Crop scouting involves making several stops to your crop farm for observation and inspection, also known as farm scouting or field scouting Farmers Trend considers crop scouting as one of the most important investments in risk management a farmer can make. It’s also one that can pay off โ€” quite significantly. Crop scouting is done so that a farmer can see how different areas of his or her field are growing. If there are problems during the growing season, the farmer can work to mitigate them so those problems do not affect yield at harvest time. Should problems go unnoticed or uncared for during the growing season, they can potentially limit the total yield, thus reducing the revenue from the sale of the crop or other intentions for the crop, such as livestock feed.

There are many different methods of crop scouting. While the traditional methods can include walking through the field and observing plants manually, particular pieces of equipment are still used, including field notes so the farmer can keep account of plants and areas that need more attention, a pocket knife and bags for sample taking, and finally a hand magnification lens so the farmer can get a close look and better idea of the health of his or her plants.

Often people think of scouting in terms of a season, like from seedling to the reproductive stages of crop. At this time, growers and agronomists typically scout for insects, diseases, and weeds.ย However, some crop advisors start scouting six months to a year before a crop is even planted. This reflects a broader trend toward proactive, rather than reactive, scouting. In this approach, one isnโ€™t simply reacting to problems after seeing a symptom in the field. Rather, it includes planning, researching, and preparing during whatโ€™s typically viewed as โ€˜off seasonโ€™ crop scouting.

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Field Crop Scouting

Crop and field scouting are crucial for each stage of the crop lifespan. Pre-seeding field scouting can show a farmer weed populations, including what weeds are growing and what growth stage the weeds are in. When itโ€™s time to seed, field scouting can show the farmer information to lead them to choose what seed depth or seed rate they should plant at, as well as early indicators of seed treatments or selection. After the seeding is completed, frequent scouting will help to show farmers damaged seeds, early signs of pests, and many other factors.

When crops begin to germinate and become established and rooted, continued scouting can help to prevent weed damage, pest damage, and post-spray pesticide or fertilizer performance. It is important to keep scouting on regular intervals through the plantโ€™s life, as this scouting could reveal pest issues, soil moisture issues, and a variety of other risk that could be fought against. Crop Scouting tells farmers a huge amount about their plants, and can help them to improve yield, and maximize crop efficiency.

Precision Agriculture Technologies On Crop Scouting

As precision agriculture technologies have advanced, farmers have been helped greatly when it comes to crop scouting. For example, instead of field notebooks, there are several different mobile apps that are compatible with different types of mobile devices, including tablet computers and smartphones that help farmers keep accurate logs of their fields, while also giving them the opportunity to cross compare these notes with previous years or different areas of the fields. Also with the advancement of global positioning systems (GPS) and unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs), farmers donโ€™t even need to walk through their fields. These new technologies can help to show farmers information that humans cannot see with the naked eye, as well as accurately pin-point where target areas are to provide assistance.

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“As soon as your crop comes out of the ground you want to be keeping an eye on it. Itโ€™s important to remember that you want to feed nutrients to the plant before the bloom period because once it blooms, the plant shifts its focus to filling the head. You want all of the biomass and nutrients loaded into the plant before it pollinates. When that happens, the plant has shifted from the growth stage to the filling stage. Right after pollination there is one last window to apply some extra nitrogen that could drive protein up, but that window closes in under a week.” – AgAdvance

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