Video Transcript
0:03
[Music]
0:23
it’s about five minutes till we’re waiting for everybody to get logged on if you
can see the poll we’d appreciate
0:30
it if you’d fill the poll out just kind of help us understand a little bit about your
background and how you heard about this and we’ll start at about – after
0:38
allowing everybody to log on
0:51
[Music] or 25% soil sample a bit more a little
1:03
bit more often so and then a 90% it seems
1:08
does some type of soil sampling so looks like we get a good mix of people
here who at least understand soil sampling
1:15
and are moving their clients down that path or if you’re a grower moving
down that path yourself some prohibit ations
1:22
from soil sampling it looks like about 20% still don’t see the value in soil
1:28
sampling hopefully we can address some of those questions today it looks
like about another 15% don’t have the
1:35
resources or the skill or they don’t believe they have the resources or skills
to do it it looks like 60% of you say you just
1:43
don’t have time we see that a lot as we talk about talk with people across
the
1:48
industry the data collection side of precision AG is really a challenge from
soil sampling tissue sampling imagery
1:56
collection and then another probably 30% the remaining 30% are not sure of
what
2:03
to do with the results or they think the cost is too high so hopefully we’re
able
2:09
to answer some of those questions today I will put it on pause for about one
more minute and then we’ll begin
2:14
beginning we’ve already got 75 on today thanks
2:25
you
2:46
you
2:52
good morning everybody my name’s Scott Jackman from Devron and I am
located in
2:58
grant Kansas City right in the center of the US I know we have participants
from the United States as well as from Canada
3:07
so we will have people from both countries and discussing with us today a
little bit of background about myself
3:15
I run the the US component of Devron the Veritas team and I also do sales
and
3:23
marketing for our company I have with us and they’ll introduce themselves
Mike
3:31
from Devron who is a agronomist and our senior data collector and I also
have
3:37
Mike from AOL so they’ll both talk introduce themselves Mike Wilson you
want to go yeah sure morning everyone
3:44
I’m Mike Wilson from Ontario Canada I am the operations lead for that brawn
3:50
and Veritas North America look over to discussing with you guys today some
of
3:57
the ways we can help get rid of some of those hurdles and so a sample of
data collection working with your trusted
4:05
advisors on the farm and some of the benefits that they know labs can bring
to the table are you mine concrete from
4:22
in a laboratory is here in London Ontario I worked in business development
4:28
to southwestern Ontario on behalf of they know that I’d just like to thank
4:34
everyone for the time this morning journeys trying in difficult times we
4:39
are proud as a company to support our essential industry by supplying a
4:44
complete line of analytical services in the soils tissues manures compost and
4:51
disease Diagnostics and proud to support our frontline retailers in the
pentagram
4:57
list and producers alike so thanks thanks Mike and Mike that was
5:05
good a review on Al and their laboratory services we’re both a data collection
5:13
and a data insights company focus purely on the precision AG world so we
don’t
5:18
sell hardware software ourselves and we’re obviously not a grower and we
kind of operate in the middle there with the
5:26
data collection side collecting soil sampling aerial imagery tissue sampling
and then we also help some of our
5:33
clients with the data insights and understanding what the data means how to
5:39
make it useful to the grower and then actual show them return on
investment of
5:45
their data on their data work so why we’re here today obviously Koba 19 has
introduced some
5:53
challenges to the way we work and the way everybody is working right now
many of your AG retail locations have had to
5:59
close their storefronts for most of us our grower meetings have been
canceled
6:05
this year obviously the trade shows and our beacuse where we bring clients
in to
6:12
have discussions those have been cancelled so we’ve all had to move to
alternative ways at which we can talk
6:18
with people and in this since today we are going to do some education taking
6:25
the place of like a grower meeting on soil sampling our understanding of how
6:31
soil sampling works in our value proposition co19 remains a challenge
6:38
however we all recognize that agriculture is a critical infrastructure and at
least in the u.s. the department
6:45
of homeland defense has said that the agriculture value chain up and down
this entire supply chain is critical and must
6:52
continue and the Canadian federal government has done the same for that
6:57
for Canadian operations they’ve they’ve the Canadian government has
deemed
7:04
agriculture as critical also and that movement is still allowed even though
canady class or having movement
7:12
restrictions also so with that we’re gonna move into starting to discuss our
mentality of how
7:22
