4. Getting Started with Management Zones - Spring 2026 Recap Pt. 2

High fertilizer and seed costs make field-by-field efficiency feel urgent, so we walk through how variable rate technology turns “I know my field” into something your equipment can actually run. We also share the simplest places to start, what details matter with controllers and file exports, and how older gear can still deliver real ROI. 

In this episode, we talk
• spring 2026 recap through the lens of input costs, weather, and markets 
• asking field-level questions that reveal profitable variability 
• building the workflow from boundary to variability map to prescription 
• choosing between zone maps from imagery and grid sampling maps 
• understanding why controller type changes how a shapefile must be written 
• reducing frustration by matching prescriptions to controller capabilities 
• starting with variable rate seeding for corn and soybeans 
• adjusting populations on droughty hilltops and sandier soils 
• making air seeders and multi-tank carts part of a precision ag plan 
• using research, forums, and testing to make older controllers work 

If you're interested in how GK can help you get started implementing VRT on your farm, check out our website for more information.

https://gktechinc.com/

Transcript

Spring 2026 Recap And Pressure Points

Sarah 0:00

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

Theme Music 0:13

I just can't wait to get in on the field again. I can't wait to get in the fields again. Oh, I can't wait to get in the field again.

Sarah 0:32

And welcome back to Ag Geek Speak. Jodi and I had a great conversation on the last episode. We're just kind of recapping this very interesting spring of 2026. It's been presented us with many challenges over the last uh few months here. Everything from crazy fertilizer prices, extreme weather, and interesting um markets. So being a farmer these days, not for the faint of heart, that's for sure. But we are honored to have the opportunity to work with each and every single one of you, whether you're a farmer or an agronomist or an retailer. So it's it's it's just a great industry to be part of. And certainly even at this time, even with all the challenges that are getting faced. But we wrapped up last time, our last episode, when we were talking about, you know, some of the issues that we saw in the spring. And one of the things that happened is it it feels like there's a huge willingness to want to start to adopt precision agriculture and variable rate technology in particular. And so we worked with a number of new new people this year. And one of the challenges is how do you get started with precision agriculture?

Jodi 1:45

That is the million-dollar question, right? Because it's, I think we all have an idea in our head of like, all right, I know what my field looks like. I know where I'd like to apply more fertilizer, and I know where I'd like to apply less. I know where I could reduce my corn seed population absolutely. And then I know where I'd like to have more of it so I can maximize yield there, increase yield there. But then the question is, how do I actually take that image of what the field

Where Precision Ag Actually Starts

Jodi 2:15

is in my head, even translate that simply to something that my planter or my fertilizer spreader can actually use to vary it, right? And so I think it's it, I think it's important just to kind of outline this first and talk about what are the kind of steps in this process and what are the things that need to happen in order for that to be.

Sarah 2:38

So, Jodi, I think you bring up some great points about where do you even, where do you even start and what are some of the things that you need to get started? First of all, and I think you brought this up in the last episode, how do you ask good questions about what's going on in your farm? If you look across your landscape on any given field, does the hilltop yield the same as the low area? Does your pothole yield the same as your more productive ground? No. So why would you fertilize them the same? So ask yourself questions about what is going on in your field. And here's the other challenge that I think, especially other professionals have in the industry is you could be an agronomist and understand exactly how things are changing and be super agronomically solid, but maybe you don't know how to run that computer component of it and translate that across and bring it to life. If you want to learn how to do precision agriculture, you could call up GK Technology and we can help you learn how to run the software or we can make the maps for you. Either one is fine. I have made maps for people who are really good at computer stuff, but they're running some pretty big operations, whether that's their agronomy operation, whether that's their farm, um, they they just seriously don't have time to sit behind the computer and make it go. And here's the other thing. I think in today's world, we get caught up in thinking that making a prescription map is literally going to take 10 minutes. Is that seriously as much time as you think about spending your $900 urea? Or do you think you should take a little bit more time than that? And certainly when I'm making my recommendations for my growers, it does take me more time than that to get everything translated over and to make it go.

unknown 4:38

Yep.

