Historical Look Back• Starts with sharing memories and methods• History is based on it, it is our ‘knowledge
base’• All living things carry a ‘memory’ of the
past• Human records represent collective
learning:– first in oral tradition, then mnemonics, then art, epic
poems, written texts, and wiki’s
Why Keep Records• Compliance• Financial• Cost of production• Traceability• Too much to remember• Long time frames• Knowledge capital of the farm• Form the basis for analysis and management
A management question• Ultimately it is about management• If it’s not measured, it’s not managed• The success of management is tied to
success of measurement• But if your not going to manage, why
measure – just another overhead• Move towards organizational maturity• If it didn’t happen twice,
it didn’t really happenAssess
Change / Modify
Measure
Types of Records• Assets / Inventory• Activities• Financial• Spatial / Maps• Certification /Accreditation / Memberships • Observations• Contacts• Breeding (plant / animal)…….
Record Keeping: All-in
• If you’re going to choose to record something, make it complete and accurate.
• Better to have less data that is relevant, accurate and complete than more data that is inaccurate and incomplete.
• Bad data results in bad decisions
What is appropriate data• Mandatory recording keeps you in compliance• Optional record keeping is based on your
questions• Incomplete or inaccurate records can be very
costly• Work backwards from your questions
– What are my questions?– What do I need to answer that question over what
time period?– Where can I get that data from?– What do I need to record?
Possible questions• Which crops take the most man hours, tractor hours?• What equipment isn’t being used to its potential?• What is costing me too much to maintain?• Is preventative maintenance paying off?• Which implement is being used the most – replace for a
‘better one’?• What is the crop history for a certain field?• What is the grow history for a certain crop?• What is the max/min/mean rainfall for the last 5 years?• Which crops were most profitable from a labour
perspective?• Which crop varieties performed best in a drought year?
Moving from Lists to Insights• Basic level is a series of lists or inventories
– List of equipment– List of fields– List of crops for the year– List of field activities
• Linking lists provide a ‘view’ from a different perspective
• Stand on the ‘entity’ and look at the ‘attributes’
Entities and Attributes• Ones person’s entity is another person’s
attributes.• The same ‘thing’ can mean something
different to different people.• How do we model the vast array of ‘things’
on a farm operation, and the relationship between and among those things, over time?
Entity Relationship Diagram• List the entities ( person, place, things)• Lists of attributed that describe each entity• List the relationships between those entities
• Each entity has a unique number or key– Serial number– Employee number– Lot number– Field number– Variety Name
Mapping
• Most events have a space and a time• Spatial data (where) can be characterized
as points, lines or polygons• Points have a location ( e.g. well head)• Lines have bearing and distance ( e.g.
fence line)• Polygons have perimeters and areas (e.g.
field or green house)
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Other Spatial artifacts that give context;
•Watersheds
•Soil maps
•Slope
•Zoning
•Elevation
•Hydrology
•Buildings
•Fences
•Well heads
Imagery Field Map Drain Tile Apple Trees
Work Flow• Initial design and data population
– Do your compliance lists– Ask your questions– Build your reference data sets– Set your primary keys
• On-going data population– Field capture - real time– Clean up and record in permanent log book - weekly– Data entry to digital file – at least 1 pre quarter
Back to the beginning• Store only the data you have to or data that will
answer your questions.• If you store it, make it complete and accurate.• Do your analysis for prior year(s)
– What was profitable?– More maintenance?– Sell / acquire equipment?– Crop / climate performance?– Grow less and do more value add?– Increase crop diversity?
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