soil sampling works and with that I will hand it over to Mike Wilson as our
senior data collector thanks and good
7:35
morning everyone welcome to today’s webinar I want to start by showing
you
7:41
guys some of the changes we’ve made to our operation over the last couple
years
7:46
and and how we’ve began to collect data on a much larger scale you can see
there
7:52
on the map in front of you the coverage map of North America
7:58
go ahead the next slide
8:04
you
8:10
back one sorry sorry
8:23
you it bear with us everyone if you would
8:30
for technical difficulties here
8:43
you
8:49
you
9:00
no Scott just still blank screen yep there we go there we go
9:17
go ahead to the next one if it will allow you
9:24
here we go Laurie everyone as you can
9:30
see there we’ve got a wide variety of samplers in order collection people
across North America that allows us the
9:39
ability to be quite adaptable and available at a moment’s notice our goal
9:45
is to have debris of soil through the lab within two days of the order from
9:50
our retail partners and our found customers this makes our solution very
9:57
scalable millions of acres across North America we have pretty robust
equipment
10:04
that allows us to sample pretty much every month of the year on frozen
ground providing snow covers not too deep is
10:11
not a problem so you know we can start have been sampling for the last
couple
10:16
months and are available to go today to try to get over the big demand of
spring
10:22
sampling here and to get finally results back to you guys to make those
decisions with your trusted advisors before you
10:29
start to go the software we’ve created in the background allows us to
manage
10:34
the logistics of this across this wide variety of acres and to make sure our
samplers are getting the right data back
10:41
to the lab and information is passed along to our customer and as quick and
efficient manner as possible we
10:48
developed some very unique and standardized sampling protocols that make
sure we’re collecting the right
10:55
depth the right type and and the right location so that we can be repeatable
11:01
and ensure that the right soil is going to the lab each and every time we
were
11:07
able to improve the resource management to our customers we understand
that people on the firm or in our businesses
11:16
are very critical in this time of year we have many hats on and soil sampling
awful thing gets pushed to the back of
11:22
the pack and as mentioned in the pool this morning over 50% of you
mentioned
11:27
that soil sampling doesn’t get done just purely based on time so we’re here
to help with that we’ve
11:35
developed a complete system from start to finish to help take that time
restraint away get your people doing the
11:41
right things working with the customers and making recommendations and
allowing our people to be in the fields taking
11:47
that job off your plate it also allows for a very cost-effective data collection
service you know no capital
11:54
investment from egg retailer or the farmer just a simple click of a button
order the fields get the right people
12:01
doing the right things and then get those results back to your dresses
advisor to get the recommendations in place to have a successful spring and
12:07
it’s a successful application of fertilizer next guy so the system starts
12:15
out with the digital wording of soil sampling that’s a very simple step you
12:21
can either log on to the a in our website and order directly through a NL
Canada or you can log on to the Devron
12:27
website and place orders that way just simply need a shape file or a KML of
12:35
where your field is answer a few questions on the on what services and
12:41
lab analysis you’d like and work through the questions and in a way we go
right
12:47
we’ll get it dispatch the sampler and get the data to the lab as quick as
possible there’s any questions on any of
12:53
that feel free to reach out to NL Canada or to Devron and we’ll work you
through
12:59
the order process start to finish it’s quite simple once the data is in all the
13:06
data is catalogued in the clouds and saved there for your convenience and
can be read on loaded from a NL at any time
13:12
you know does offer recommendations if required by growers or if you’d like
13:17
your certified agronomist or or advisor to build recommendations that’s fine
too
13:24
the data can be sent out in any in most formats and and available to you to
do
13:29
whatever you like and of course that can all be done digitally from
downloading from either website or if not compatible
13:38
that way a simple email can get the results out as because it quickly and as
efficiently as possible
13:45
so also testing kind of the why should we begin to start soil testing next
13:52
couple slides guy that’s what again
13:59
small sampling is basically the foundation of all the economic
recommendations we make or at least it
14:06
very much should be in many cases today we’re still doing what we’ve
always done we’re still farming that farm averaged
14:13
we’re still looking for something different without changing the aspects of