Jodi 4:39

And I I do want to spend just a little bit of time right here thinking about like what when we talk about a map and a prescription and a controller, et cetera, I do just want to spend a little bit of time talking about what this whole process looks like or like what what are the generic steps or things that are necessary to go from having an idea of the variability in your head to something that the planter can

Boundaries And Variability Maps Explained

Jodi 5:05

read and use or your fertilizer spreader can read and use. Really, the first part is defining your field, right? Like if you're if we're gonna make a map for you here at GK, we need to know, you know, if there's been recent changes to it. We need to know about that boundary. We can get a lot from nape imagery or even local imagery, but we need to know what that boundary needs to be for the field. You're planning to do split the field in half and do two different crops. We need to know that. So we need to have a definition of what the field is we're working with.

Sarah 5:37

And so often that boundary ends up being a cookie cutter for everything. So we do have to have an accurate boundary. We can draw one, we could take a boundary that you've got, but we do have to get a boundary.

Jodi 5:49

That's a great boundaries are important. Yes. So then the next thing that we're we're talking about we talk a lot about the concept of a map. And let's be clear: there are a lot of different maps that exist in this precision ag world. There are maps that define the field as to how we're going to vary the field and split it up. Here at GK, we make zone maps that are based on field variability, oftentimes based very much on imagery, or we can also bring other factors in like yield data, EC, Selini data, topography, hillshade, et cetera. But really, what that initial zone map is, is defining the variability of the field, giving us a template for how we can then vary our inputs.

Sarah 6:39

Oh, I was gonna say, I do think we need to bring up the fact that we also work with grid sample maps as well. Um, you know, and you can get some definition about the field from grid sampling as well. Grid sampling is more of a trend down in Iowa and Illinois and those areas, um, and North Dakota, Montana, um, and then going up into Canada is more zone maps. But sometimes they get used in different places. But you have to have something that helps you create the definition of the variability across the landscape.

Jodi 7:14

Yes, after the boundary, we have to have a map that is describing the variability of the field, whether that be zones via imagery or grids that have soil test data that define the field's variability. We need something there that gives us a template of how we're going to vary our inputs across the field. So after we have that initial variability map, we'll call it that, we're going to create something called a prescription map. And what that looks like is basically just saying, okay, in these different zones and these high-yielding zones, we're going to put high-yielding zones or high-yielding areas of the field, we're going to put a higher rate of corn or a higher rate of fertilizer. We can create that map that has inputs at vary given the variability of the variability map. One thing you really have to keep in mind is that not all prescriptions are created equally. And what do I mean by this? If you're working with anybody that's making maps for you, they're going to ask you, what controller do you have in your tractor? Because here's the deal. When we're making these fertilizer maps, we it's in one language, but then we have to translate that to the language that your controller speaks in. And the controllers, depending on what they are, they're going to speak a, they're going to speak that language a little bit differently than the other controllers. So like a Trimble versus a Raven, whatever. They they read it a little bit differently. So when we write a prescription, we're basically just translating it from one language to another so that it can be read by your tractor. And so we need to know what type of controller it is. And like specifically, like not just a Viper. We need to

Prescriptions And Controller Compatibility

Jodi 8:55

know if it's a Viper Pro. We need to know if it's a Viper Plus. There can like sometimes it makes a difference, sometimes it doesn't. But like those kind of details are important. So it's important to know what controller you have that's making these changes in the field.

Sarah 9:07

Yeah, I just want to pile on a little bit there. The way that I write a prescription to a case controller, to a Trimble controller, to a John Deere controller, to a Raven controller. Yes, even to a Falcon 2 controller, it's all different. And I just gotta state this because I I've had some a couple of times I've had I've had had it said to me, Well, it just takes a shapefile. Yeah. Generally I'd say a shapefile format is probably the standard file format. But the way that you write that shapefile can be a lot different depending upon which controller you're going to.

