Brett McArtor joins the show to talk about how he using SWAT MAPS in his role as senior research associate at Corteva Agriscience. Since graduating from Iowa State, Brett has remained focused on working directly with farmers to perform trials and research projects on their operations. His work has always involved farmer-led science to determine how new products fit into management systems and how they affect the bottom line.

“What does variability within a field mean? I mean, every field has variability, but to what degree is that variability? And is it yield limiting? Is it something that we need to make a decision on? And that's where that boots on the ground part comes in, where we're, we use that SWAT data to go back out, identify what's actually going on in that field.” - Brett McArtor

Brett dives into why and how a company like Corteva Agriscience is using precision ag technology, and why SWAT MAPS in particular.

00:00 How Brett thinks about field variability

00:32 Assessing the degree and relevance of variables in a field

00:36 Impact on yield and decision making

00:40 Field analysis with SWAT data

Learn more at SWATMAPS.com

Paul Sullivan (Twitter/X) joins the show to talk about the challenges he and his farmers are dealing with in his area of Eastern Ontario. We discuss some really interesting population trials that he’s doing, fertility issues coming off years of high fertilizer prices, and what difference SWAT MAPS has made for him and his farmer customers.

“When we look at yield, yield is a component of kernel number times kernel weight, and that gives us basically yield per acre. So with the definition of the SWAT MAPS we feel those yield components, we can kind of connect the genetics with the water supplying capacity in addition to the management of the farm.” - Paul Sullivan

Paul is a certified crop consultant and agronomist in Eastern Ontario. He has operated his agronomy services firm, PT Sullivan Agro, since 1997, and started using SWAT MAPS in recent years. His area of the province, which is just outside of Ottawa, is mostly corn, soybeans and wheat. Paul’s work focuses on developing crop plans around nutrient management, pH, pesticides, and some genetic recommendations as well.

Before starting the business, Paul spent eight years as a soil and crop advisor with the ministry of agriculture and food covering three counties with the provincial extension group there. So he has a long history of working directly with farmers to solve agronomic problems.

00:00 Welcome to SWAT Agronomy Podcast

00:26 Introduction to Today's Episode

00:55 Meet Paul Sullivan

02:23 Paul's Agronomy Journey

02:49 Early Challenges and Solutions

04:48 Soil and Fertility Issues

06:18 Managing Crop Residue

08:28 Adopting SWAT MAPS

14:47 Population Trials and Hybrid Management

21:03 Impact of SWAT Maps on Business

23:20 Conclusion and Farewell

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In this episode of the SWAT Agronomy podcast, Derek Rude, VP of Research and Development at Croptimistic Technology, discusses the evolution of precision ag technologies like SWAT MAPS and SWAT CAM. The conversation touches upon the development of precision agriculture tools, advancements in soil mapping, challenges in scaling SWAT MAPS, the integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning models, and the introduction of SWAT CAM for crop and weed imaging. Derek highlights the importance of data integration, higher resolution soil sampling, and future improvements using AI and autonomous technologies to enhance efficiency and agronomic decision-making.

“The real value is tying that data back to the SWAT zones. Because we know all of these critical properties: the soil properties, the water properties of these SWAT zones. So now we can really better explain what the SWAT CAM data is telling us, because we have that foundation, that SWAT foundation. So we can go take some pictures of some fields and show some variability. That's cool. But until we tie it back to the SWAT foundation, it doesn't have that big value that it does now.” - Derek Rude

00:00 Welcome to the SWAT Agronomy podcast

00:33 Introduction to Today's Episode

01:49 Meet Derek Rude: Background and Experience

02:37 Challenges and Innovations in SWAT Technology

03:24 The Evolution of SWAT BOX

04:21 SWAT BOX Features and Advancements

07:24 Integrating AI and Machine Learning

10:48 SWAT CAM: Crop and Weed Imaging

12:07 Future Directions and Challenges

18:12 Adoption and Feedback on SWAT CAM

22:19 Autonomous Soil Sampling and Ground Truthing

28:56 Final Thoughts and Contact Information

Learn more at SWATMAPS.com