what we’re doing on the farm if we
14:21
have an unclear knowledge of what’s going on in the soil underneath of our
crop how can we expect the crop to grow
14:26
or change or do anything differently we need to clearly understand that yield
potential within our fields so that we
14:32
can begin to change manage and shape the soil to better ourselves and the
better
14:38
the yield that it produces we need to stop making those blind decisions
14:43
without us current soil tests we basically are really just guessing we don’t
know what’s changing across the
14:49
field and we don’t know what we need to improve on to get those yield levels
out to where we really want to survey is
14:56
done from labs across North America the IP and I group does a lot of work
with this you know does a lot as well it’s
15:03
been estimated that only about 20 to 30 percent of growers actually have a
soil
15:09
test on our current soil test on their farms and that’s a pretty scary number
15:15
really when you think about it only 20-30 percent of us have an accurate soil
test to make these decisions on the
15:21
fertilizer in and new change we’re putting down so sampling you should be
done on like a three year four year interval and they keep us in compliant
15:29
with that for our nutrient stewardship that’s coming into place and those
sample should be geo-reference so we can track over time to begin the show
you
15:36
results like that are on the screen here now so when we look at these maps
this was done by the IP and I it illustrates
15:42
how a fertilizer rates and some states and some provinces aren’t up to snuff
15:48
we’re not replacing what the crops are moving as yields increase as things
change across you know with weather in
15:54
nature you know new varieties higher yields you know we’re not maybe
keeping
16:00
up with the fertilizer rates we see so the map on the left there shows the
average increase or decrease in your
16:08
area based on our per million levels from soil test collected in the labs so all
16:14
the red numbers are areas in which we are inadequate in adequately
applying P
16:20
to the field removing more than we’re putting down on the right hand map
there you can see how what percentage of the
16:27
soil tests in your area are at or below a critical soil test level some areas
16:33
are quite alarming you know and there’s some real concern and we need to
find out where those areas are which fields
16:40
there or more importantly which areas within a field there the next slide
shows us the same type of two Maps only
16:47
for potassium levels so we when we look at the map on the left-hand side
you can
16:56
see same story just a little differently based on states we have that positive
or
17:03
negative change in perfectly on levels over a five-year period and the map
on the right begins to show us you know
17:10
what percentage of fields or soil tested in specific regions are at or again
17:16
below that critical soil test level so really gives us some reason for concern
and starts to drive home some of that
17:22
importance around so testing and and how we can use that to start bring
more
17:27
value to the table on our operations and for our customers if we’re at a
critical soil test level there’s no question that
17:35
we’re leaving bushels on the table and we’re not being as proud those
beginning you
17:42
the next graph it kinda gives us an example of how we can and should look
at
17:48
each and every field when we’re making a recommendation are thinking
about yield let’s use a corn crop for example the
17:56
gray line would be our 200 bushel average and if we’re applying a straight
18:01
rate nutrient application based on that field average of 200 bushels that’s
what
18:06
we kind of expect to see the blue line there is our yield some area is the field
yielding 100 bushels per acre on
18:12
the Left areas on the right-hand side of the graph yielding 300 maybe 300
plus
18:17
bushels per acre but the average 200 when we look at that nutrient removal
rate at the center look how much of that
18:24
field we’re actually farming properly and profitably we’re only targeting that
18:30
small little area of that graph properly our opportunities as agronomists and
as
18:37
customers to be more profitable and and better stewards in the environment
are on the far left and far right the far
18:44
left is where we can save some money we’re fertility rates are high and
yields low usually due to water or some
18:50
other implication and you know there’s areas – we just don’t need that much
18:55
fertilizer that fertilizer can be shifted or also on the right side where
19:01
we’re actually at those critical soil test levels and we can by applying some
more fertilizer we build soil we get
19:07
more bushels we get a return on our investment and we begin to become
more profitable next slide it’s got so when
19:14
we do this we start to see our input line match our yield vine and not saying
19:21
we have to go to rescission a go to the gate but at least start managing field
to field more specifically so that we’re
19:27
matching the inputs more based on on the field performance that gets us
