Spring Planting Playbook: Precision Ag Prep for Every Planting Season

We walk through what we’re thinking about for spring planning in 2026, from realistic yield goals to the map decisions that actually save money when inputs are high. We keep it practical by tying variable rate strategies to agronomy, controller readiness, and the real limits in each zone. 

In this episode, Sarah and Jodi talk
• setting realistic yield goals for averages and zones 
• handling fields without recent soil sampling using yield potential and zone logic 
• separating salty areas from other low zones to avoid wasting fertilizer 
• using variable rate seeding to manage sand, salinity, IDC, drought and disease pressure 
• balancing population changes with weeds, canopy and row spacing 
• treating soil pH as a high-cost lever and avoiding too-good-to-be-true fixes 
• improving phosphorus and zinc efficiency through banding and seed safety planning 
• exploring variable rate residual herbicides with pulse width modulation 
• powering up controllers early and running test prescriptions to avoid spring surprises 

Thanks for listening and come back next time for another episode of Ag Geek Speak! At GK Technology, we have a map, and an app, for that. 

VRT Herbicides with Kyle Okke pt. 1: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/18096941-15-variable-rating-herbicides-with-kyle-okke-pt-1
VRT Herbicides with Kyle Okke pt. 2: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/18144514-16-variable-rating-herbicides-with-kyle-okke-pt-2
VRT Herbicides with Kyle Okke pt. 3: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/18216234-17-variable-rating-herbicides-with-kyle-okke-pt-3

Seed Safety Calculator (SDSU): https://extension.sdstate.edu/starter-fertilizer-calculator-and-final-report

https://gktechinc.com/

Transcript

Theme And Spring Mindset

Sarah 0:00

And now it's time for Ag Geek Speak with GK Technology's, Sarah and Jodi.

Theme Music 0:10

In the fields again. I just can't wait to get in the fields again. The life I love is spread in the product for my friend. And I can't wait to get in the fields again. No, I can't wait to get in the fields again.

Jodi 0:30

Welcome back to another episode of Ag Geek Speak. Today, Sarah and I are going to be talking about all things spring. So thinking about what we need to be thinking about as we prepare our maps for the spring planting season, thinking about what we need to be doing to make sure our controllers are in good shape, just thinking about spring. Because I don't know about you, Sarah, but there is nothing more that I like to think about when it's 10 degrees outside than when everything turns green.

Sarah 0:59

I am ready for spring. I can't wait. I feel like we're at the very beginning. As we're recording this, it's like the end of February, right? So we're still very much so in winter. We just actually had a winter storm last week. But boy, mapping season is sure kicking off. I've been having phone calls from my guys. I don't know if you've been having phone calls from yours, but it's time. It's time. It's time to start making those maps.

Jodi 1:22

So,

2026 Reality And Input Efficiency

Jodi 1:23

Sarah, as you're thinking about making maps for the spring, is there anything that you're I know weather is different across the whole United States, but is there anything that you're doing different thinking about the 2026 growing season than normal?

Sarah 1:39

Well, I think one of the things we first have to start thinking about is just the state of what farming is like going into 2026. Um, you know, as we're moving into this season, it's by all things that I'm hearing, it's going to be a pretty challenging year out there for the farmers. And so to that end, I think it's pretty important for all of us to, you know, keep that in mind with our recommendations that are out there. Um and going forward, uh, we need to be really efficient with our inputs. And what better thing to do than to use precision agriculture to be efficient?

Jodi 2:16

And on that subject, so you and I, I don't think it's any secret to our listeners that we're both big proponents of soil testing. Of course, we're gonna recommend if you want to save money or you know be more efficient with your inputs, that the best place to start is gonna be soil

Yield Goals Without A Soil Test

Jodi 2:32

sampling. But say if I'm somebody that wasn't able to get a soil test last year, how do you think about approaching these fields that don't have a soil test? Maybe you've got a yield goal, but what's your thought process when you're when you're approaching those fields?

Sarah 2:46

Well, I think that's a great question, Jodi. And I think I think that's actually something that we should both share, share in here so that maybe some people can get some different perspectives on that very topic. But first of all, I like to think about it from a standpoint of um setting realistic yield goals. You kind of just hit on that, but getting realistic yield goals. We all know that different parts of the field yield differently, right? We've got parts of the field that will yield more, parts of the field that will yield less. And so, you know, trying to work with that grower to really understand what realistic yield goals are. I I'm curious what what kind of challenges you've run into when you're setting um yield goals with your farmers.

