Walk Your Fields, Don’t Just Watch Them
The value in 'Boots on the Ground' data
There’s a lot of data that can be gleaned from a yield monitor, drone imagery, soil and plant tissue samples, but there is extreme value in the ‘boots on the ground’ data that comes from walking fields and scouting for insect, weed, or disease pressure or checking stand counts. Whether you’re a grower yourself or a consultant, scouting provides valuable insights that can lead to yield saving applications, finding trends for future management or a combination of both.
Why to scout?
- Early detection: Checking fields early and often allows you to have more control over the season and make a remedy treatment if needed.
- Better decisions: Scouting gives you the confidence to know what is actually going on, instead of making just in case passes with the sprayer. It also all you to have more targeted, more cost-effective management strategies.
- Increased environmental stewardship: Scouting allows you to only apply what you need, where you need it. Reducing those just in case inputs and increasing stewardship and sustainability.
What to look for?
Scouting doesn’t have to be complicated or costly. Look for signs of insects, diseases, weeds, and crop growth.
- Insects: Look for signs that they have been feasting on the plant leaves. Chewed leaves, droppings, or damaged silks are all signs of an insect pest presence. Don’t be afraid to dig some roots as well to take a peak at what kind of insect pressure is happening below the surface. Oftentimes, early insect damage is happening below the surface on the baby roots or seed.
- Diseases: Looks for lesions, discoloration, spots, wilting, anything that doesn’t look quite right. Diseases often start small and will explode with the right weather conditions. Early detection allows you time to get a remedy application put on, before the disease takes over and robs the yield.
- Weeds: Monitoring for weeds is essential. Even though there may have been a pre- and post-emerge herbicide application, some weeds still find their way through to rob the cash crop of space, water, nutrients, and sunlight. A few weeds may not seem like a big deal, but small problems become profit thieves in the fall. A Michigan State University study suggests that waiting to control weeds until the V1 stage in soybeans, could lead to a 0.5 bushel per acre per day loss, which equates to greater than $38 per acre loss at the end of the season. Click below to read the full article.
- https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/protecting-crop-yields-starts-with-early-season-weed-control
- Crop growth: It’s also important to examine overall growth, health, and uniformity. This can be done throughout the season, but should definitely be done in the early part of the season to get an idea of how well and uniformly the crop emerged. It has been proved, time and time again, that uniform emergence leads to the most successful crops. Monitoring for growth and health also allows for detection of nutrient deficiencies that could be corrected with a foliar application, if it’s feasible to do so.
- Environmental factors: Scouting for environmental stressors is valuable to understand how different hybrids and varieties respond to water stress (whether not enough or too much) or things like hail and wind damage. Knowing how the variety or hybrid responds to certain environmental stressors allows you to take note on which varieties or hybrids to plant, or not plant, in the future.
How do you scout?
- Timing: Ideally, every 7-10 days because problems can arise quickly and become detrimental quickly as well. However, as a farmer or crop consultant, you may not have that kind of time on your hands. Therefore, scouting in the early, middle, and end of the growing season is probably more feasible and will give you good data and insight on any remedies to make in-season and how to improve for the seasons to come.
- Pattern: Using a ‘W’ or zig-zag pattern will allow you to check on the crop in a randomized fashion that will cross many rows and sampling zones. You could also scout by sample or yield zone to get a glimpse of how different management zones respond to different stressors. Either way, it is important to take note of the pattern you use and use the same pattern each time you scout within that season.
- Stop and smell the roses every once in a while: Don’t rush through your scouting. Be sure to stop, dig roots, pull back leaves, check inside whorl, etc. every once in a while to get a deeper look at what the crop is experiencing and you might be able to predict a problem before the symptoms of that yield-thief come to head.
- Take notes: Document what you see and where, whether that’s with pen and paper or electronically. Keeping track of the potential problems and the location will help aid in future decisions and allow you to track trends over time. There are pros and cons to scouting both ways. Technology tends to have faster delivery options, but carrying an iPad throughout a field can be cumbersome and if the sun is too bright, it’s too hot, or it starts to rain, the iPad’s efficiency dwindles. Having both available is a good standard, just in case one fails.
- Determine if action is needed: It is important to figure in the damage threshold. Is the damage enough that a remedy treatment will save yield and have a positive ROI? Is it the right time? For example, if a corn field is scouted at R5 and is covered in tar spot, a fungicide application is not going to save the yield, it’s already gone, and that application will be a waste of money. Whereas if that same corn field is scout at tasseling and tar spot is just starting, and the past weather and future forecast are looking conducive to tar spot expansion, it’s a good time to call the retailer and get a fungicide application on to protect the yield.
Over time, scouting allows you to learn your fields better. Patterns will start to emerge, such as, low spots usually have a deficiency, which hybrids handle stress better, or fields that consistently have greater disease pressure. Knowing your fields beyond the yield monitor will pay dividends year after year.
Scouting gives you the “why,” but good data helps you confirm the “what.” That’s where Brookside Labs, the Amplify Network, and the AIPro system come in.
