Digital records pave the way

Hans Riensche knows there’s value to farm data. When the family farm enrolled in Indigo Ag’s voluntary carbon market in 2019, Riensche saw an opportunity to own the recordkeeping. As a digital native, the Jesup, Iowa, farmer knew he was equipped to understand the data the program required. “I see digital data as a rare opportunity where the next generation can walk in on the ground floor and build something for the farm that adds totally new value,” he says.

The family has had digital records since the mid-2000s, but the digital footprint consisted only of various records from the planter, yield maps from the combine, and financials in Excel spreadsheets.

Most records were kept in the John Deere Operations Center and asynchronous, meaning they were downloaded to a USB drive at the end of the season.

Jumping to fully cloud-based record keeping was the first step in getting data ready for the carbon markets.

“That sounds super complex, but it really just meant we paid for the upgrade on [the] John Deere Op Center. Now our machinery automatically sends those records out for us,” Riensche explains.

Indigo Ag asks program participants for records regarding tillage, planting, fertilizer applications, and harvest. While Riensche says these data requirements are not hard to obtain, it was a headache to find ways to align new records with existing data.

“We started to see the holes and started to patch them,” he says. “There was definitely a learning curve. The first time that you start looking at sheets of numbers and data, it can seem overwhelming.”

Riensche worked with many trusted advisers to make it easier to understand the data. While he’s tried several data management software options, he’s stayed committed to the John Deere platform.

Now that he has a handle on his data, connecting it with markets that require data records is nearly seamless. While many offerings center around carbon, Riensche says start-ups like Verdova and Leaf are offering the services and markets that were missing during the digital boom 10 years ago.

“If I have all my ducks in a row, I can use automatic uploads,” Riensche says. “I give [Indigo Ag] access to that data, and they pull it right into their marketplace. I can correct the data instead of entering individual records. The systems have vastly improved.”

Even for farmers starting from scratch, digital record keeping isn’t as complicated as it seems at first, Riensche says. “It just takes a desire to do it and the humility to ask for help,” he adds.

Editor’s Note: The Context Network is a global agribusiness consulting firm that helps organizations achieve results through strategic management insights and a network of ag industry professionals, creating business solutions that deliver actionable outcomes. Learn more at contextnet.com.