NEXT LEVEL CROP PLANNING SOFTWARE KEEPS AG SCHOOLS AND THEIR STUDENTS AT THE FOREFRONT OF AGRICULTURE’S DIGITAL REVOLUTION

TUCSON, ARIZONA, UNITED STATES, June 7, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- This fall as crops ripen and leaves turn, agricultural educators returning to the classroom will have a new tool for students’ farm management toolboxes.

Ag educators catalyze progress in agriculture. They do this by finding new tools, techniques, and teachings to bring to their students and to farmers. In that vein Planting Profits^®, a next-generation crop planning tool, is now available for use in courses in farm management and production economics.

Through this course students will gain new knowledge, skills, tools, and perspective. Here’s how…

According to Founder Gary Schneider, “Students learn a practical and innovative planning tool and begin to acquire the skills that go with it. They get to walk a couple steps in a farmer’s shoes. They deal with competing objectives such as profitability versus risk and management decisions that are all part-and-parcel of farming. They get to see impacts of their planting decisions on businesses on both sides of the farm gate. The get to see the intersection of crop planning and ag lending. Students further their professional development and gain important management skills such as planning, alternatives analysis, and decision making under uncertainty. So, whether students are going back to the farm or not, Planting Profits^® is a useful topic to teach and to learn.” Here’s why…

FARMERS’ NEW PLANNING PARTNER

Each year many farmers wrestle with planting decisions. “These are literally bet the farm calls. Practically speaking planting decisions are pretty much irreversible. Selecting a crop mix is a complex set of inter-related decisions that many farmers approach serially because that’s how we’re taught to deal with complexity. Break it down.”

But Schneider says this approach may unknowingly lead to suboptimal decisions that beget suboptimal outcomes which means less income, more risk and less efficient asset use.

“Farmers often get piecemeal input from agronomists, retailers, marketing advisors, crop insurance agents, landowners, accountants, lenders, neighbors, you name it. But at the end of the day many farmers, along with their partner-family members, are on their own. They have few places to go to get help pulling it all together. Now (with Planting Profits) farmers have a new planning partner that can.”

Planting Profits is unlike anything in digital ag. It can be used by any row-crop farmer to answer the recurring question: How much of each crop should I plant this year? And the bushel of Q&As that must follow…

Schneider characterizes Planting Profits as bringing applied mathematics down to the farm in a very applied way. “It doesn’t upend planting intentions and it doesn’t make recommendations. Rather it shows where changes at the margins could materially increase income by pointing out which management decisions may warrant changing.”

“The farmer always knows their most profitable crop mix. The farm model captures key planning considerations and their relationships to one another and presents this to the farmer to help optimize tradeoffs among profitability, risk and asset use. This management capability, previously unavailable to farmers, is now just a couple mouse clicks away. And it’s free.”

Farmers access Planting Profits in one of two ways. They log on, view some training and get started. Planting Profits is free for farmers to use. For farmers who want to benefit from the software, but do not want to learn it right away, they can develop their crop plan by working online with a certified advisor.

To learn more, this video introduces Planting Profits.

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING IN THE CLASSROOM

According to Schneider, course content and delivery are similar to how farmers build their preliminary crop plans in one-day and half-day workshops. Content can be incorporated into an existing course or offered stand-alone.

The teachings and learnings are very applied. Students, in the role of a farmer, build next year’s crop plan. They follow the planning process and use the training materials to learn the software. The capstone is a well-thought-out and resilient crop plan that incorporates student learnings and reflects critical thinking.

“Crop planning requires rationalizing trade-offs among expected income, income uncertainty, resource use, and conservation practices. That’s a lot of good ground to work. It’s experiential learning. Planting decisions must be justified – whether you’re talking to lenders, landowners, bosses, or yourself.”

The course can be instructor-led, or students can follow an independent track. Most students benefit from interaction with other students and an instructor. The course can be delivered in a computer lab, remote, or in a hybrid setting.

To learn more, this video describes teaching Planting Profits in higher-ed.

“To enrich foreign students’ educational experience, they can learn Planting Profits then use it to help farmers in their home countries. Since the equations and algorithms are math, they’re global. Planting Profits uses local crop information and all other model parameters are management decisions. This means that the tool can be used anywhere and on any scale.”

EMERGING FALL 2022

Planting Profits will gradually open its site to users through 2022. This summer is for onboarding higher-ed and co-ops. Other ag organizations and individual farmers will be onboarded this fall for 2023 crop planning.

Planting Profits offers various ways to use this content in farm business management and production economics courses in 2022! As part of their summertime soft launch, Planting Profits is offering educators a discount through July.

ABOUT PLANTING PROFITS^®

Planting Profits^® LLC provides tools, training and advisory service that help producers with their crop-planning. We strive to serve producers. We aspire to integrate with other solutions that improve customer experience. Our online planning tool is free for producers to use. Our online advisory service is guaranteed or there is no fee. Planting Profits^® saves producers time, makes producers money, and gives producers peace of mind.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

For more information email us at info@plantingprofits.com, or visit our website http://www.plantingprofits.com.

Gary Schneider
Planting Profits LLC
+1 970-420-1656
email us here

Planting Profits in Higher Ed