Max Dougherty of the Climate Corporation talks about how farmers can use “big data” technology during a panel discussion at MN Ag EXPO 2015 in Mankato last month.

Written by Maria Wingert, MCGA Agvocate

A panel of four professionals from agricultural technology companies shared the latest news in big data on the farm last month at the 2015 MN Ag EXPO.

Representatives from FarmLink, the Climate Corporation, DuPont Pioneer, and John Deere gave farmers and agriculture professionals insight into what on-site data generation technology can do to improve their farming operations.

A large portion of the presentation was dedicated to making technology like risk analysis tools or nutrient content measuring products a useable endeavor for famers, even with the large learning curve and often steep prices.

Chuck Schleusner, the representative from John Deere, covered some of the issues with big data aggregation. High effort to gain data and inability to interpret it can make the use of big data a frustrating and expensive project.

In order to fix the problems with big data technology and make it more feasible for the average farmer, companies like John Deere are making technology easier to set up and use. These companies are looking at products to find parts that aren’t working and fixing them, making the technology more useful to farmers.

Recent advancements in technology products developed by these companies were presented by the panelists, including risk analysis tools that can predict optimal planting dates and incoming weather.

After the presentation, panelists answered questions from the audience, including those about data security and possible information breaches.

Schleusner said in reply that companies take pride in their brand as well as their establishment of farmers’ trust. Without trust, companies like John Deere would not be able to accomplish their goals of fulfilling the needs of farmers, nor would they be successful as a business.

One of the panelists, Max Dougherty of the Climate Corporation, put the use of this technology into perspective for many of the farmers in the audience, stressing that it’s how you interpret the data and how you put it to use that can help improve your farm.

“The data is useless.” Dougherty said. “But what you can do with it is priceless.”

Maria Wingert is a student at the University of Minnesota and an Agvocate for the Minnesota Corn Growers Association. Learn more about Maria and the MCGA Agvocate program here.