• Agriculture Technology
  • Jun 14, 2018

Get More From Tissue Sampling With Tech

You’re probably using many forms of technology to help grow your business, but with innovative thinking, you may be able to apply that technology in new ways on your farm. The process of tissue sampling, for example, has typically been fairly low tech. But there are technology tools that you may already be using that can streamline the process and help you get more from your sampling data.
 
Identifying plant nutrition trends
Since nutrient deficiencies are often inconsistent across a field, a tool that provides an overhead view of your fields allows you to identify suspect areas and focus your sampling efforts. The R7® Tool by WinField United offers an in-season imagery feature to help target areas of a field that might be suffering stress. This feature is an important scouting tool and can save time when it comes to sampling.
 
Monitoring field conditions
Field monitoring capabilities are another feature within the R7 Tool that allows users to monitor real-time field conditions and crop development. This tool is useful for prioritizing sampling across fields. It can tell you whether a field’s development is trending above, at or below average based on biomass measurements. The biomass measurements in the R7 Field Monitoring Tool can also help determine potential high production areas where an extra fertilizer application may be more likely to result in a positive return on investment.
 
Forecasting yield potential
If you’re already planning to tissue sample to monitor plant health, you can get extra value from the data by plugging your results into the R7 Field Forecasting Tool (FFT). This tool uses personalized crop data to forecast yield potential as the season progresses. When field information like plant nutrient status is added to the tool, it will recalibrate to give you more accurate yield and ROI projections.  
 
Scouting on the go
Smartphones are helping farmers increase productivity while on the go. Field scouting apps can help document in-season notes and keep your records in one convenient place. One example is the NutriSolutions® app, which allows you to georeference where plant samples were taken to match sampling results to field locations.
 
There are a lot of tech tools available to help you make the most of tissue sampling. Work with your local agronomist to learn how they can bring extra value to your farm.