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Data analysis tool prepares for next year
Reblogged from Tom Doran
DECATUR, Ill. — It’s been said that the past is the foundation for the future, and a new software program is available to create a strong foundation for crop production success.
DuPont Pioneer Field360 services helps growers increase farm productivity and profitability through the use of new software tools to aid in turning field data already collected at harvest into insightful, actionable information.
The new management apps and tools available with the new program include Field360 Notes and Field360 Select.
Field360 Notes app streamlines and organizes field-by-field agronomic information for communication between Pioneer agronomists, sales professionals and growers. The tool is compatible with iPad, iPhone and Android devices.
Field360 Select service is a mobile subscription service, leveraging web-based software that allows growers to monitor their fields in real-time for precipitation, growing degree unit information and corn growth stage development.
“The uniqueness with Field360 services is when people think of Pioneer they think of it as a genetics company. We are the provider of world-class genetics and hybrids and varieties,” said Justin Welch, Pioneer strategic accounts. “What Field360 services bring is a whole other level of yield expectations.”
“Now we can start working with our growers to get them to know their fields better, more intimately, field by field, to do better with placement, prescriptions of seeding rates, nitrogen management practices, many different things to help them build better yields on their farms for the next growing season,” he said.
“Because our software is compatible with most manufacturers’ equipment, growers can have their harvest data analyzed by our sales professionals,” said Justin Heath, DuPont Pioneer new services manager. “The analyses will help growers turn data into information they can use for next season’s management decisions.”
After taking the data card to a Pioneer sales professional, growers will receive yield summaries and harvest maps in a quick and timely manner via Pioneer Field360 Select software.
Because this program provides field-level information anytime, anywhere, through a web browser, growers are able to refer back to the summaries throughout the next season when making vital decisions.
By using as-planted maps and harvest data, sales professionals are able to provide growers with hybrid comparisons and performance data field by field and soil type by soil type to help growers understand what products succeeded and what didn’t.
“We can work with their soil types, their yield data, their fertility data, imagery data, basically any source of information to help them make prescriptions. The nice thing is once we’ve done that we can help track those fields all through the summer,” Welch said.
“We work with all of our growers, we collect the information. We deliver all of the information in person.
“We feel like that relationship between the grower and Pioneer is important. It’s very important to make sure we’re making those right decisions.”
A single season’s field summary is good, but multiple seasons of data are better.
Subscribing to Pioneer Field360 Select software in subsequent years allows sales professionals to combine historical data and perform multiyear analysis, Heath said.
These analyses provide even more information to help growers and sales professionals make the best management decisions, such as hybrid and variety selections and positioning, as well as seeding rate decisions on a field-by-field basis.
“The information is not shared with anyone else. Privacy is something that’s held pretty high,” Welch said.
He said the information provided by the grower “goes into a vault and the only people who would be able to see that would be the grower and he has the option to opt-in or opt-out for everyone else.”
“He can say, ‘Here’s my yield information and I want nobody else to see it,’ because it is his and his alone,” he said.
“If he wants us to help him with agronomics, with treatment analysis and those things, then he has the ability to share it with his sales, with his account manager and with his field agronomist if he desires.”
“Understanding information at the field level and soil type level is becoming critical in ag today,” Heath said.
“By utilizing agricultural analysis tools like Pioneer Field360 services, growers are able to have their sales professional review and summarize their information for them. They are also able to view their information anytime, anywhere.”
“The key thing is really about us getting to know our grower better, getting him to know his field better, with the end goal of making better decisions down the road,” Welch said.
Related Topic: Farm Software Packages
4 Ways Database Software Tools Can Help You Create Attention-Getting Reports
Reblogged from Richard Voss
Your IBM Power System database is a goldmine of information. But sometimes getting at that precious information is like trying to mine gold with a spoon. Database query tools can cut through the rock with laser like precision to extract every bit of data you need to create reports that are chock full of the insights and statistics your organization needs to stay competitive.
1. Access multiple database files
Reports are only as good as the data in them. Query tools provide the means to access multiple databases to pull together the information you need for key marketing, sales, and finance reports. You have the ability to specify records and field selection, add calculations, and pull the data into one file.
2. Choose a format
What is the best way to present information? It depends on the type of data and the end user. With database query tools, you can choose to format the information into a PDF report, an excel file, or a CSV output. CSV stands for Comma Separated File; meaning there is a comma between each field. CSV files can be imported into other applications such as excel. They also may be required when sending data to a vendor for processing. IBM has a tool for creating a CSV file but it does not have the flexibility and features of our software, nor is it as user friendly. For example, IBM’s tool may strip off leading zeros when these leading zeros are needed.
