Research HighlightsNew Tool Available to Help in Farm Management Decision Making
In this article, you’ll find details on:
- A new decision-making tool is available to help farmers find the combination of practices for specific fields that will potentially produce higher yields and improve profitability.
- With large amounts of agricultural and weather data behind Agroptimizer, its suggested combinations have been shown to perform as well as corn and soybean cropping systems recommended by experts.
- Agroptimizer is available for free for a limited time.
By Carol Brown
Farmers have a new decision support tool to help find the best combination of inputs, management practices and field characteristics to maximize yield and profits. Agroptimizer utilizes algorithms that were trained on vast amounts of data and combines them with historical weather data to optimize management practices for the entire cropping system to maximize yield and profit.
Extension Soybean and Small Grain Specialist Shawn Conley, with the University of Wisconsin, is leading the effort of testing and evaluating Agroptimizer recommendations through a project supported by the Wisconsin Soybean Marketing Board.
“Agroptimizer will identify optimum corn and soybean cropping systems for greatest yield and profitability from thousands of possible choices for a single field,” says Conley. “The tool leverages the power of artificial intelligence algorithms to estimate yield and projected profit, while taking into account field location, soil type, weather and management practices.”
Agroptimizer is now available at www.agroptimizer.com and is free to use, but the site will eventually charge minimal fees based on the number of management practices farmers want to compare. New practices and choices are being added regularly.
On the Agroptimizer site, users select either a corn or soybean crop and then answer a series of questions about their management with that crop, including factors such as proposed planting date, seeding rate, row spacing, and nutrient inputs. Other questions include soil type (chosen from a short list), tillage practices, seed maturity, seed costs and more. Agroptimizer will then identify the best combination of management practices to improve potential yield and profitability.
“There are a few cautions when using Agroptimizer,” Conley comments. “It was not designed to generate management zones within a single field, nor does it compare potential crop yield between specific varieties. That would have made the program unmanageable.”
In the early testing done on Wisconsin fields, Agroptimizer showed it can offer yield and profits similar to what cropping experts in the state recommend. This decision support tool will improve as data continues to be added.
“To date, Agroptimizer is the only tool available that can account for variables at a field level such as weather, soil type, management and farm-specific costs to help corn and soybean farmers optimize their systems and choices,” Conley says.
Agroptimizer was developed by the data analytics firm Agstat P.C.
Additional Resources
Crop Management Recommendations: Agroptimizer Decision Support Tool vs. Local Experts – UW Fact Sheet
Published: Aug 5, 2024
