Ten years ago, a farmer may have found the information he needed to run his farm at the local coffee shop. He may have asked neighbors how their crops did that year, and then made planting and pricing decisions accordingly.
Today, progressive farmers, armed with iPads, can see real-time information on the quality of crops over every inch of their farms. They can apply seed, nitrogen, and irrigation recommendations based on historical yield performance and future weather patterns. And they can do modeling, based on current market prices, to determine how to best hedge that grain.
Innovations enable 'precision agriculture'
These progressive farmers represents about 10 percent of the industry, according to David Black, CIO of CHS, a $35 billion, farmer-owned provider of grain, seed and farming services. And if CHS has its way, that number will grow dramatically during the next few years.
"The next generation of farming is 'precision agriculture,'" says Black, who joined CHS as senior vice president and CIO in October 2014. "With precision agriculture, farmers have the information they need to make decisions at the field, farm or county level. Farmers can respond to what's happening all around the farm at any single moment."
To provide all of this real-time information for farmers, CHS uses technology to innovate. For example, CHS offers a new service called YieldPoint, and as part of the service agronomists, or farming scientists, walk the land with farmers to help them make decisions that will improve profitability. "Think of our YieldPoint agronomists as a Geek Squad that uses custom apps to mark field boundaries, collect environmental information, and extract 'as planted' data off the combine or the tractor," Black says. "Using cloud technology, we can aggregate that local data and provide field maps that show seasonal crop performance, weed pressure, and the soil's moisture holding capacity." Agronomists can then use that data to talk farmers through specific planning recommendations.
From iPad to tractor and soil
CHS also collaborates with seed and equipment manufacturers on software solutions that send planting decisions straight to tractors. "The iPad in the cab of the tractor talks to the planter which executes on the farmer's decision," says Black.
IT's role in delivering YieldPoint is, in part, to provide the infrastructure capabilities to manage all of that data. "We host the data and tag it so that it is geo-referenced," says Black. "We are responsible for delivering all of the software, whether we develop it ourselves or manage the relationships between the software providers and equipment manufacturers. We are the integrators."
Leading IT in a technology revolution
IT is often expected to start with a business problem and then consider the technology solutions that can solve it, but Black and his IT organization take a different approach. "We started with the four transformative trends — Internet of Things, cloud, mobility and big data — and thought, 'How do we connect those trends to the customers we serve?'" says Black. "If you begin with a focus on these transformative trends and use them to have a conversation about your business, you will start to innovate. That is how IT can drive a business agenda."
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