3. Automation
Some database query tools allow users to set sentries that automatically access multiple databases where data is stored, and format into a report on specified days/times. Automation increases efficiency and ensures reports are generated on a timely basis.
Also Read: 100 Percent Software Satisfaction Guarantee
4. Distribution
Companies can eliminate costly print jobs with the email distribution capabilities of database query software. It is a simple process to access email addresses from email address books, as well as customer database files, to put together a distribution list. For internal reports, our software emails a PDF or excel spreadsheet to the list allowing the end receiver to choose whether to view on their computer or print. This paper-saving step saves thousands of dollars in unnecessary print jobs.
One of our customers who is a bank vice president saw the value in our software but thought his users would demand to continue getting their data as printed reports. However, once the software was implemented he was surprised that everyone loved receiving their data as PDF files. He has unplugged his main printers and now only uses small desktop printers when printing is required. The paper and printer cost savings amounted to thousands of dollars per year.
One other important note – no programming is required to administer well designed database query software. This is of key importance to many companies that do not have a deep IT staff.
Software Tools That Your Quality Testing Team Must Have
All businesses that build software today have three important concerns about the building process. Is it really cost efficient? Can it be produced in time? Will it produce a software which is of high quality? Delivery teams today have adopted agile development practices, using plug and play development environments to help deliver on all these three criteria. Within the space of quality testing functional testing tools are seen to be not enough. Quality has now moved from being the concern of just the quality team but also a very integral part of the software development life cycle. This helps in reducing the rework required, greater customer satisfaction and reduces the risk of bugs in non functional areas like performance & security. To do this there are a number of software tools and practices that your quality testing team should have today.
Let us discuss some of the groundbreaking and highly effective tools available in the market today that promise high quality returns without affecting the cost of the product or services.
Having a source control system
There are a number of paid source control packages that you can choose from; also there are a few free ones like CVS which can perform the needful. Nevertheless, the key thing is to have a source control package. This is because you will have a hard time getting all the programmers to operate together. No one will know who did what, and rolling back mistakes will become impossible. Also the best thing is that with these systems the source code directly is checked out on each hard drive. This means you will lose very little code in the entire project life. This will not only save valuable research material but also make your company more organized and cost efficient.
Related Topic: Record Stock Management
A bug tracking software
Irrespective of how many people are developing a code, it is extremely important to have a database which tracks all the bugs in the software. Without this you will end up delivering a code which is of low quality. It is very important to have a system in place to detect the bugs instead of letting the programmer do it manually, because even a small error can undo years of work and jeopardize the whole project.
Many programmers feel that they can track their bugs in their heads. Aside from the sheer futility of a human mind being able to do this on a regular basis, in a team environment this is not a good practice. If you keep a centralized bug tracking software for each project, then every tester can be in the loop. It is also easy for the QA team to check the software for all reported bugs without hassling the development team.
Testing web applications
When testing web applications it helps if you can move away from context switching when you are manually testing them. This means it allows the tester to directly report any bugs straight from the application using simple browser extensions. This reduces the amount of time they take to test a web application. Also if you can attach a screen shot with annotations it makes it easier for the developer to track the mistake faster and fix it. Finally if your testing teams are distributed geographically you should be able conduct combined test sessions together. All the issues raised can be captured and dealt with together so that solutions can be found sooner.
Finally remember, you may have the best testers in your company, but if you don’t have the appropriate software in place, the quality of your software may suffer. This is because underperforming testing solutions will make your testers grumpy and unproductive. So invest in some quality software testing tools to ensure good quality product is delivered.
IBM beefs up big data tools and analytics software
IBM has announced a series of updates to its big data insight and analytics platforms at its annual Information on Demand conference.
The firm said the series of updates were part of its ongoing push to bring ‘cognitive computing’ to the masses to help benefit from ever-growing data sets. One key new product is the IBM SmartCloud Analytics Predictive Insights tool that Big Blue claims is able to sift through vast amounts of data in real time to spot patterns and trends.
IBM said this could prove valuable for firms looking to track IT requests and issues by providing more insights into problems that slow productivity. The service will be offered on IBM’s SoftLayer cloud service as part of the firm’s ongoing cloud push.