Jodi 3:27

I completely agree, right? It's so important to set realistic yield goals. When I start to think about this, and even in the context of, you know, someone not having a soil test, let's remember that when we're thinking about how do we vary our fertilizer rates and also like our seeding rates, one thing we do look at are those different zones and what their what their yield potentials are in each of those areas. And so that impetus to change the rate of fertilizer for each of these zones, you know, part of that comes from having a soil test and and maybe you don't have that. We can work through that. But then we really want to make sure that that yield goal is realistic, like Sarah said. So, like this is a year, maybe, you know, think about am I gonna swing for the fences or am I going to shoot for something that's more realistic?

Sarah 4:17

So, but I I think it's important to think about like what is a realistic average yield goal. If in fact the average for a field, let's just take corn because it's a standard that gets used out there all over the place. If, for example, your average yield goal is 160, don't make it 180 for an average, thinking that's gonna help get your yield there. Let's be realistic in what we're doing. And likewise, when we're thinking of those the high productivities and the low productivity areas, let's make sure that we're setting the realistic yield goals for the low and the high. There's been times where I've worked with farmers setting yield goals for salty areas that um, you know, maybe for wheat, it is literally only a five-bushel yield potential in that salty area right along that pothole. And if that's the case, why would we make it anything more? And yet, I've I've also run into challenges in the conversations with the farmers that they're worried that we're going to be limiting the yield potential in that spot. So, and that's kind of that's kind of too bad. But it's true, right? I mean, farmers have trouble thinking that if we set that realistic yield goal, that's only five or ten bushels of wheat in that really low yielding area, that it's going to bring down the entire yield production potential for the entire field. And that's not the truth. That spot is not going to produce any more than that. And you've got the yield data there to back that up.

Jodi 5:48

Yeah. And I've got two comments to make on this. The first one is like, okay, so thinking about, okay, so you didn't soil sample this past year. And and one thing, you know, if you're in an area that has a lot of salinity, what we typically do when we make maps, at least within GK, we'll mod out those areas that are salty areas and low producing um versus areas that are low producing for other reasons, like hilltops or maybe sandy spots, etc. But my point with this is that often those salty areas, your fertility is not the limiting factor, right? Um, if you were to go in and soil sample that and like John Lee from AgVise has some awesome data showing some comparisons of like what the nitrate level is in some of these really high salty areas, like with salts on the surface, versus areas just outside of it that don't have that surface salt. Point is, is a lot of times if we're not getting a whole lot of yield in these areas that are salty, we're still planting over them. And then we're also putting fertilizer there. So oftentimes these spots already have a lot of fertility. And so if we can say, hey, we're going to just cut back in this area in terms of fertility, you most likely, very highly likely, will not be limited by fertility in those areas. It's gonna be the salts that are limiting you, not the fertility. But that leads me to another thing I want to talk about, especially for coming into spring, unless you have some more comments to make on yield goals, era.

Sarah 7:14

All I was gonna say is make sure that your high yield goals then are also realistic. You know, your high yield goal is not an average yield goal either. If you are honestly raising, you know, 220 bushel corn, 240 bushel corn out there, put that out there. And and if there's anybody in the uh in Iowa, Illinois that's listening to this, remember I'm a North Dakota person and I'm north of Fargo. So our yield potentials up here don't start with a three yet. Yet that's the key point.

Jodi 7:47

But again, this is everywhere, North Dakota or elsewhere. Like use set realistic yield goals. There's no reason not to. Because again, we're varying. We're we're varying based on that yield goal, whether you have a surrogate test or you don't have a surrogate.

Sarah 8:00

But that high yield goal should be average, an average high yield potential, not like what your top yield is going to be there either. Because oftentimes on those years when you get that really high yield potential or that really high yield that happens, it isn't because of the fertilizer that you applied in that spot. It is because um, it's it's because we had the other things line up behind all of your good management. It's usually at that point in time where we've got the weather and everything working very well. And honestly, to attain that high yield at that point in time, we're probably getting some benefit out of uh out of mineralization and those kinds of things to bring that that the extra gravy uh or the cherry on top, I should say, for the yield. Absolutely.

Jodi 8:52

Nice weather, nice corn growing weather, good moisture, awesome for mineralization. But can we predict when that's gonna happen? No.