more in line with the for our nutrient
19:33
stewardship that makes our input investment more profitable we’re getting
that return that we expect from those
19:39
dollars we’re spending and soil sampling is that key way to ensure that we
are
19:45
matching the right amount of nutrient to the yield being harvested from a
specific area and and we are maximizing
19:52
the benefit on both on both cases there
19:59
so to understand your soil you know
20:04
usually we need to get into a little bit more precision than that than a bulk
sample the level of precision in which
20:12
you choose I think really represents the goals
20:18
objectives you have for your firm operation the example will show you in the
next couple slides will be more of a
20:23
ball type testing scenario but when you look at face but specific sampling for
those in the group that are interested
20:30
in that we have a full line of services with in partnership with al to help
20:35
drive to that next level and to get to that resolution that you guys are
looking for so that you can start to leverage the latest tech on the farm the
20:42
equipment in the cab you can get a better visual representation of your
fields so that when you begin to build
20:48
nutrient recommendations feeding prescriptions nitrogen prescriptions that
equipment that you have in the cab
20:54
actually can start to work at the level you’re looking for you can use it to its
20:59
full potential and what they would identifying those neutral imitations it’s
very hard to get that response and
21:05
then to make those investments on the farm profitable next guy
21:16
so if we look at how much if we think of a bulk sample we look at those
assumptions on the bottom where bulk
21:24
sampling represents about 20 acres per sample as a bare minimum we were
gonna
21:30
resample every three years looking at a corn soybean wheat rotation the soil
21:35
test thought for the farm on that bulk sample is rated in the good category
for P and K and the recommendations we’re
21:42
gonna build here are gonna be for like a three year approach with a slight
build but but not not being overly or too
21:48
aggressive right so when we look at a corn crop you know those are the type
of nutrients we’re gonna start seeing
21:53
written as a requirement 240 pounds of an 80 pounds of P 190 pounds of K
21:58
soybeans 20 pounds n 60 P 60 K and winter wheat 105 180 respectively for
22:07
the total requirement the bottom TxDOT so when we try to break that down
into what does that actually mean cost wise
22:13
for a producer and we evaluate those numbers more specifically you can
really start to see how this adds up and how
22:20
this very low cost of a soil sample helps bring us to that you know
22:26
understanding of why we should be doing this right so when we look at that
three-year rotation and the removal
22:32
rates that we should be applying 550 pounds of potash 462 pounds of map
or in
22:39
the US you know somewhat equivalent to a good dad would be they all
probably a little over 8 the higher or similar rate
22:47
of P there and then in our area we’re using urea as the example 683 pounds
22:53
there we work out that total acquirement that’s 15 metric tonne just under
17
22:59
short ton of fertilizer than diesel on that 20 acre parcel over that three year
23:05
window yeah when we look at the cost of that no there’s some fairly decent
dollar amounts and in fertilizer as we
23:13
all know so you know that’s simple fifteen to twenty dollar an acre test
23:18
depending on analysis you pick in and where you’re located in the in North
America really is insufficient when you
23:26
look at the thousands of dollars that it’s it’s helping you you know make
decisions on so really important that we
23:33
do a better job with that in and like I say that twenty acre test is a bare
minimum as we begin to tighten up
23:39
resolution here we really start to make longer and more valuable decisions
next
23:44
time so I like this slide it really helps work through with with
23:50
customers and and for the agronomist to understand the value they’re
getting one
23:56
mate when they’re ordering still sampling now the example we just showed
was that left corner that gives you know
24:04
the twenty or twenty five acre grid or bulk test on a soil test you know again
24:09
a great solution for some of them that’s currently doing nothing gives you a
rough idea of some of the variability
24:15
within the field and really helps start to show you you know whether your
24:22
current broadcasts there for general farm operation are in line or not if we
24:28
look over to the bottom right corner that is the actual variability within
24:34
that farm that is a sensor based soil sample reading and that so this is the
24:40
cec levels each of these maps the dark areas are your high CEC or your
24:45
low-lying darker soils the light color those are the sandy lighter textured
24:51
soils so you can really start to see where the variability is on the farm how
the Noles run through where the
24:56
low-lying areas are you can all if those of you that steam lots of yield maps
you can almost start to visualize where