Another new tool announced is SmartCloud Virtual Storage Center, which IBM said is designed to automatically analyse and store data types in a firm’s cloud storage infrastructure, to remove the need for manual processing.
Related Topics: Mobile Farm Management for iPhone and Android
The software is said to learn patterns and spot data types to understand how it is being used by a business so it can be stored in the right location. IBM said it is using this service itself in one location and this reduced storage costs by 50 percent.
IBM is also taking its data analytics services to the cloud, with the release of a preview version of BLU Acceleration for Cloud. This is designed to bring the firm’s in-memory database analytics services to more firms by allowing access in a simple, self-service manner.
Steven Mills, senior vice president for Software and Systems at IBM, said the release of this array of tools should help firms of all size and type to make more of their data.
“As the value of data continues to grow, the differentiator for clients will be around predicting what could happen to help transform their business with speed and conviction,” he said.
“IBM’s latest set of solutions allow clients to help predict customer behavior and outcomes with speed and ease, all delivered from the cloud.”
The updates are just the latest in a series of announcements from IBM around analytics services and the cloud as it pushes to keep pace with rivals such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft.
Adapting to Canada’s Changing Ag Landscape
Posted in Agriculture Industry, Know-Risk Updates
Farming has been going through a lot of changes in recent years especially as the internet and handheld devices have landed on the farm and inside the tractor. Farmers are connected to the world and the markets on a daily basis they are no longer just talented crop growers they are small business owners and IT specialists. When speaking with people outside of the agricultural industry; it amazes them to learn that farming now uses GPS, satellite imagery, various sensors and the online applications on a daily basis to grow wheat and other crops. To a farmer this is hardly a surprise; farming has long been more than just knowing when to put the seed in the ground. Farmers need an understanding of how to sell and buy inputs in an increasingly volatile market. Government programs are great ways to cut costs but knowing how to utilize them fully can be difficult. The Ag industry is seen; to those not intimately connected to it, as standing still but we know it has decided to catch up and is doing it in a hurry. Continue reading here…
The Fiscal Farmer: Canada’s Changing Agricultural Landscape — an Infographic by the team at FBC.ca
Related Article: Benefits of being fully in the cloud
Not-So-Obvious Secrets to a Successful Farm Business
Reblogged from Hannah Teresa @Articlebase
In the world of business, having sufficient seed capital may often seen by many as a primary fuel to run the venture’s engines. What many don’t know is that this doesn’t always guarantee a successful run of one’s envisioned business.
When it comes to building a farm business, this principle definitely holds water. As a matter of fact, it’s not that difficult to take on this commercial arena when you’ve got sufficient capital at your disposal. Nevertheless, making that initial investment produce profit is an entirely different matter that will require you to dig beyond what money can usually resolve.
According to surveys, the most successful farming businesses in various countries didn’t usually have the biggest of capitals but they all paid attention to detail in their everyday tasks. Whether a farm entrepreneur used farm management software or had an eye on minimising costs, such simple strategies often had a huge impact on the overall longevity of the business.
Aside from these two, there are other things that successful farm entrepreneurs have in common. Speaking of which, here are some of them:
- Tight focus on overall finances
Among the primary challenges of running a farm is balancing operational costs with revenues, which is why successful farm entrepreneurs often have a keen eye on controlling costs and ensuring gross margins. Aside from ensuring a healthy cash flow, many of these well-performing farms notably have high net worth and low borrowings. Certainly, a lot of bookkeeping is involved in farming.
- Benchmarking against the competition
Running a farm can pretty much stuff your daily schedule but this shouldn’t be enough of an excuse for you to lose sights on what’s going on in and around the farming industry. Keeping up to date with industry developments and news through the media and local farm groups is undeniably a secret shared among the most successful farmer.
- Careful attention to detail
Many aspects are involved in running a farm without doubt. Whether it’s doing machinery maintenance, general farm work, bookkeeping, or simply overseeing the field operations, an aspiring farm entrepreneur has to be thorough in supervising each task. Any missed details can often have a huge impact on the entire operation later on.
While this may seem like a daunting requirement to fulfil, farmers luckily have access to technology like landmark software to help them fulfil various functions with efficiency.
- Flexibility in dealing with opportunities
To be truly successful in the farming industry, one has to be open to working with technologies out on the market specifically designed to improve specific areas of the entire operation. Investing in farm management software, for instance, wouldn’t be a bad deal to take since it can help one organise the tasks that one has to do through the course of a day. Other than this, one shouldn’t shy away from using state-of-the-art farm implements to improve the efficiency of your farming operation.