Sarah 9:01

So just make sure you pick your you know, realistic yield goals, realistic high yield goal. If you're gonna get the cherry on top in that yield, it'll be there. You know, just be realistic. If you honestly usually raise 200 bushel corn in that spot, go ahead and set that. If it's only 180, only put 180 out, but be realistic in your yield goals.

Mod Areas And Variable Rate Seeding

Jodi 9:26

Okay, one other thing that I'm thinking a lot about this spring is looking at mod areas. And this isn't because I've never done mod areas before. That's that's not it. What I'm more curious about going into 2026 is thinking about how we can differentiate with variable rate seeding these different mod areas. So, like we had just mentioned, you know, there are differences in all of our zones, but especially our red zones, right? There's a lot of different reasons that a field can be um pore-producing, whether that be lack of moisture and sandy areas or too much moisture or too much salt, right? And we've talked a lot, you know, at the Ag Geek Insights meeting earlier in February about using RVRT seeding to take advantage of or or think about managing those bad spots differently, right? Like with soybeans, if we've got a a salty area or an area that's got really bad IDC, we want to bump up that population because that sucks up that water and helps make those conditions better. It's counterintuitive, right? Because we think bad area, let's cut back our corn rate. But again, this is kind of a lot in one topic, but I'm thinking about being better at differentiating my mod areas, not only for soil sampling, but also how can I think about seeding differently and take advantage of those differences and manage those those red areas that I've modded out differently and over time improve them. So, like, give me an example. Give me, give me an example of what you're thinking. Yeah, so like let's think about like bull moose from training class, right? So we've got like a we've got some areas in the field that are hilltops, and then we've got some areas that are next to the slough that are salty. And so, like if I was a soybean producer, I would increase the rate around the slough in the salty areas, and then I would, I'd probably keep an average rate up on the hilltops just to just because I know that I don't want to increase, right? Because I don't want to waste money and I know that moisture is probably limiting, but I'd want to make sure that I'm not cutting back my rate so much so that I've got at least some soybeans that are keeping the soil from blowing off the hilltop. What would you do in that situation, Sarah?

Sarah 11:45

You know what? I I think seeding rates are such an interesting thing to think about because there are so many different places where we can use variable rate seeding rates for different reasons. And soybeans is a huge topic of conversation. So you're talking about, you know, for example, in some salty areas or maybe areas that have a lot of um high carbonates where we're gonna start having problems with iron chlorosis. Yeah, of course, raise your seeding rate in those areas. It gets to be more expensive to produce those soybeans, but you might actually get something. So um that is really the right way to manage those issues. But you get to a hilltop, um, and and yeah, of course, you're gonna be dealing with something like uh drought up there. But to me, you know, now we're starting to think almost more of a corn situation. And corn, if I'm in a sandy area, I do really like to back off that seeding rate, you know, quite a bit, actually. And I've gotten fairly aggressive with some of my um corn seeding rate reductions on those sandy areas. And the feedback that I've gotten has actually been pretty impressive. So in the past, where someone would flat rate their their corn seed, you know, at a at a standard 32,000, for example, across the entire field, that hilltop didn't produce anything, but when I'm dropping it down, you know, to you know, 24,000 or 22,000 or something like that, he's like, I got 40 bushels out there, and and so now um, you know, okay, 40 bushels of corn. That is not an oppressive yield. I get it. That's better than nothing, it's better than zero. And the seeds, the savings on the seed input itself is such a big deal. So um, yeah, so I always think that's interesting. But soybeans to me can sometimes act a little bit differently depending upon where you are. You know, you get onto some of these lighter soils, maybe not like the true sandy, sandy soils, but we also seem to be having some pretty major issues with white mold in some places as well. And so um I've actually been working with some farmers on maybe reducing some populations um in some areas where those beans get really tall and very lush, and um trying to um get get to so that we can get more airflow through the pant plants and maybe um maybe prevent some of that white mold.

Jodi 14:19

I think too, like with right, because soybeans and corn, like they the population is similar in some ways, but it's also different. Like corn can't compensate like soybeans can. And like even in like my lifetime as an agronomist, just in the past like 10 years, guidelines of like how many soybeans we should be planting have changed so much. And so I guess like thinking about it, I would encourage everyone just to try it and think about how you're going to adjust or like think about, you know, what's an area that I'd really like to improve, either getting and this is every crop, right? This we work with a lot of different crops, all of us. But what are your goals? Exactly, exactly. What think about, you know, if you want to get a stand of something in an area, think about how can you adjust your seeding rate to get a stand. But yeah, that's a very different goal than say increase my yield on my hilltops or um decrease the presence of white mold in this part of the field.

