time when I upload files, they are cleaned, ready to analyze and use for profitability maps, correlation maps and field response maps within 15 minutes. During peak upload times, this may take longer.
 
Yield data tells us the end of the story, how the crop thrived during the growing season. Although we cannot go back and change yield results, we can analyze the data to improve our decisions for the future.
 
Find out more about getting the most out of your yield data here.