Spatial data trials, being conducted this season by DEKALB? Technical Agronomists throughout the Corn Belt and the southern U.S., represent a newer, data-driven approach to help farmers optimize yield potential by more accurately placing different corn products based on varying field conditions.
This differs from a traditional market development plot, where multiple corn products are planted in uniform soil and field conditions so that the yield comparisons between different products are fair and reliable. This trial format is well-suited to comparing different products against each other in a particular environment, so they are still conducted extensively.
Both types of trials involve leading commercially available products and a few key competitive products. The main difference is the size, location, data collected and information learned from the trials.
Spatial data trials are much larger than a traditional trial plot, typically a quarter- to half-mile long.
Technical Agronomists monitor these plots closely throughout the growing season, taking notes on emergence and early growth, disease differences throughout the year, ear fill characteristics and finally standability late season.
At harvest, utilizing a well-calibrated combine yield monitor, data is collected every two or three seconds as the combine travels across the field. GPS yield points are geo-referenced to the particular environment that generated them.
Unlike a single yield number with traditional trial plots, spatial data monitoring can result in several hundred yield results within the field. Data is analyzed from multiple spatial data plots across numerous, regional geographies.
DEKALB Technical Agronomists work with farmer cooperators who are participating in the spatial data trials. Field criteria includes:
- A minimum of 1,000 feet of row length.
- Fields should have a minimum of two different intersecting soil types.
- Each soil type must have a minimum 300 feet of harvest distance.
AUDIO: The Ohio Ag Net?s Ty Higgins found out more about spatial data trials, how they are conducted and how farmers will benefit from them as he recently visited with DEKALB/Asgrow Technical Agronomist Roy Ulrich.