25:02
yields going to be high and real it’s going to be poor okay so if we begin to
look at all those other layers on this page in front of us
25:10
we really start to see the story unfold in front of us
25:15
whatever you’ve been doing in the past or if you’ve never seen it before you
can almost begin to pick out which
25:21
resolution and speaks loudest to you you can start to see some of the
problems you may have focused in the past with
25:27
some of the resolutions you’ve been using and it really helps to identify you
know the kind of where you want to
25:34
be what what goal you’re looking to achieve and and and how you want to
focus to move forward
25:39
next slide Scott
25:45
you so kind of wrap things up here it all
25:51
comes down to making that right decision for the firm so well sampling is
25:56
obviously the key to properly managing your fertility and your Impa cons
Devron and al have created a unique solution
26:04
for for everybody especially in these trying times to get this field work done
in a cost-effective manner without any
26:12
human contact whatsoever the data can come from either the customer
directly or more importantly from the from the
26:21
advisor themselves or the egg retailer and we can get the data spun around
back to you in a timely manner to get the
26:29
work done and the recommendation made by that advisor so that the
customer can see the value and get to the field soil
26:36
sampling is a must when when we start talking about maximizing yield
potential women in the field without that first
26:42
layer of information it’s very hard to make an uchi recommendation that’s
gonna have the most value as possible to the
26:49
customer and as that last side showed you your sole assembly operation
must match the goals at the firm
26:55
okay you must achieve you must understand what your outcome is from the
27:02
data so that you can really understand what soil sampling solution you want I
mean if you’re looking to just find out
27:09
what if your current blend is at the right level you know a bulk sample is
probably all you need but if you’re
27:17
wanting to get into more some prescription management or you’re thinking
about some nitrogen or seeding scripts then you’re probably going to
27:23
want to get into at least that two and a half acre polygons or some of the
sensor
27:28
type based reading during sampling works well and will go for them but
depends on
27:35
again the resolution and what you’re looking for the biggest thing is
understand what you’re purchasing and
27:41
have a goal in place so that you can obtain the actual value in and get the
27:48
desired outcome you have from your test and lastly we at Deborah and Al
are here
27:54
to support you and your trusted advisor to ensure that you’re getting the
best quality information that you can from
28:01
your soil and also to ensure that you’re getting their recommendations built
to
28:06
you in a timely manner and we can get this spring season off as successfully
28:11
as possible and without obviously too much personal contact with the world
28:16
we’re faced with today so I’ll turn it back over to Scott for some conclusions
and we’ll go from there
28:26
thank you Mike and Mike and for everybody who joined on we’re gonna open
28:34
it up to the question and answer session next this this is our first webinar as
28:41
we try to understand how to better educate people when we can’t move
around and we may be able to do more as we
28:49
continue on everybody that’s joined today we will will send you an email link
if we have any other additional
28:56
education series and I’ve already seen several people ask can we get a
recording of this a copy of the
29:02
recording so yes we’ll send out a copy of this webinar to the attendees a full
29:08
recording I’d also like to encourage people if you have questions you can
29:14
either type them in and I’ll answer them along with Mike as we go here or
we’ll
29:20
open it up to mobile questions here in a second and then also we do have a
29:25
podcast called precision AG made easy where Mike and airman some of our
other
29:30
ground must dig deep into more precision AG techniques so expand that also
and
29:36
with that I’m going to open it up for any questions Mike or Mike I’ve got a
29:46
question here our examples indicate that one-acre grid anticipates the
question
29:56
is is do we recommend one-acre grids versus soil optics is there a hybrid
30:02
example solution that may be able to incorporate multiple data layers Mike
30:08
can either of you talk around that about comparing soil optics to one-acre
grids and maybe incorporating the other data
30:14
layers pure absolutely Scott and yes I’d agree with that comment completely
when
30:21
you get to that one-acre grid size as you can see from the map in front of us
it does do a fairly decent job of
30:30
representing what what you’re getting from soil optics but usually the cost of
the one acre grid is quite substantial
30:37
over-over what you’re getting from the soil optic layer I believe if you do a
30:43
hybrid version as you can kind of see with the two and a half acre polygon on
