Ben Cavers, the fifth generation of Be-Ver Farms out near Sedley, SK, has made the Crop Intelligence app an important part of his day-to-day operations.
He’s found that the app as a whole—from entering your seeding date to interpreting the data—is straightforward and simple to use.
“I pretty much live on it on a daily basis,” laughs Cavers. “It's right at your fingertips. It's quite user-friendly and easy to use, easy to understand... I probably check it two or three times a day—especially if it's raining.”
Cavers’ family farm is entering their third crop season using Crop Intelligence and has seven stations installed. He’s found that the app has not only increased his confidence in decision making, but also changed the way he looks at data.
“We’re looking at [the data] closer and more than we would have in the past,” notes Cavers.
Be-Ver Farms’ agronomist uses the app as well. “Between him and I, you get a pretty good feel for where you should spend your dollars,” says Cavers.
“This year, for example, we're fairly spread out,” continues Cavers. “So, in the south, we really didn't have much potential. But, in the north we did.” With the insight provided by the app, they ground truthed the data and determined that there was opportunity in the north land and decided to top-dress it.
Last year, Cavers was leaving check strips in certain areas of his crop and used the data to determine whether the fertilizer they were applying was translating into bushels at harvest. From there, he compared the passes that he didn’t do with the ones he did and overlayed the data to inform his next fertilizing decision.
“That also leads into your confidence factor,” adds Cavers. “If you're seeing improvement in those areas then you know that, going forward, you are gaining.”
Cavers foresees that he will continue to grow more confident as he works with the app and adds more weather stations to his farm.
- An interview with a Crop Intelligence Customer