{"id":6524,"date":"2016-07-12T10:54:57","date_gmt":"2016-07-12T14:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/?p=6524"},"modified":"2025-06-11T12:14:39","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T16:14:39","slug":"why-collaboration-between-ag-equipment-and-tech-companies-is-a-good-thing-for-the-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/2016\/07\/12\/why-collaboration-between-ag-equipment-and-tech-companies-is-a-good-thing-for-the-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"Why collaboration between ag equipment and tech companies is a good thing for the environment"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BinaryIn order for the agriculture sector to deliver on the growing demand for sustainable grain and participate in emerging carbon markets, growers need a way to demonstrate that their management practices are benefiting the environment.<\/p>\n

Scientists have identified multiple practices that farmers can implement to maximize yield while minimizing impacts to air and water. Meanwhile, companies such as Trimble Ag, John Deere, SST Software, and countless others have developed a wide array of sensing tools and data collection methodologies to calculate and monitor the environmental benefits<\/a> of these practices.<\/p>\n

Yet as one might expect in any emerging market, the tools aren\u2019t fully communicating with each other, thereby limiting their true potential.<\/p>\n

The good news is that the makers of these technologies have started collaborating with agricultural practitioners to make their systems more compatible. Even in this fragmented industry, companies are starting to work together to streamline data collection \u2013 and this has enormous implications for sustainability.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n

Environmental performance data<\/strong><\/p>\n

To get credit for their leadership, growers need data to demonstrate to food companies and carbon markets that their practices are sustainable. At a minimum this includes nitrogen application rates, soil type and field boundaries. Despite the boom in data collection, these figures are typically kept in multiple formats, locations and within various software programs \u2013 making it time consuming for producers to collect the necessary data.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I\u2019m excited by several big developments in the field to streamline the data collection process. This trend can be transformative. By combining as-applied and yield data with soil moisture, pH, and weather, more detailed fertilizer prescriptions can be developed for the field to maximize yield on every square foot of a field.<\/p>\n

Ag tech collaboration <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"FarmerHere\u2019s what recent collaborations in the ag tech space mean for farmers:<\/p>\n