that slide you can get something very
30:50
similar to soil optics map or maybe a little bit less of a cost but that again
30:58
depends on the field and what you’re sampling and the variability found
there the unique thing about soil optics is
31:04
you’re not really comparing apples to apples it’s it’s soil optics is a very
31:11
interesting tool it’s new on the marketplace and it does bring extra value to
the table that we don’t see
31:18
with traditional so something practices but it’s also doing things in a slightly
different way if what we’re showing here
31:24
you today is using grid or you know a polygon base test where every single
one
31:30
those polygons and every single one of those grid samples is actually a bag
of
31:35
dirt going to the lab using a traditional practice right or wrong that’s up to
the adviser and the
31:41
customer to determine what they find to be the best fit for their farm so
optics
31:47
uses a slightly different approach where they’re actually measuring an actual
true reading with a sensor across a
31:54
field then they’re calibrating that sensor and the data is then sent out to
32:00
you in a different format very accurate just different what I also like about
32:08
soil optics thing that you don’t get on a traditional soil test is it gives you
things like percent sand percent clay
32:14
percent still water holding capacity and some things like that that could
potentially be useful when starting to
32:22
look at some nitrogen scriptures of eating something like that if that’s
something that you want to take your education or your customers
operations
32:29
do so again both have a fit comes down to cost and I would say the
32:36
goal of what the soil sampling operation is and then ya pick the tool the best
fits absolutely hopefully that answers
32:42
your question thank you and generally we have three more questions at
least and
32:48
we’ll continue on for a little bit of time as long as everybody wants to keep
asking questions of the mic the next
32:57
question is is how do we make our polygons and and if you compare our
33:04
polygons with soil optics you know is there any weighting that goes either
way
33:11
yeah so the more data the better for polygon creation is is crucial to your
33:18
success you can drop polygons off of one layer if you and the customer know
that layer
33:25
is 100 percent accurate of that field but when we draw polygons we’re
working
33:31
on some automated tools but we looked at has at least three if not four
layers obviously yield is King Bourne is best
33:39
we used elevation layers a bare ground soil color to see if there’s any soil
33:45
type that way our probably the top three and obviously the more yield we
can get
33:51
the better to start normalizing things and looking at trends over time
33:57
when we compare that to the soil optics information soil optics doesn’t build
34:04
zones at all it is truly and uniquely a sensor based reading that measures
each
34:12
individual nutrient on its own so every map will look slightly different
34:17
your phosphorous map will not look like your potassium map which will not
look like your magnesium map I mean it is the
34:23
true sensor reading and it is giving you what that sensor is picking up as it
drives across the farm you can make
34:29
zones from the data from soil optics but again because each map slightly
34:34
different each is own map potentially could be different as well so slightly
34:39
different approach again fairly different costs but again knowing what
34:44
you’re purchasing is important and absolutely gets you to the goals you’re
looking for now thanks Mike the Mike’s
34:54
the next question is is do we do either of our companies define the polygons
or
35:01
do growers need agronomists to do that for them either way will work I mean
if
35:08
you’d like us to draw some polygons for you that is definitely a possibility but
35:14
of course we’re usually in most cases have never stepped foot on your firm
don’t know the field history so on and
35:20
so forth so I would say if we do do that for you that would be step one
approval
35:26
from you the customer and also approval from your agronomist would be key
in
35:31
identifying a successful set of polygons out of the gate ideally if your trusted
35:38
advisor is capable of drawing some polygons on their own then by all means
we would be more than happy to use those
35:44
layers and get things going that way that’s that would probably be the best
route
35:52
thank you so next question and we’ve we’ve still got three questions so they
they keep coming and we’ll see we’ll
35:58
keep answering next question is is which level of soil sampling typically
matches
36:06
the variable rate fertilizer application tools
36:14
as far as resolution or lab analysis I
36:20
would say with all the answer both to safe answer asking a question on the
lab
36:27
analysis side depending on you know the goals of your operation usually the
36:32
basic would think and manganese is more than enough for a commercial
application
36:38
today and and that’s what I would say 90% of the customers pick as a lab
36:43
