Farm Management Software: Key Tool in Understanding Farm Finances
February 5, 2024
Chris and Candice Bauer farm approximately 4,000 acres near Lake Lenore, Saskatchewan. Bauer Farms is a 4th generation farm growing wheat, barley, canola, oats, peas and flax. While farming is a lot of work, Chris and Candice love their connection to the land. They feel a sense of pride that comes with planting and harvesting on their own land. And utilizing a farm management software like FieldViewTM helps the Bauers manage their hard work.
“You’re connected to the earth in a way that nobody else understands unless you’re a farmer”
Farm data is a year-round tool
The Bauers believe one of the most crucial factors for success on the farm is knowing your cost of production. Identifying which land produces, which varieties perform and which products work best helps to optimize production and returns across every acre. After years of using excel and other farm management software, Chris and Candice adopted FieldView onto their farm in 2018 as a record-keeping tool to collect their farm data into one place. Today, they use FieldView as a year-round planning tool to analyze product and crop performance, optimize inputs, manage in-season logistics and inform financial planning.
Next year starts from the seat of the combine
Seeing what worked in one year helps planning for future years. By capturing real-time data in FieldView at harvest, the Bauers can see how crops and products have performed across fields and throughout field trials, right from the seat of the combine. Analyzing results earlier, they can finalize plans for next season even as they are putting this season’s crop in the bin.
“If you don’t have the information, how can you make an educated guess?”
Optimize inputs with scripts
The Bauers utilize variable rate scripts to help optimize inputs. Using yield data and satellite imagery from FieldView improves seed and fertilizer variable rate prescriptions. Chris and Candice share their FieldView data with industry partners to inform the creation of those prescriptions. The scripts can then be uploaded into and executed from FieldView at seeding or application. When harvest comes around, real-time data captured in FieldView shows performance across the farm, and the cycle begins again.
Farm management software makes farm management…manageable
Time is precious during the growing season, and communication is key to keep things running smoothly. The Bauers use the scouting and pin feature to mark areas of concern, rocks or other information. They can easily share the pins and information to help manage in-season tasks, prioritize scouting activities and follow-up in areas that need it.
“Anybody who’s looking at it can use it; it’s not complicated”
Having farm data in an easy-to-use format makes looking at historical information easier too. For example, when spray drift concerns were raised one year, Chris was able to see in FieldView not just the day he sprayed, but also the weather conditions, including wind. The data showed that whatever was happening on a neighbouring field wasn’t due to drift from Chris’ application. Good data is kind of like a good fence; it can make good neighbours.
A strong team makes a strong farm
Chris and Candice believe that having a strong team on and off the farm is integral to long-term success. You can’t be good at everything, but you can be good at partnering with people and resources. A good farm management software tool like FieldView that readily connects with other farm partners makes for a stronger farm. Chris calls it the “data advantage.”
“I don’t think still to this day there is anything out there like it”
Chris and Candice participated in a FieldView farmer panel at Ag in Motion, alongside 3 other Saskatchewan farmers. Watch the video here.