By STACY CAMPBELL
Cottonwood Extension District
Kansas State University agronomists have tapped the powerful world of digital technology to make more than four decades worth of crop information almost instantly available to farmers via their phones or home computers. Cropping systems agronomist Ignacio Ciampitti and the director for research for the Institute of Digital Agriculture and Advanced Analytics (ID3A), says this new site means that yield and other valuable information may now be available within hours of university researchers harvesting crops from Kansas fields. Farmers decide what hybrids to plant the following year during or right after this year’s harvest. A problem we’ve had in the past is that the results of K-State’s crop performance tests have not been made available for two or three months until data was processed and all publications were printed. There was a need to transform how the data was shared so that the information is available immediately, easier for farmers to digest, and more visual.
The Kansas State University Institute of Digital Agriculture and Advanced Analytics, integrated with Dr. Ciampitti’s research lab (led by Pedro Cisdeli), has created a website called Analysis and Visualization of Crop Yield Trials – or AVYield – that will pack 40 years of K-State crop performance tests and other information into easy-to-read formats for farmers. The online tool is located at https://www.avyield.com. Jane Lingenfelser, an assistant agronomist and coordinator of the university’s crop performance tests each year, said she routinely advises producers to research as many data sources as possible when making decisions on crop varieties to plant. But we haven’t provided the tools for them to do that fully until now. There’s no cost or risk to researching all production options. Using this new tool, switching between crops in a specific growing location is very easy. For example, it is possible to immediately see how canola performed overall and which hybrid performed the best in south central Kansas, without devoting the land or expense to a new enterprise.
K-State’s database makes more than 40 years of data available for most crops – including canola, corn, sorghum, soybean, sunflower, and wheat. With a few on-screen clicks, farmers can find information based on variety, rainfed versus irrigated production, and geographic location within the state. This online resource is available at no cost to producers and researchers.
K-State canola breeder Mike Stamm has also made available the results of the National Winter Canola Variety trials, which his program coordinates at 30 locations in the United States. The collection dates back to the mid-1990s. “We live in an information-rich society, and we are used
to having the information immediately available,” Stamm said. “Sometimes, some of the most important work we do is not readily available because it takes time to analyze, write, review, and publish. We still need to publish our results, to show progress in our programs…but easier and more immediate access to the results will drive impact on our farms.” Kansas Corn provided funding to build AVYield, in collaboration with the Institute of Digital Agriculture and Advanced Analytics, which was introduced in late September during Celebrate Ag Day at K-State’s home football game against Oklahoma State.
“We are one of the first groups in the country to introduce these types of tools,” Ciampitti said. “The beauty of it is that much of the research information we produce related to crop production doesn’t take too long to get to farmers. Now, they can make their final decisions on planting crops based on information and visualization coming from this tool.”
Stacy Campbell is a Crop Production Extension agent in the Cottonwood District (which includes Barton and Ellis counties) for K-State Research and Extension. You can contact him by e-mail at [email protected] or by calling 785-628-9430.