By STACY CAMPBELL
Cottonwood Extension District

Kansas State University agronomists have taken advantage of the powerful world of digital technology to make crop information almost instantly available to farmers for more than four decades via their phones or home computers. Crop systems agronomist Ignacio Ciampitti and director of research at the Institute for Digital Agriculture and Advanced Analytics (ID3A), says this new site means crop and other valuable information can now be available within hours of university researchers harvesting crops from fields from Kansas. Farmers decide which hybrids to plant next year during or immediately after this year’s harvest. One problem we have had in the past is that K-State crop performance test results were not made available for two or three months until the data was processed and all publications were printed. There was a need to transform the way data was shared so that information was immediately available, easier for farmers to digest and more visual.

Kansas State University’s Institute for 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 include 40 years of K- Set crop performance tests and other information in easy-to-read formats for farmers. The online tool is at Jane Lingenfelser, assistant agronomist and coordinator of the university’s crop performance tests each year, said she routinely advises growers to research as many sources of data as possible when making decisions about varieties of crops to be planted. But we haven’t given them the tools to do that fully until now. There is no cost or risk for researching all production options. Using this new tool, switching between crops in a specific grow location is very easy. For example, it’s possible to see right away how canola performed overall and which hybrid performed best in south-central Kansas without committing the land or expense to a new venture.

The K-State database provides more than 40 years of data for most crops – including canola, corn, sorghum, soybeans, sunflowers and wheat. With a few clicks on the screen, 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 also shared the results of the National Winter Canola Variety trials, which his program coordinates at 30 locations across the United States. The collection dates back to the mid-1990s. “We live in an information-rich society and are used

to have 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, revise and publish. We still have to publish our results, show progress in our programs… but easier and more immediate access to results will have an impact on our farms.” Kansas Corn provided funding to build AVYield, in collaboration with the Institute for Digital Agriculture and Advanced Analytics, which was introduced in late September during Ag Celebration Day at K-State’s home football game against Oklahoma State.

“We’re one of the first groups in the country to introduce these types of tools,” Ciampitti said. “The beauty is that a lot of the research information we produce related to crop production does not take long to reach farmers. Now, they can make the final crop planting decisions based on the information and visualization that comes from this tool.”

Stacy Campbell is an agricultural extension agent in the Cottonwood District (which includes Barton and Ellis counties) for K-State Research and Extension. You can contact him by email at (email protected) or by calling 785-628-9430.