analysis when when ordering a site-specific sample would be the basic
36:49
with zinc and manganese if we’re talking about the soil sampling resolution
to match the custom fertilizer application
36:56
I would say with commercial equipment folder equipment with a 70 foot
boom you
37:03
know we’re looking at probably 70 by 70 foot squares in reality as that truck
drives across the field so you know
37:10
anything less than a two and a half acre polygon starts to get tough for that
37:17
truck to manage depending on even time again that can change based on
equipment
37:22
the controller in the cab and and and everything in place as we move to strip
37:28
tillers farm owned equipment that’s a little bit narrower and a little bit
37:33
more precise if we’re talking about fertilizer down with the planter where
things like that then yes we can start
37:39
to tighten up that resolution and get into the you know the one acre polygon
so where you know the soil optics type
37:46
things and and you’ll start to see some better success from that but as you
can see there on the screen if we get into
37:52
some of those really tight long narrow zones and we’ve got a truck that can’t
change very quickly that’s the that’s
37:59
the reality of it and and you know we we need to be critical of that and and
understand as I said earlier what are
38:05
the goals for the for the sampling and what equipment do we have available
to
38:11
us as a producer to get the job done and you know there’s no sense
overpaying for
38:17
resolution if we just can’t get the job done on the back end
38:23
next question is how do we convince market gardeners and colony farms
that
38:32
are growing horticultural crops to start sourcing how do we get them to how
do we get people who have not bought into soil
38:38
sampling and testing to buy into it and then write in line what that is is there
38:44
any recommended intensity levels for these people Mike can I let you answer
that one and
38:50
maybe talk a little bit around some of the fertility programs that Anna has in
38:56
place that might help the horticultural crops and Market Garden people
understand that a little better sure we
39:03
do have a complete set of recommendations for just about every
39:10
protocol to crop across across Ontario
39:15
in the West and into the states so we do have you know standard
recommendations
39:22
that we can make the Istana so test results that you would sent us
39:30
so we can we can at least get recommendation part and the focus on
39:37
could production obviously crop production and also quality based on years
of internal anal research and
39:45
tweaking recommendations and fertility rates and products so you have that
as a
39:52
good background as far as convincing a customer that needs to be done I
mean
39:59
there’s some of the slides we showed earlier on you know amount of
intensity
40:04
especially for food crops is even you know higher than our corn soybean
when a
40:13
wheat rotation so there’s a lot more value involved in the crop and most
what
40:20
about cocoa crop so I think the economics 5 is a lot easier to show type
40:26
of return on investment on those crops excellent thanks Mike yeah and that’s
I
40:32
think that’s key here you know the soil sampling for those types of markets
and
40:37
those types of customers is absolutely crucial to get a good understanding of
the base and then using some of that
40:43
material available helps them really understand how they should build their
nutrient programs that starts to open
40:50
the door around some tissue testing in season to see if that’s actually
following through and into the plant and
40:55
I know there’s a hole wider recommendations to be taken from there so
excellent thanks Mike
41:02
next question is what is our recommendations for someone who has
41:08
never soil sampled where is a good place to start and I think you basically
both may have answers for that yeah again I
41:18
would say that would be a good discussion piece to have and would love to
doing that you know with with each of
41:24
you that have that question but you know things to think of on your own and
to start our again what equipment do I have
41:32
at home what are my capabilities to to manage the results that I get back
and
41:38
what are the goals for my operation if we’ve got some new equipment sitting
on the farm with the ability to do some
41:44
variable rate technology either seeding or nitrogen and I’m dealing with a
really high-end egg retail that has the
41:51
capability to do some great fertilizer applications then I would probably start
in that at least five acre polygons it’s
41:58
two and a half acre polygons to really start to understand how those fields
are behaving and how I can really start to
42:04
get the best out of equiptment and I have it on farm and things like that now
42:09
if I’m a customer that’s just looking to tweak my overall blend I don’t have a
42:17
lot of equipment at home yet or today I don’t have any yield data or anything
or
42:22
my custom guy isn’t capable of doing that whatever that type of question is
then you know I would probably look at
42:30