Jodi 9:52

And even making the map before you even export it as a prescription is going to be different based on is your controller good with a lot of polygons and a lot of different data in your shapefile, or is it can only handle a small amount of data? Like those, yes, it can handle a shapefile, but there are levels of capability here that when you tell us what you have, we can work that out for you. That's no problem. But we just need to know what it is. But getting back to like the basis of what we're trying to get at and like what we need to go from you having a field to you having something that you can put into your tractor. So just simply going from the point A of you having a field that you want to do VRT on to the end, or like you've got a variability map that describes the variability of the field. You know where the fertilizer or other input is going to vary across the field. And that's in a prescription that the controller that you're using can read. It gets into your controller, it's there in your controller on the tractor. And then it's in the field telling the specific piece of equipment how to vary it across the field. That's what we're getting at when we're helping you make a map or you're making your own map. Those are kind of the pieces of the puzzle that need to be there in order for it to go from point A to point B. You nailed it. That's that's what we got to do. I think it's important to have that framework in mind because I want you all to know, if you're new to this, that it's both more complicated and more simple.

Sarah 11:23

I I think you're right on though, Jodi. It is, you know, when you really start breaking down all the steps and everything that it takes to get from starting with nothing, flat rating, to actually variable rating a product. It there are some steps in there. And so I highly recommend that people work with somebody, especially the first time, on just how to get from point A to point B. I I honestly think that my role as an agronomist now is one of being a precision agriculture consultant where I help people figure those things out, you know, how to get from point A to point B with wherever you want to fit your business into variable rate technology. Maybe you're the guy making the map. Maybe you're the guy, maybe you don't want to have anything to do with maps. You're just gonna put the prescriptions into your tractor, and that's gonna be enough. But there's there's ways in there that you can work with consultants.

Jodi 12:18

That is the reality of 2026, is that more and more people have the variable rate technology capabilities in their tractors. And it is becoming a more commonly adopted practice. And like we mentioned in the lap last episode, with the economic incentives that are in place, there's really the drive and demand to implement these systems and to take account of more of the variability that exists in our fields. And there are people that'll help you figure it out. And there are people that will help you make it so that you can make variable rate happen on your fields. Or as an agronomist, there are people that can help teach you how to do it yourself if that's something you're interested in. That's what we're here for. At least in the context of ADMS. I mean, that's what

Lowest Risk Win With VRT Seeding

Jodi 13:05

a lot of my role is is helping people learn how to run the software and make maps for themselves. Absolutely. It just depends on what you want to do, where you want to get started.

Sarah 13:14

Yeah. So it's been uh it, it's been kind of an interesting spring. Definitely some interest in seed, variable rate seed this spring. And when seed prices are as high as they are, it's also a great way to help manage the input costs. I mean, I think there's a lot of different ways that someone can use variable rate seed. And I definitely have been answering some questions this spring, um, specifically for corn and soybean seed, especially corn seed on those droughty hilltops or sandier hilltops. I really like to try to drop that population down a little bit. Uh and what's fun with that is it helps us, you know, you reduce that population. There's less competition in that sandier area where there's less water to start with. And then not only does it help you reduce your input cost in that area, but a lot of times the flip side of it is you're actually getting a little bit better yield too, because you needed that reduction in that spot to so that there was enough moisture for the plants that were out there. So if anybody wants to figure out a place to start with variable rate seed and they're raising corn, I absolutely corn and soybeans or whatever else, I think that's like the easiest lamb dunk place to start. Variable rate your your corn seed.

Jodi 14:34

That's such a great, great point, Sarah. And I'm so glad you brought that up about like what's the lowest hanging fruit that we can grab for when we're trying to implement precision agriculture. And variable rate seeding is a really great place to start. Corn and soybeans is probably where the most data is available in terms of return on investment. But, you know, as long as you can, if you've got a planter where you can vary the population specifically. So, like corn, for example, commonly you can see 20,000 to 34,000. That might do not take this as gospel for your area because this varies widely. So Western North Dakota versus Illinois. So just it is an example. So like population-wise for planters, but like there's a lot of air seeders that are still out here in North Dakota. Um, so just remember you can also vary by poundage and just make sure that you know what the seed weight is per, or like how many seeds of soybean or canola or other crop that you're trying to variable rate. Just know that have an idea of how many seeds are

Air Seeders And Big Western Systems

Jodi 15:40

per pound so you can appropriately change the population or like get to the target rate that you're looking for.