Sarah 15:19

So absolutely think about, you know, or manage iron chlorosis in this part of the field. Yeah, and there's some other crops where this can really play into some things too, you know, dry beans, for example. Um, I can think of a couple of spots um out in fields that I worked with where the dry beans will get very tall and lush and and and kind of back in a corner by some shelter belts. Very prone to white mold then. Um, and so you know, you want to be careful. You don't uh when you're trying to do white mold management, you don't want to get too carried away with reduction of planting populations either, because you don't want to hurt your yield. And another thing that's critically important to always remember when we're reducing our planting populations is weeds. You know, our number one uh uh defense against weeds is canopy, crop canopy. And so we have to make sure that we've got enough seed out there that we're getting to canopy it um at a somewhat decent time frame.

Jodi 16:19

And then we get into the conversation of like solid seeded versus row spacing. So, like, of course, like just think about these things or like just be cognizant of the whole picture of yes, we might have the same population across two different planting setups, but that will look different in terms of how that comes up architecturally and whether or not there's row closure or not at a certain stage in the summer. But yeah, I mean, again, I encourage play around with it, experiment, do something different that you didn't do last year.

Sarah 16:50

Have you ever had a farmer call you up and and just be like, hey, I've heard all this stuff about variable rate seeding? Can can you help me do that? Literally last week. Yeah, exactly. But I think there's a lot of infatuation with variable rate seeding, but they don't sometimes they don't always know like why or what. So usually when I get that question, I'm like, yeah, sure, I can help you with that. But let's talk about why, why do you want to do this? What what are we what are we doing and why?

Jodi 17:20

Absolutely. If it, if it's if there's a specific, like I've heard a lot of people like it. If they don't, if that's their answer, like help them to ask those people, you know, what did they like about it? And is this applicable to your your property too? Um, your your your fields. Yeah, because it it goes back to what you said before, Sarah. Having a really specific goal in mind is gonna be super helpful and to make sure that you're not wasting a cost or time in something that isn't gonna get you what you want in the end.

Sarah 17:49

And honestly, we could write any map that anyone can dream up. I mean, it's so funny because I can't remember the last time that I had to tell someone I couldn't create some kind of map that they had in their head. Might not always know how to do it like right off the bat. I might have to like think about a couple things until I get there, but but we can literally like make anything pretty much, which is super fun. Go ADMS.

Soil pH Hype And Real Costs

Sarah 18:20

Hey, Jodi, are you thinking about soil pH at all this spring?

Jodi 18:24

I'm thinking about soil pH all the time, Sarah. It's a never-ending selfishly, I think a lot about low soil pH. How are you thinking about soil pH this spring, Sarah?

Sarah 18:34

I'm just surprised. I think there's a lot of thoughts about soil pH, both from raising and lowering soil pH. And it's um, I guess the one recommendation that I'm gonna make is just make sure you're working with a solid agronomist on all that stuff so that you get good information about how to manage inputs with that. Because there's some interesting information running around out there on that topic these days.

Jodi 19:02

Are you trying to tell me without directly telling me that there's a lot of talk about elemental sulfur going out to reduce pH?

Sarah 19:10

Honestly, I don't know if it's elemental sulfur per se. I definitely think there is some of that. I attended a meeting this winter where it was certainly brought up, but then um also uh I understand that there's some individuals that might want to actually just put acid through pivots now, irrigation pivots.

Jodi 19:29

Well, if you can find some good. All I'll say is this be careful and know your costs about managing pH. Just remember pH is a bulk soil property, and in order to change it, whether that be increasing it with lime or decreasing it with an acid, you're gonna need a lot of product in order to make a change on a level that's noticeable to the crop. So most of these things, if you want it to work, it's going to be expensive. If you're gonna do something that somebody's saying that that is going to work and it doesn't cost you very much, like a buck or two an acre, I'm gonna tell you right now, it's a very good chance, like 99 100% chance, that it's not gonna work and not gonna do what you are thinking that it's going to do. So again, with inputs as they are, this is bottom of mind in terms of my priority is decreasing pH. Also, with some of these things, too, with a concentrated acid or anything like that. If you're starting at like a seven or a six, it can get out of hand quickly. Just be careful.

