Innovative Ag Services

Experience

The IAS Precision Ag Services team has over 14 years of experience with grid soil sampling, pH management and variable rate lime application, variable rate N-P-K recommendations and variable rate application technology and equipment. With over 275,000 acres currently in the system, the IAS team has the knowledge and experience base to manage input costs, ensure accurate fertilizer placement, and provide recommendations to increase yields.

Technology

IAS is implementing the most up-to-date technology to operate our Precision Ag Crop Management Programs. The software and hardware systems are managed by a knowledgeable, in-house Precision Ag Specialist. Custom applicators have a solid working knowledge of the equipment and participate in annual training to implement the latest technological advances.

Support

The IAS team relies on a number of outside sources and supplier partners to bring additional expertise to the Precision Ag Program. These sources include technical advisors, equipment and software support, lab testing, and data management.

Menu

Our menu of Precision Ag Services encompasses everything from mapping fields to storing and analyzing yield information. IAS Precision Ag Services includes grid and zone sampling, variable rate fertilizer and lime application, variable rate planting recommendations and maps, field mapping, crop emergence analysis, EC soil mapping, compaction mapping, aerial imagery, ASNT soil sampling, yield maps, Premier Crop information and analysis, and Precision Ag Equipment sales and service.

Opportunities

Premier Crop information and analysis is a comprehensive program to take all of the Precision Ag information from the field, including yield information and formats it for management decisions. Premier Crop also provides the opportunity to compare individual information with a much larger database. Another growth opportunity is in variable rate seed. Many new planters come with this technology, providing producers the capability to manage seed costs. We have also recently moved to the SST software platform bringing additional information to make management decisions.

Variable Rate Planting
By Jeff McDowell, Precision Ag Manager

As fast as technology changes and continues to improve, I think variable rate planting will soon be as common as grid soil sampling. New planters are now coming standard this way. With seed costs continuing to get higher, I would have to believe it's also going to make as much sense to use this technology as much as we have adopted to using yield monitors and variable rate fertilizer. We all know we have areas in our fields that history would show yield much higher than the rest of the field and we also have those areas that yield less than the field average, so we must ask ourselves the same question we did with variable rate fertilizer - Why would we treat them the same when we know our return on investment is different?

Over the last decade, seed costs have gone from being very little of our input cost to one of our most expensive. As traits and technologies continue to get added to our seed, you can bet your life that cost is going to get added to that seed as well. Variable rate planting has showed us that it is possible to both increase yields and save on seed cost in the same field.

In my mind, the key to having success with variable rate planting is based off of two things: having a good recommendation to determine what populations to plan and understanding your genetics. Premier Crop, a program available to our Precision Ag customers, has a great tool in making variable rate planting recommendations based off your previous years yield data, soil types, fertility levels and many other spatial variables. It allows you to set up zones based off of this information and then manage those zones to their greatest potentials by adjusting plant population as well as fertility recommendations. There are also tools in the program that will allow you to put learning blocks within your zones that are used to validate the population changes within your fields.

By understanding the genetics you plant, you are allowed to better manage those hybrids to maximize their yields. Some hybrids will flex better than others so you can back down populations, some will use more nitrogen than others, some hybrids will respond better to fungicides than others, some will handle lighter soils than others, and so on. Premier Crop also has a tool to help decide what hybrids would work best on your soils using data from a pool of growers with similiar soils, fertility levels, and management practicies. With these tools and the help of your Innovative Ag Services Seed Team, you can choose the rightt genetics, at the right populations, across your farm that would be most profitable to you.