Sarah 15:46

So, Jodi, you just brought up a really good point on air seeders and and drills, especially air seeders. I think air seeders get overlooked as an opportunity for variable rate a lot. There's so many things that you can do with air seeders for variable rate applications. You know, it's interesting as you go west out to like Montana, they've got these huge Burgo carts out there. Absolutely gargantuan. They're super awesome. If you've never seen one, you gotta go and check them out. They're they're huge. And by the way, I'm not diminishing any other brands that are out there, but they've got, you know, four big tanks and they're carrying, you know, all of their fertilizer, all of their seed, everything in one pass. But when you go out west, I mean in Montana, I I've helped people soil sample two section fields, one field being two sections. So they load up and they go. And goodness gracious, you're gonna drive two miles with this with this thing before you turn around and come back. So if you're leaving every all of your refilling stations on just one headland, that's a lot of acres that you're covering in one round. So they need to be large, large pieces of equipment. But you can variable rate each one of those tanks. It gives you an opportunity to variable rate your seed, variable rate fertilizer that's going down with that pass. So, you know, take advantage of that. You know, in areas where there is soybeans and there is soybeans that get planted with air seeders, and there's a lot of that, you know, in areas even with iron chlorosis. One of the things that we've played with a little bit is, you know, variable rating the seed. You can increase your seeding rate in the area where the iron chlorosis is is tougher. I have worked with some guys that have have played around with doing uh planting both offensive and defensive varieties. You actually create two prescriptions, one for your offensive variety and one for your defensive variety. There they should be mirror images of each other, and then you assign them to the tanks. It works really, really well. A variable rate soy green, not just for liquid with a planter, but also um they do have granular iron EDDHA products on the market today that could go down with an air seeder as well. So there's there's so many opportunities with an air seeder. And I do feel like they get overlooked a lot, and especially when you when you move to the western territories of North Dakota where you end up in that wheat neck of the woods.

Jodi 18:28

And how I'm thinking about this right now is like, if you're worried that you are limited by your equipment in terms of what you can, like how precise you can get, re-rethink that. What I mean by that is like if you're like, well, I don't have specific control of every single shank or every single opening, it's not worth it for me to do precision agriculture. No, I disagree with that. Even like your whole, I know we're just talking about big, big, big giant plant or big giant air seeders, but even varying it based on the width of your planter, that's a huge amount of variability that you could be accounting for in your field that you weren't before. Or if you're thinking, well, my planter, my tractor didn't come with a rate controller, that's okay. You can get aftermarket controllers that are even older than five years that still can work with your setup. Look at Agtalk, Google. It's amazing how helpful those can be to implement precision agriculture controllers to your current settings. You don't have to have the latest and greatest for this to work. You can make this work on what you have. And there might be some examples of like really, really, really old stuff that you can't VRT. But but think about like what I what the point I want to make here is like think about what your current setup is. And if it's if it's fertilizer, does the fertilizer have or like the spreader itself have the capability to change output based on a computer? That's gonna be your limitation, right? Is is there something that I can connect to that can vary the output? That'll be the piece to look for. And then look for something that can connect into it.

Sarah 20:13

But Jodi, I think you are bringing up a huge point. There are some opportunities with older equipment that's on the marketplace that can still variable rate really well. We have people that are that still use Falcon 2 controllers. That, yep, there's some personality things with them that they're old, but we can figure out how to make that go for you. I know for sure that we can export

