Steve Killpack – A Farmer’s Story

I have gone under a number of job titles in my career…I’ve been a Research Agronomist, a Crop Consultant, and a Farmer…But my favorite title has always been Farmer.  For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a Farmer.  I grew up in southwestern Iowa on the family farm and as a fifth-generation farmer, I guess it must be in my blood.  I farm about 1400 acres with my dad and my good friend Frank.  Today we do a lot of unique things on our farm from implementing technology like precision ag equipment and drip irrigation to unorthodox practices like strip cropping and variable rate inputs to specialty products like mangalitsa pigs and squash blossoms.  But that was not always the case.  My dad was always very efficient and knew how to economize, primarily because he could do everything himself.  But I knew that we needed to grow and evolve to stay viable, hence the adoption of this experimental mindset.

In 2014, I had been doing a lot of precision ag work, loading data into desktop software and waiting hours for anything usable. I was really frustrated with the platforms that were able to help influence my decision making and drive our understanding on our farm.  I looked at this with my farmer hat on and said: “What do I actually need to make decisions, to really drive understanding, and then help me become more profitable?”  That was the most important piece.  I wanted to be environmentally friendly and simultaneously do everything I could to help influence our profitability.

The Acumen Engine

My brother, Dave, works in data visualization and software development.  His work spans a variety of disciplines and he wears a number of hats but the thing he really excels at is bridging the gap between research science and product development.  He can translate between scientists and software developers.  So, we founded Acumen Agronomics, an online system that has become a precision ag data engine designed by a team of tech wizards with me at the helm as an Agronomist and above all else, a Farmer.  It is positioned as an alternative to my earlier frustrations dealing with precision ag data… a super easy interface for the user that delivers reports and prescriptive services back from that interaction, automatically!  You can check out Acumen.ag directly for more specifics.

SeedSite is Born

So we ended up with a system in Acumen to take generic data from a variety of monitors and export reports automatically!  And as easy as Acumen is, I thought, “What can I do to simplify this even further because along with agriculture, teaching & empowering farmers is really my passion.”  There are loads of variables to consider in producing the optimum return on investment and Acumen excels at accounting for everything.  But the first step in understanding any complex system is figuring out what you can control and simplifying the equation. This is where the idea for a specific website, dealing with what you might rightly consider the first step in agriculture: Seed and optimizing everything about it, germinated.  If we make a purpose built UI to deal with seed, it can be super simple.  And thus, SeedSite.com was born.

Is It Really All About Seed?

So what can we change about seed?  As farmers, we know it keeps getting more expensive.  The promise of bigger and better yields is always put in front of us but we all know that’s not the way it always goes.  Years ago, when I worked as a Research Agronomist at a major seed company, we ran trials and planted a range of populations from 26000 to 46000.  And while we found some consistencies and trends, we also found lots of areas of disparity.

I was a farmer in the camp…inside the seed company…and I wanted to build a manual for every hybrid.  So I know how hard it is to address. I do not want to take anything away from the fine work of making modern hybrids.  The fact of the matter is, it’s just difficult to understand, even by the company, how each product might perform on your fields.  The problem is that there are just too many variables.

What Can We Control?

As an agronomist, I knew that the thing that was so hard to control for was the carrying capacity of the soil.  Everything on planet earth has a carrying capacity…you can only have so many mountain lions in one area because they have specific demands on their environment for territory, water, food, shelter, etc.  Our crops are no different.  Corn requires a certain amount of nutrients, sunlight, water, etc to produce optimum yield and your yield data can tell us a lot about the carrying capacity of your fields under your current management practices.

Think of it as limiting the variables and focusing on what we can control.  We can select specific hybrids and then decide where to plant them and how thick.  If you’re like most farmers, your seed sales guys have been telling you that the secret to increasing yield is pushing plant populations.  But what if I told you that you could hit your best yields ever and save on seed?

Seeding Optimization!

By using seeding optimization, you can push each plant toward its maximum yield potential.  We calculate how each plant has performed in your best year based on your yield data and then generate a variable rate prescription so that you can plant your field in the most efficient way to maximize ROI. You plant the corn thicker in some areas, thinner in others driven by the prescription generated by SeedSite.

So how do you know you’re not sacrificing yield if you plant some areas too thin?  You’ve already tested the capability of the soil by planting at a flat rate, and typically in greater and greater densities.  But don’t take my word for it… I understand the apprehension you might have.  Instead, check out some of our testimonials from farmers we’ve worked with over the years.  And take the system for a test drive...create an account, upload your data, and even check out the prescription for a field of your choice.