Sarah 20:45

Yeah, I I uh had the chance once upon a time to go to the state of Washington and um the state of Washington, they have got such a big variety of crops out there. Um, and they'll they'll try to dabble with a lot of different things. And in one of those areas, they were actually trying to dabble with raising blueberries. Blueberries like acid soils, and um, they had really high pH, and so they um used a lot of acid and and sulfuric acid, and actually they blew right by the buffer capacity, um, and and blew it down to about a a four, and there's no lime around at all to bring it back. So um, you know, you can you just be just be careful, just be careful. Um, you know, find find a good uh resource for agronomy information. It's okay to ask questions. Um, usually if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Um ask for some peer reviewed information if yes if you're getting different um information from different places. Um maybe not a bad idea to kind of step back for a little bit and think about that. And You know, on a year like 2026, when we've got uh cut input prices to the level that they are, is something to really watch and be careful.

Jodi 22:10

Yeah. There are if if you're somebody that's dealing with higher pH, I know it's a pain in the butt to raise phosphorus levels, but be diligent with the the fertilizer you do apply. If you're applying phosphorus and zinc, do your best to get equipment that can ban those so that phosphorus and phosphorus is and zinc is next to the seed or close to the seed so that it's more available. That'll allow you to use the band versus broadcast rate, and you can cut back on how much phosphorus or zinc you're applying while still getting the effect from that fertilizer. Um, so that's that's huge.

Sarah 22:46

Yeah. I I actually think that's really really good advice for this year. Um, you know, it's a great year to think about banning phosphorus and and um phosphorus and and zinc. It's just an absolute good year.

Jodi 23:00

And especially with the amount of fertilizer, at least in this area that didn't go out last fall, like it's a great opportunity to if you're you're probably looking to get a lot done in a decreased number of passes, do consider banning your phosphorus. And don't be careful, don't ban, you know, potash or potassium with your your map, but just do a straight map. And remember seed safety when we're when we're thinking about banding fertilizer as well.

Sarah 23:29

Yep, that's solid

Variable Rate Residual Herbicides

Sarah 23:31

advice. Hey, speaking of soil pH and possibly transitioning into soil texture differences, who's thinking about variable rating residual herbicides? Everybody, Sarah Lovis, maybe I I would love to find um someone that um I I have had uh uh agronomist customers of mine that have done variable rate residual uh herbicides uh for different crops. Super impressive. I mean, to the point where the farmer was so excited about how that worked, he traded off. You you need to have pulse width modulation um on your sprayer to make it work. So think about like the AIM system, or um, I know John Deere has their version as well. Um, so make sure you've got that pulse width modulation on there uh on your sprayer in order to make this work. But um the customer was so excited about how the lentils worked out behind the variable rate uh residual herbicide, he traded his sprayer off and got a sprayer. Us he had a couple sprayers, but he traded one of them off and so that the other one would have that. So he could do entire uh variable rate residual herbicides. So it's been well liked out there where they've been doing it. It's it's pretty fun.

Jodi 24:58

And like if you guys are interested in hearing more about that too, we did talk to Kyle Oaky last fall, who's been working a lot with residual herbicides and doing variable rate with residual herbicides. Um, I think we've got three parts of an episode, three full episodes with Kyle. Was it three full episodes? Yeah, we talked a long time. It was, and we'll leave a link in the comments uh to give you a link for that. But you're so right. I think as as we continue to get pressure from resistant weeds in terms of and like reduce the number of modes of action that we can use, we're most likely gonna have to go to different like we already are, right? We're dealing with herbicides that have the a potential for more crop response. Um and the amount of crop response that uh uh occurs or can occur is influenced by the soil pH. And and other textures and other other things too, so like soil organic matter, soil texture, um, but pH is a big one, especially for I'm not gonna name the specific ones because I've forgot at the moment, but there are a couple that can really affect um crops like lentils and others out west. So if this is something that sounds familiar to you, that you're getting odd crop responses after like a base rate of a pre-emerged herbicide, um do look into that and look for a good agronomist that can help you potentially vary the rate of those herbicides so that you can have healthier plants longer through the season that don't get injured by um that flat rate herbicide. Um, and hopefully it will allow you to get more canopy and more yield in those areas where you haven't gotten before.