Older Controllers, Research, And Testing

Sarah 20:40

to pretty much anything that has ever been on the market since the beginning of variable rate technology in the 1990s. And so if you find something out there, just go for it. And even if it's not a super detailed map, but you know areas, let's say that your your rate range for your urea, let's just say you're doing a straight urea map of some kind, let's say your rate range is like 50 pounds to 200 pounds. If all you had was those two rates in that field, think about the the economics of saving yourself money. The other thing to think about is variable rate has now been in the marketplace for a while. And a lot of our commercial applicators and fertilizer plants probably have traded in or, you know, they might, they might have gotten rid of some of their older fertilizer spreaders. And maybe it's not fitting for them, but maybe it's a used piece of equipment that a farmer can actually pick up and bring out to his farming operation and it will work just fine for what they're doing. If that's a fit for you, go check it out. It doesn't have to be the newest and the flashiest. As a matter of fact, some of my favorite controllers still are some of the older controllers in certain situations. Not always. But I think we all get to be a little bit biased in this industry as to which controllers we like writing prescriptions for, but it doesn't matter whether I like them or not. You know, it's like a school teacher. You have to take care of all of the children in your in your classroom, even the troublemakers. And we do that here too with all of the controllers on the marketplace. How's that? How's that judging for?

Jodi 22:30

Surprisingly good metaphor. That's actually kind of freaking me out a little bit. I'm here all day.

Sarah 22:43

That that's also a really big important uh spring recap conversation piece right there. We work with all the controllers, even the problem children. Yes.

Jodi 22:58

And you know, I mean, and that's kind of the thing too is like I can't emphasize enough, you know, spending some time on Google or calling somebody that's knowledgeable out can about controllers. And I will not say that that's me.

Sarah 23:10

I do not know, I know a lot about I know really smart people where I can ask questions. And yes, they actually work here at GK. I will say that at GK, because of how old our software is, we probably have written prescriptions to probably every single controller that's ever been in the marketplace. That's a pretty, that's a pretty big claim, but I bet it's pretty close.

Jodi 23:36

Yep. Yeah. And and doing some Googling about a controller that you've planning to purchase, read some forums, do some Googling, call your friend that has the same controller. That's gonna get you so far. And then also just some experimenting. And the and the hard thing too is like, you know, we we're not gonna be able to predict everything that's gonna be compatible or not compatible with some of these controllers. Sometimes weird things happen with controllers too. Say a different constellation of satellites is now used for GPS and it's no longer suitable for the old set of controllers. There are some things that we just are just unknown, right? That we're never gonna be able to predict. And maybe you run across some of those issues with older controllers, but do some research, figure out what people are using, implement it, test it, try it. If you know how to run one, you're gonna get the basics down of maybe the different brand has a different screen setting, et cetera. But we're they're still working on the same basic structure of bringing in a GPS satellite, reading a prescription, and making the tractor and the implement do something. So getting comfortable around one is gonna help you get comfort around a different one, too. So experiment. No one in this industry ever went in knowing exactly what they were doing.

Sarah 24:59

I think this industry is still trying to figure out like how to make things work well across everybody. I remember that.

Jodi 25:07

And unfortunately, yeah. And I mean, again, because we're working with software on the controller software with map making, there's things that, you know, do change a little bit more than in other parts of the ag industry. And that's just a nature of the nature of the game that we're playing in. But it's not an ex it's not a reason to not implement it and start varying your inputs more to lessen the or to lessen the burden

Efficiency Mindset And How We Help

Jodi 25:35

of the current economic situation.

Sarah 25:38

Be more efficient with your inputs. I am thinking right now, if there is anything that the marketplace is demanding, it's that the farmer is as efficient as he possibly can be with his inputs, which is interesting to me, because as I look back, I don't think there was a lot of slough room in there anyway. But here we are. And so I think I think a guy's got to take it up to the next to the next level if he possibly can.

Jodi 26:08

Absolutely. And if you're ready to take the next step and you want some help in making your own maps or having somebody make maps for you, do give us at GK a call. We can absolutely help you with that and help you take advantage of being more efficient with your logistics via variable rate applications.

Sarah 26:27

If if you are interested in visiting with us so that we can try to help you figure out how to help your farm, go to our website. All of our contact information is on there for the entire GK staff. We can help you figure out how to make things go. Um, that's what we're here for. Um, we've got drainage experts, we've got us. Yeah, there's a lot of things that we can do.

Jodi 26:53

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being a part of our conversation today and joining us as we recap the 2026 spring season. And we hope that you have a fantastic rest of the growing season and hope that you join us again here on Ag Geek Speak. And remember, with GK Technology, we have a map and an app for that.

Theme Music 27:17

No, I can't wait to get in the fields again.