Successful farm entrepreneurs indeed have continually deployed such technological blessings, which has enabled them to stay above the pack.
These are some secret keys to becoming successful in the farming enterprise. And if you wish to join the ranks of those who have succeeded in the industry, you may have to take them to heart.
Gardening Chores for the Fall
Reblogged from Black Fox Homestead:
Our garden did well this year. I’m actually quite pleased with the progress we’ve made in just a short amount of time. One of the challenges that I’ve had though over these past few weeks has been the transition from the summer growing season into the fall growing season.
On our urban homestead, I hardly ever had enough produce to preserve (there wasn’t the growing space), and usually by August everything had petered out anyway (my priorities were different).
So come fall, there was really no difficulty in gearing back up again for the cool weather season.
This first year on our rural homestead we have had an abundance of produce to preserve, and since our summer was thankfully very mild, everything has just kept right on going. In the effort to keep up with the tomatoes and zucchini, I’ve found it difficult to get the lettuce, kale, and beet seeds in. Get them in, I did though, and now they are ready to harvest, not to mention there are still a few crops that need to go in. I’m struggling to find my groove here.
Canning tomatoes at Black Fox Homestead. We put up 14 quarts!
Here though are my list of things yet to be done, and if you are in the same boat (and same zone) that I am in, these may help you focus and prioritize.
1. Plant garlic.
I am so excited that this fall we have our own seed garlic saved over from what we planted last year. But please don’t ask me about the variety. After planting three different kinds of hard neck, and painstakingly trying to keep them separated at harvest, I gave up. But we have plenty, both for use in the kitchen and for planting. We’ve also decided to give soft neck a try, as well as elephant garlic, and I’m looking forward to the results. In our area (zone 6b), garlic can go in as late as November.
2. Plant fall annuals.
::snort:: That’s very. very. funny. Seriously. Who has time for that? I still want to try though because I think pansies will be very pretty on both my front and back porch.
3. Make sure you have what you need for extending the season.
You can read more about that here. This year our fall crops will go in eight raised beds that will be covered with a floating row cover. Husbie has been installing 9 gauge galvanized wire to hold the row cover just a few inches over the beds. Last year we used pvc pipe hoops in covered wagon style but found that there was too much cold air between the crops and the cover. Our first hard frost: we lost nearly everything. This year we’re trying a different approach (and suggestions are welcome).
4.Evaluate the past growing season.
I wrote more about that last week here, in this post. I would also recommend a gardening journal. This is the one that we use.
5. Evaluate your seed stash and make a list of what you will need for the spring.
When you get ready to do your seed shopping I would highly recommend using Mary’s Heirloom Seeds. We received a sampling last spring of several things including Black Beauty Zucchini, Pink Oxheart Tomatoes, and Danvers Carrots, all of which performed beautifully*. We also received some purple radishes which we enjoyed and allowed some to go to seed. We planted the seeds in our fall garden and are enjoying them again! Mary has taken the Safe Seed Pledge so all of Mary’s Seeds are organic non~hybrid, non~GMO, and open~pollinated varieties. She also offers free shipping on all orders and her prices are reasonble. Please consider her when making your plans for the spring!
Some things that I do not have time for at the moment but could be done now are:
*Plant bulbs
Here in my zone, as long as the ground is not yet frozen you can put in your crocus, Dutch Iris, and daffodil bulbs in now. I would really love to put some blue Dutch Irises in up against our red barn, but I just don’t have the time. Last year I did take the time to plant daffs around our pond and I look forward to enjoying them again in the spring.
*Plant perennials
Another thing I really don’t have time for at the moment but look forward to doing perhaps next year about this time. Fall is a great time to put in perennials as well as trees and shrubs. The mild weather now, and in the spring gives them time to establish themselves before the brutal heat of the summer.
And over the winter we plan to:
*Clean, repair, and oil our gardening tools
The key word there is “plan”. I have to confess though I have planned this every year and have yet to actually carry it out. It is an important task even though it is difficult to get to.
*Clean and organize the gardening shed, potting bench, or whatever work space you have
Even if you don’t have a fancy shed or bench (and we don’t, just an area in the barn), if you do extensive gardening you have all the tools and supplies necessary. In the winter, it will be too cold to go out and sort through things ~ now is the best time to do it. Make it fun. Set aside a Saturday afternoon, listen to some music, and organize that space so it will be a pleasure to work in next spring.
For the complete article, click here.
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