Smart Tech
Smart Tech, Smarter Decisions: Focusing on What Truly Adds Value on the Farm
December 1, 2025 
When I was asked to write this column, we talked about all of the technologies and “new” practices that have been and are in the industry. We talked about how these new innovations are supposed to provide all kinds of “solutions.” We’re given a vision of being more productive, more efficient, environmentally proactive and, hopefully, more profitable. But do they really provide value?
Let’s take a step back and let’s look at the objective and what success may or may not look like.
For a farmer, the objective should be to grow a crop profitably. (Livestock can be included, but we’ll stick with crops for this example.) Not to produce maximum yield, but maximum economic yield (MEY). For the ag retailer, it should be to sell and service your customers in a value-added, profitable manner. We could add all kinds of things to go along with these two objectives, but, when you get right down to it, that’s what we do.
When we look at all of the technologies, practices and programs that are in our industry today, it’s easy to get distracted, at best, or get overwhelmed, at worst. (Lots of “solutions” but how much value?) The sad thing is, we are leaning more toward the latter, rather than the former. And when that happens, we either have paralysis from analysis and do nothing, or we get excited and try so many things that we really don’t know what worked and what didn’t. So, in either scenario, what did we gain? … Nothing!
Getting Back to the Basics
When I started leading a precision ag program, we were developing our vision for the program. We knew we didn’t want our program to be on the bleeding edge but thought we should be on the leading edge. After one of the vision meetings, one of my team members asked to talk with me. He told me that he really liked the vision and where we wanted to take the program, but that if we didn’t take care of the basics first, we wouldn’t be successful. To say that I was humbled would be an understatement. He was 100% correct.
But going back to the basics didn’t mean that we had to go back to a spinner spreader with a 40-foot spread pattern and a sprayer that runs on speed and pressure. (I know I’m showing my age with that comment.) Instead, it meant that we were going back to the original objective. How do we help our customer reach maximum economic yield? And, using technology, we weren’t basing the MEY per field, but every area within a field. The technology would enable us to become more proactive in how we served our customers and become more efficient and profitable for our business. So, going back to the basics … using the technologies that we knew would add value to our customers’ businesses.
So, why are we using technology? You would think that should be a very easy question to answer. As I said before, to be more productive, more efficient, environmentally proactive and, hopefully, more profitable. But what we usually get is that we end up not using technology to become better. We end up becoming distracted by technology. (Think about how you want to use your phone as a tool, but end up using it to play games or watch videos.)
When we purchase technology, we have a vision for our operation to use technology. But we have an expectation that it will “just happen” and I get answers to my questions added efficiencies and added productivity. We’re going to get all kinds of value…using the technology. Then reality hits and, to quote a popular movie we have to “Get used to disappointment.”
But if we take a step back and evaluate the technology, what we find is that technology is a tool. Nothing more. Nothing less. It is a great tool to help answer questions as well as knowing it will generate many more questions because of what we are learning…using the technology.
There have been, are and will be a lot of great technologies on the market. But, to me, we are getting caught up in all of the distractions of what we can do versus what we should do. What we should do is help farmers, who are already great at what they do, producing a crop, and help them do it better. Better at seed selection. Better at nutrient management. Better at pest management. Better at equipment management. Better at harvest management. Better at grain and marketing management. And, most importantly, not all operations need all of the tools.
Don’t make the technology what it’s not. It’s not the proverbial “easy button.” There is no such thing! It’s a tool. Using the right tool for the job to learn more and become better at our jobs. Using technology, data and information so that we can make better, more informed decisions, to become more productive and profitable.
Let’s focus on the objective and get past the clutter and distractions.
To leave you with a final thought.
“You must be strategic in your thinking. Develop the tactics to accomplish your goals. And intentional in your actions to be successful.”
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