Our Stine agronomy department is working with sales team members to install METOS® weather stations in our Master Yield in the Field (MYIF) plots. We’re confident this effort will provide more actionable data to our grower customers.
As our MYIF plots are located throughout the United States, these weather stations will provide us with important agronomic data in different regions and growing environments.
“The weather stations track accurate rainfall, wind speed and growing degree days in real-time without relying on public data,” says Todd Schomburg, director of agronomy.
Each station is equipped with a solar panel, wind speed sensor, and automated rain gauge that sends valuable information directly to the FieldClimate cloud, giving immediate access to the data from any smart device.
“This technology is the next evolution in weather stations,” says Schomburg.
Specifically, METOS notes the stations are designed to monitor basic meteorological parameters, including rain and temperature, humidity, solar radiation, wind speed and soil characteristics such as moisture and soil temperature (if installed with a soil probe). They also have packages that offer applications that detect frost, leaf wetness, disease models, evapotranspiration, hydrology, etc. Data is measured in five-minute intervals and delivered to the FieldClimate cloud every 15 minutes.
“These elements will help determine when soil is ready for planting, conditions are ideal for disease proliferation, and so much more,” says Schomburg. “We’re excited about how these stations will help improve crop management throughout the planting and growing seasons and deliver better data for our customers.”
Another unique advantage to the METOS weather stations — they’re environmentally friendly. When sun is available, the unit can recharge its battery through the solar panel connected to the device.
“The units are cost-effective, environmentally sound and easy to use,” says Schomburg. “Some have been installed and we’re already receiving great data that will help us determine when to get the plots in the ground.”
More on our MYIF plots
Stine plants at least two MYIF plots per sales region each year. With 36 regions across the country, we’re planting nearly 70 plots this year in collaboration with our grower partners. MYIF plots have between six to 10 Stine corn products, including our newest hybrids along with experimental products to look at as future hybrids in the lineup. To ensure a level playing field, we also have up to two national competitor brands and, when available, a local competitive brand in the mix for comparison purposes.
“The main goal of our Master Yield in the Field plots is to derive as much data possible from our corn products and those of our competitors,” says Schomburg. “We monitor everything from emergence scores and stand counts to ear and tassel height, in addition to different biologicals and inputs used and planting populations and row configurations.”
These plots are valuable in producing the highest quality data for our growers and make a great training resource for our sales team.
“We also use our Master Yield in the Field plots for training,” adds Schomburg. “They allow our seed dealers and sales team members to study the products and understand how they perform in different environments. They’re extremely valuable to our operations all around.”
For more information on our MYIF plots and data generated from our weather station program, contact your local Stine sales rep or regional sales agronomist.