Brookside Labs is trusted by hundreds of Amplify consultants and thousands of farmers across millions of acres for high-quality, reliable testing. Amplify consultants bring that same level of precision and accountability into every field—they live by the mindset, “If my services don’t make you money, I’ll fire myself.”
And with AIPro, the Amplify data management system, consultants can seamlessly submit samples to Brookside Labs, turn scouting observations into actionable recommendations, and keep the entire process—from field to lab to plan—organized and efficient.
Field scouting might start with a walk, but it ends with better data, smarter decisions, and more profitable acres.
Samantha Scranton
Amplify Consultant
Grizzly Ridge
Heather Rindler, CCA
Research Agronomist
Brookside Labs | Amplify Network
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Every year, farmers talk about cutting costs, reducing waste, and getting more bang for their buck.
If you’re in agriculture, there’s a good chance this past year tested your patience. Low commodity prices, high input costs, tight margins—it’s the kind of season that makes every decision feel heavier. And looking ahead, it might be more of the same. When every dollar counts, it’s tempting to just dive into next season with your head down and sleeves rolled up. Before you jump in and get to work, there’s one step that can pay bigger dividends than any yield bump or price swing: an after-action review. Reflecting Beats Reacting All farmers do some kind of mental recap each winter: “ That hybrid didn’t hold up ,” “ We sprayed too late ,” “ Fertilizer costs killed the margin .” But when times are tight, those thoughts deserve more than a mental note. An after-action review isn’t just for corporate companies, it’s for all businesses, including your farming operation. Large, small and everything in between—it’s a proven approach used by the military, emergency responders, and forward-thinking farmers. The concept is simple: step back, analyze your season objectively, and make next year’s decisions sharper, leaner, and more data-driven. Think of it as yield-mapping your management choices. Why It’s Worth Your Time Clarity in the Chaos: Remove emotion from hindsight. See what really drove results, not just what felt like the problem. Better Decisions, Not Just Different Ones: Understand what worked and why. Double down on what’s effective, cut what isn’t, and control costs smartly. Team Alignment: If employees, family, or agronomists are involved, this process gets everyone on the same page and stops repeating mistakes. Confidence in Uncertainty: Markets and weather are unpredictable—but your response doesn’t have to be. An after-action review puts you in control of what you can manage. A Simple Way to Perform an After-Action Review on the Farm Gather the Facts: Pull yields, fertilizer rates, spray programs, weather notes, invoices, scouting reports—anything that tells the season’s story. Ask: What were our original goals? What did we actually achieve in yield, profit, and efficiency? Identify What Went Right: Even a tough year has wins. Maybe you hit target moisture on corn, reduced herbicide passes, or had fewer machinery breakdowns. List them—this shows what’s working under pressure. Identify What Went Wrong: Stick to facts, no blame. Be specific: “ Applied herbicide three days after rain, reducing control ,” instead of “ spray timing was bad .” Look at timing, inputs, and processes. Understand the Why: Keep asking why until you reach something you can control. Example: Soybean yields were low. Why? Poor stand establishment. Why? Planted in marginal soil. Why? Rushed to finish before forecasted rain. Now you’ve found something to fix—not just a bad outcome. Turn Lessons into Action: End with 3–5 clear, measurable takeaways for next year: Examples: Delay soybean planting until soil moisture conditions are ideal . Lock in fertilizer purchases 4–6 weeks earlier. Trial two new hybrids on poorer ground. Write these down, add them to your crop plan, and involve your agronomist. Don’t let your insights get lost, by keeping them in your head. Make It a Habit, Not a Hurdle The first after-action review is often the toughest. As you do them, they get easier and your review file becomes a running log of insights. Patterns will emerge, and you’ll start spotting trends that explain not just what happened, but why. That’s how farms succeed—even in tough years—not by luck, but by reflection, refinement, and intention. The Bottom Line You can’t control global markets. You can’t change the weather. But you can control how your farm learns and operates as a business. An after-action review rarely costs more than your time—and it’s one of the smartest investments heading into another challenging season. If you’d like a hand walking through the process, or want someone to help guide your review, we can work with you to make it simple and actionable. Take a breath, look back, and move forward smarter. Your future self—and your bottom line—will thank you.
We are reaching out to all of our followers today to address the increasing risk and exposure of the coronavirus (COVID-19). Brookside is implementing steps at the lab in order to help keep our staff, customers, consultants, communities, and families safe and healthy. Our consultants and clients will receive e-mails today about the precautions that we are putting in place immediately. We serve the agriculture community and our farmers will still be getting out in the fields here within the next month, so Brookside has no intention of closing at this time. However, if we are forced to close due to government intervention we will do so in accordance with the law. Any client of ours within the past year will receive notification if such steps are taken. If you are coming to the lab to drop off samples, please make sure that you have not been sick or personally been exposed to anyone sick in the last 24 hours. This will help limit the exposure at the lab and potentially the local community. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to call the lab at 419-977-2766. We appreciate your understanding during this difficult time. Be safe!
We were recently joined by Dan Coffin, of Biodyne-USA for a discussion on soil biology. Topics include the late planting conditions of 2019 and the implications this may have on our nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer programs. Also covered, the significance of late planting to nitrogen assimilation by diazotrophic bacteria. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1YJoLhFZhM