something like a ten acre polygon or even some zone sampling for that
matter as a place to start just let’s start
42:36
looking at the high ground versus the low ground with maybe some mid mid
ranges that’s they’re gonna start
42:42
breaking yield in the high productivity low productivity give you an idea of
what’s happening on the different soil
42:48
textures on the farm and it’s gonna be at a relatively low cost out of the gate
to just help you start to manage things
42:53
manage things slowly so again that’s kind of a loaded question but it all
42:59
comes down to the equipment you have at home and how fast and how far
you want
43:05
to ramp this out in a microwave good I think that’s so
43:14
well well done Mike I’ll just add that even the simplistic sense you’re looking
43:20
at a couple different production zones within the field that you swear I’ve
been just showing the differences in
43:27
variability between the two and essentially the more your sample the more
variability you’re gonna show so if
43:33
you start with two or three samples in the field 50 acres you know 20 25
acres
43:40
piece and show that variability that’s that’s a good place to start
44:03
–
44:11
next question I’m sorry the right question have we overlaid soil optics
44:17
file points with traditional soil sampling point files and have we been
44:24
able to compare like actual value of traditional soil sampling with actual
value of soil on lakes so have we
44:32
compared them and have we been able to do the ROI analysis on both types
yes to
44:39
some degree just example in front of you right now is exactly that that is
how
44:47
the field tested in each of the different ways and that is the actual soil optic
reading on and in the bottom
44:54
right corner so there are differences
45:00
sometimes they’re extreme but in most cases that soil optics measurement
is
45:08
fairly close or at least within line to what we get based on you know the the
45:14
traditional sampling approach if you will remember when we’re doing the
45:21
polygon sampling or grid sampling we are averaging the results within that
45:27
specific area on the map so the tighter the area we draw or the smaller the
45:33
polygon size the less averaging that occurs and the more accurate the
results which is what you can see along that
45:40
bottom row of images and obviously the tighter the polygon and the less
45:45
averaging that occurs the more accurate and more closely it begins to
represent that soil optics data as we go to those
45:54
larger zone sizes or the larger grid sizes the averaging becomes very great
and the resolution and the quality of
46:01
the data goes down and that’s where we start seeing the really big
differences in the data so again it all comes back
46:08
to that cost versus value proposition to you as the customer and what you
need
46:15
for the operation and then obviously as we said earlier at the beginning of
the presentation of 20 20 to 30 percent of
46:21
customers are sampling across North America doing any of these on this
page is a better step than doing nothing at
46:28
all now thanks thanks Mike I don’t have
46:42
any more written questions I’ll leave this up here for about a minute and I’ll
46:47
keep talking to see if there’s any questions that want to close out but we
have addressed all the written questions
46:54
so far there was a couple people who had requested some specific questions
to
47:00
themselves and we typed the response in there if you asked me a specific
47:06
question to your specific operation and you didn’t get answered what you
need please reach out to us because some
47:13
people had sent an anonymous question so I don’t know who to talk with but
please reach out to me and we’ll help get those
47:20
answered if I didn’t now answer you when I type the response did have one
more question at least come in and this
47:28
question is is for large fields such as
47:34
quarters or half’s or more the question is what is a good resolution either for
47:41
grid or polygon they have a seventy six foot feeder or cedar is there some
47:46
recommendations at least how to get started and where do you go from
there
47:57
we might we’ll see yep sorry can you hear me now yes okay sorry so industry
standard
48:06
today and that approach is more of the zone based approach where we take
a
48:11
yield map or the compensators taken an image or something like that
48:17
classify it into four five six ranges and then go saw sample one soil sample
48:25
bag from each of those stones that’s not a bad place to start honestly it’s not
48:31
if you’re not doing anything different we’re not doing anything at all it’s a
48:37
great way to start identifying you know your your cops your nose the
bottoms of you know and your schools or or the
48:44
salinity spots things like that works great the challenge becomes
48:51
are all the tops to my nose the same is it poor yielding or poor vegetation for
48:57
the same reason for putting all that dirt in those tops of nose or in the
bottoms of the low ground into the same
49:04
soil test bag are we averaging the results and are we missing something and
that gets to be
49:10