Optimized Scouting Through Technology

Diligent scouting is critical for early detection of in-field issues. But if your farmers aren’t supplementing traditional scouting with technology tools, they may be leaving time, efficiency and optimized yield on the table. The Answer Tech^® web portal offers a variety of proprietary and partnered scouting apps with different features geared to fit the various needs and spending levels of your customers. Here are some of the features and benefits of several.
 
Scout Pro Corn/Wheat/Soybean

• Produces professional reports that can be e-mailed to growers, or growers can access Scout Pro to view their reports.
• New user interface for 2016 makes entering information even faster and allows agronomists to assign fields to scouts for daily tasks.
• Allows users to place a pin in the field where a sample was taken, take a photo and geo-reference notes.

Agworld Scout

• Uses retailer-produced templates that can be pre-selected before going into the field.
• Presents reports in a .csv format, which can be beneficial in scouting trials and capturing different data trends within all scouted fields.
• Allows users to place a pin in the field where a sample was taken, take a photo and geo-reference notes.

Currently, neither Scout Pro nor Agworld Scout can pull in a data layer, such as in-season imagery, for directed scouting. As a result, agronomists will have to use Google Earth or another tool to see where they are in relation to the imagery.
 
 R7 Tool® by WinField

• Offers product performance information and critical field data to help develop and evaluate variable-rate prescriptions.
• Combines 20 years of satellite imagery with local seed and crop protection data from Answer Plot^® Program test sites.
• Generates field performance information and matches crop inputs and decisions to the potential of each field and each zone.  

Climate FieldView Pro™

• Provides insights from WinField agronomic data backed by local weather monitoring, agronomic data modeling and high-resolution weather simulations from The Climate Corporation.
• Field Health Advisor tool uses in-season and historical imagery to evaluate crop health and identify issues before they impact yield.
• Prioritizes scouting activities by identifying which areas need attention before heading into the field.

Mavrx Scout

• Includes Mavrx Drone Assisted Scouting (beta), with computer-analyzed imagery that automatically detects and highlights crop stress.
• Mobile app enables targeted scouting and in-field sampling.
• Documents and shares geo-tagged evidence.

There are free apps out there, which may be appealing to many growers. However, they need to be careful about what happens to their data at the end of the year. Many free apps wipe data clean at season’s end. Some also attach hidden fees to their services. Work with your growers to determine the apps that will help them achieve their long-term goals — not only the cheapest ones on the market.
 
Ag technology specialists have reviewed most of these scouting applications. Visit the review section of Answer Tech to learn more.