Over two years has passed since American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) led an industry coalition to address issues of surrounding ag data ownership, privacy, and security. When AFBF published the "Privacy and Security Principles for Farm Data"--or as I call them, the ag data's "Core Principles," I expected the industry uptake to be swift.

This week I had a conversation with a research analyst at an investment banking advisory firm, looking for some perspective on the current and future prospects of the precision farming industry.

The best football coaches always have a game plan. Some of them even script their first few plays so that the team knows exactly how to prepare and come out of the gate for the best start. I think in farming that we do the same thing every season. But without a doubt, the game has thrown us some major variations that we were not expecting.

During the past week, I had the opportunity to attend John Deere’s latest product launch event at its Harvester Works facility in Moline, Ill. The manufacturer introduced several new pieces of farm machinery and technology, with an overarching theme of integrated functionality.

Talking with a few precision dealers about their transition into agronomic services, one of them noted that this is actually where their business began. Almost 2 decades ago, the independent precision retailer opened his doors on the promise that the company could deliver mapping, soil sampling and field analysis services.

You just spent six figures on a new piece of farm equipment. Now you read the fine print and realize that you must also sign-up with the equipment manufacturer's cloud based data platform. You want the equipment, but not the proprietary data platform that comes with it. What do you do?

In my experience, one of the most ambiguous consumer labels is “user-friendly.” This is especially true of technology, when companies promise technical bliss is only a download, install or mouse click away.

As we are watching this corn crop come out of the ground this year, it’s time to begin evaluating what has happened thus far. Different areas have had wet spells and planted corn in wet soils, while almost everybody has planted in cold soils. We have had humidity that made residue management difficult, and the wind that has buried clean strips with trash. Through it all, you all did the best job you could to manage the conditions that you had and planting to the best of your abilities. So now is the time to grade your work.

As much troubleshooting as precision specialists do in the field, they often need to travel with an arsenal of cables, clamps, switches and fuses. Spending time on the road with specialists, I’ve learned that they need to expect the unexpected and be prepared for it.