Sarah 26:44

Absolutely. And I mean, the benefits are just twofold. So, first of all, you have you're you're either gonna pick a lower rate so you have better crop safety. Um, and and so if you're flat rating, let me back up. If you're flat rating, you're either going to pick a lower rate so you have better crop safety throughout the entire field, or the higher rate so you have better weed control throughout the entire field. This way you can have the best weed control throughout the entire field and um not have that crop uh response. Also, think about what that means for carryover and to the crops for crop rotation going forward. So uh especially if you're at that you know higher rate so that you can get all that weed control. So it's really it's something that's very fun. I think it's gonna be the next big thing when we think about variable rate residual herbicides. It's not like a post-emerge where it's on off. It is an honest variable rate because you need a greater rate in on one soil type versus a lower rate in another one. So check out that podcast with Kyle. It was really good.

Jodi 27:54

What else are you thinking about this spring, Sarah?

Fertilizer Strategy And Banding Nutrients

Sarah 27:57

Well, fertilizer. I mean, I know that we've talked about it, but holy Hannah! I mean, the the fertilizer is expensive this year. It's an that's enough tomato. Uh, that one deserves enough tomato. And so we just have to be really judicious with how we're using that. And again, that goes back to making sure we've got good yield goals, realistic yield goals. Um, yeah. Absolutely. And yeah, and that we're not um, I I do think there's gonna be some people that cut back beyond um maybe do some lower rates than what they agronomically should be, simply from an economic standpoint. Um it's not a good habit to get into doing all the time. Are there reasons why people are gonna be doing that economically this year? Yeah. Yeah. So that's just how it is.

Jodi 28:57

Again, like I'm not it depending on what lab you're working with too, or like where you get your guidelines, right? There's there's a plethora of ways to get your fertilizer guidelines off of your soil sampling test. Um, whether you're working with, you know, say we're working with corn in Illinois or Minnesota, they're gonna give you an economic return to nitrogen or like a look at what the corn price is, what the cost of nitrogen is, it isn't a bad idea to take a look at those and use those to guide your nitrogen um strategies. And like if you're somebody that uses AgVise, AgVise does different like guidelines, broadcast band, university. Um do remember that again, like I mentioned phosphorus banding before. If you are able to band your phosphorus, if you are able to band your zinc, those are both immobile nutrients. And if you're able to band it versus broadcast it, you're gonna be able to apply a smaller rate or decrease rate than if you were gonna broadcast that. So again, there's there's more intricacies and differences here, but that's another one just to know of when you're thinking on a bulk level, you know, what are some ways that I can reduce my fertilizer cost while knowing and feeling comfortable that I'm still gonna get the return that I need at the end of the year. So those EONR charts and like those guidelines, do consider taking a look at those and then also assess your planting setup, band your phosphorus in zinc if you can. That's good advice.

Sarah 30:29

Yes, there's if you can do a band placement, there is efficiency for band placement of both phosphate and potassium in the band. And the reason for that efficiency is because when you have it in a band, the fertilizer has left less of an opportunity from the phosphates perspective to interact with the clays and from the potassium's perspective, interacting with the cation change capacity, which binds it. So that's where that efficiency comes from. And so generally, if you're in a band set up like that, you can um take those rates, you know, and and apply two-thirds of what a normal rate would be pretty safely. So yeah.

Jodi 31:17

Again, if you've never used a seed safety rate calculator and you're doing more banding, do find the seed safety calculator and and think about it. Think about your moisture conditions and think about where your seed is placed. Um, and make sure that you're getting the germination that you paid for from your seed. That's all.

Sarah 31:37

So, Jodi, this is kind of an interesting conversation. You know, when we were first talking about doing this episode, we decided just off the cuff that we were just gonna kind of shoot from the hip and do kind of a spur-of-the-moment podcast with just you and I talking about what we're thinking about this spring. Um, there's been no script for this, and honestly, it's been a really fun conversation.

