Dabbling with VR lime and seeing the visual difference with Prairie Insights
Kyra Sinclair of Prairie Insights, located a mile north of Vermilion, AB, says harvest decisions are becoming easier and big ROI is more likely. Now in their fourth year of offering SWAT MAPS services to clients, the results continue to prove the visual difference seen in typically low yielding areas, and knowing that fertility isn’t being wasted.
“The main thing our customers are noticing is how even we’re managing their fields. In areas of their fields where they didn’t think it was possible to get that plant stand or that yield, we’re evening out that maturity,” said Sinclair.
Prairie insights began as an agronomic consulting and crop scouting business in 2018. After bringing SWAT MAPS into their business offerings, they now also specialize in zone soil and tissue sampling.
“We did lots of composite soil sampling and realized blanket applications need to be dialed down and we needed to be more specific about where we’re sampling. We wanted to offer farmers more intricate data. We found that relying on the data gives us a good picture of the field.”
In the area that surrounds Prairie Insights’ clientele, Sinclair says the low base saturation of calcium and acidic pH is a big limiting factor on yields. To combat this, they have been working with VR lime, which is new to the area.
“The cost of doing it may seem like a setback, but the maps help us save the producer money by not blanketing an application of expensive lime across the entire field. Sometimes only half of the field should be limed after we analyze the soil samples.”
Another hesitation is the worry of the difficulty level when it comes to using the technology and loading a map into the drill.
“Even customers who aren’t as techy are able to jump on board with this,” said Sinclair. “On the agronomic side there are producers who are skeptical too, but it all goes back to being able to see how even the crop is as it nears maturity and peace of mind knowing the money put into fertility isn’t being wasted.”
Prairie Insights is continuing to expand their horizons by focusing on liquid fertilizer applications through Y-drops on corn, exploring the use of SWAT CAM, and seeing great results with variable rate corn seed.
“We put so much passion behind what we do. We treat every field like it’s our own and we’re tweaking and perfecting all the time. We’re very proud of the retention with our clients.” said Sinclair. “At the end of the day we want our growers to put more bushels in the bins and if we can be a part of that then I believe we’ve done a good job.”
The SWAT MAPS Team is proud to work alongside dedicated teams like the one at Prairie Insights. Stay tuned with what’s happening in their area by following them on Instagram or contacting Kyra directly.
Instagram: @prairieinsights
Contact:
Kyra Sinclair
306-441-8084
kedwards@prairieinsights.com
Farmers: visit https://swatmaps.com/partner-locator/ to find a SWAT MAPS Service Provider near you.
Service providers: Contact us for partnership opportunities.