UTILISING new tech on arable farms is gathering pace at a phenomenal rate and now to help plug growers' knowledge gaps, Bayer has added to its FieldView customer support team.

It has appointed former farm manager, Edward Lawton-Bradshaw, to be a major cog in its precision farming team.

When it comes to digital agronomy tools, he said many farmers recognised the potential, but are basically ‘locked out’ of the data they have, something he experienced for himself.

“Part of the problem is that, as farmers, we are used to not having usable data in time. Next season’s crop is already in the ground by the time detailed harvest data is available.

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“Platforms, like FieldView, change that – but issues such as time pressures, system incompatibility and unfamiliarity with systems and software itself is holding farmers back from utilising their data more effectively,” he noted.

“Many farmers are in a state of limbo right now with the data they have and not putting it to meaningful use. What’s so useful with FieldView is it brings data together from multiple sources, simplifying what can be a time consuming and frustrating process.

“My role is to help them navigate their way around this functionality more easily which can only lead to better decision making, improved farm performance and ultimately help free up time.”

When it comes to field support, he is happy to visit farms or assist farmers remotely using the screen sharing solution, Glance, where he or a technical colleague can share screens with growers to help with platform navigation or troubleshooting.