Controllers Prescriptions And Test Files

Jodi 32:00

Yes. And you say the word script, and I realize the one thing we haven't really talked about is like a whole lot of map making or prescription writing. Oh we should do that, maybe not. But you know, I mean, I think I think the biggest thing I'm thinking about for script writing is like, you know, just encouraging if you're somebody that writes scripts and you're working with folks that are getting them into their controllers, encourage them to power them up before the spring, right? Encourage your growers to have them powered up. Make sure there's no micro test prescriptions. Yes. And then just make sure to get the test prescription, you know, especially if it's somebody that you're working with that's new and has never, you know, used that before, help them make a test prescription. There is a section in the ADMS manual that walks through how to do that uh and set that up. Um, make sure that the files that you're writing to, if you're if you're sharing your files via USB to get into the controller or you're sharing them via some sort of online platform, um, make sure that the way that you're sending them is readable by the program. It's re it's getting to the controller. Make sure there's no issues in communication there. Because if we can get some of these things um ironed out before we get to planting season, everybody's gonna be a lot better. Yes.

Sarah 33:20

Yep. And yeah, and and figure out like um, it's so funny because people uh when I when I'm working with people, the first thing that I'm always asking them is, you know, like what uh what kind of controller do you have? You'd be surprised the number of people that don't know the kind of controller that they have. Um, or my favorite, well, it just takes a shapefile. They don't realize that different controllers have different parameters around shapefiles.

Jodi 33:52

And so And that's okay, like until you're around it for some time, like it at least to me, like as a as a newbie in the area, like it was so confusing, um, and like kind of opaque as to what would work and what wouldn't work in each controller. And I will say, again, for all of you that have the ADMS manual, I'm sure you're all thinking of the matrix that exists in the manual. And it continues to exist in the 2026 version of the manual. So and it's like the most valuable page of the whole manual. That will help you figure out, you know, what's needed by these different controllers. And of course, there's new things coming out. Um, if you've got a good handle on those, um, I don't know. Point I'm trying to make is have that page that'll get you through the vast majority of the controllers that you're going to come across if you're working across multiple controllers.

Sarah 34:49

Yeah, I think that's that's really important. And you know, I know we didn't talk per se a lot about map making or like what buttons to push and different things to do necessarily from a GIS perspective, but everything that we talked about so far in this conversation are it are all the things that I'm thinking about when I'm making those maps. Yeah, that's where I start. That's how I, you know.

Jodi 35:13

Right. With the end goal in mind, it's not it's it's kind of funny because like yeah, when you're making a map, sure you're at least like for me, I'm I'm looking for images that help me, but you're right, my success isn't defined by like if the numbers match up, or when I'm looking at like the the matrix, it's like will this satisfy what like the grower's looking for in the end?

Sarah 35:40

Is this going to actually like there's no point in making a map if it doesn't make erronomic sense, if it isn't gonna agronomically benefit the farmer. So yeah.

Jodi 35:56

Oh, I love a good opaque answer, opaque thought. But but like it but really, right? Like I I think about I'm I'm working on some fertilizer guidelines right now, and like that takes so much more time, at least on for me, than it does, you know, sticking the numbers in and writing a prescription. Like that's writing the prescription is a super easy part, but working through the guidelines and coming up with the blends and stuff, that's the hard part.

Sarah 36:21

Like that's that's the part that you have to think about and getting that to where it needs to be. Yep. Absolutely. This is a good conversation, though. We've covered a lot of topics. I think we've headed on a lot of things. I hope that the audience enjoyed listening to just some of these things to think about before spring. Um, I hope they don't get too annoyed listening to just uh me and Jodi, although Jodi is always fun to listen to. But here we are.

Jodi 36:51

You obviously are not my husband talking. Just kidding. I'm very quiet at home, so he's probably like, Jesus, Jodi, say something, but that's okay. Um, I I think this is a good conversation and probably, you know, stuff that all of our customers are are thinking about and thinking through. And Sarah, I value your expertise and your experience so much. So thank you very much for sharing.

Sarah 37:18

Well, and I've right back at you, Jodi. I mean, you have to realize for the audience that's out there, Jodi and I have been colleagues. I've been in the industry longer than Jodi has, but we've got some very different experiences. So it's really fun when we get the opportunity to bounce ideas back and forth and learn from each other. It's really great. That's so positive. Let's just all sing Kumaia now.

Jodi 37:46

Like you joke, but I have I have audio of Sarah singing. So I couldn't. Which will never surface again.

Wrap Up And Next Steps

Jodi 37:54

Well, thank you all so much for listening and come back next time for another episode of Ag Geeks Week. We may or may not have a guest. We'll probably have a guest that's other than our voices. Um but with that, thank you so much. And remember with GK Technology, we have a map and an app for that.