By BASF AgSolutions
Grow the crop, harvest the crop, haul it to the elevator. If only farming were that simple.
The fact is, crop producers have more variables than ever to manage. Today’s growers not only need to manage the data from inputs and yields in each of their fields, but they also need to manage grain contracts and on-farm storage.
This matters because at harvest time growers are vividly reminded that the success of their year’s sweat and toil can often be determined by how much grain goes in and out of the bins and at what price is it sold.
With commodity prices and export markets constantly in flux, knowing exact inventories can help a grower develop a marketing plan for their grain that maximizes the opportunity. Storage, handling and transportation are all considerations in figuring out the best approach in any given year. Managing the data coming out of harvests does more than help, it’s a foundation for making better decisions that yield a better return to growers.
“Technology is changing the way we farm,” said Andrew Elgersma, Grower Solutions Manager with BASF Canada. “Our challenge has been to tap into this technology and empower Canadian growers to make more informed and efficient decisions to advance their farming operation. We are very proud to say that we, along with Affinity Management Ltd. software development company, have done just that with Compass Grower Advanced.”
Introduced in 2015, Compass Grower Advanced is a web-based, all-in-one, mobile farm data management system that combines all the producer’s crop, financial and grain marketing management data into one, fully integrated solution. Offering growers operational efficiency and information sharing, profit scenarios and crop management, as well as harvest storage and grain contract management, the technology enables more efficient, day-to-day management of farm business, both on and off the field.
The new age of data harvesting
For years, Ridgetown, ON farmer Jason Boersma experienced his share of frustrations around farm data storage and management. Each harvest he was reminded of just what a challenge this was.
Boersma then kicked the tires on Compass Grower Advanced and everything became clearer.
“The farm management solutions tool provides the benefit of simplicity and the ease of tracking everything,” said Boersma. “It helps me to monitor inventory, like storage for chemicals, grains or whatever comes in, to my combine monitors, to anything else that I have in my system. It ties it all together. Instead of writing everything on a piece of paper, or trying to remember it later, Compass Grower Advanced automatically holds the information,” he said. “It saves me a lot of time.”
For a busy producer like Jason Boersma, it’s a vital farm asset that pays dividends not only at harvest, but every single day.
Source : BASF