I was browsing the Seed World U.S. website recently when I ran across an article making the case that next year’s success in the field begins with seed treatment decisions made this fall. That got me to thinking about how those decisions are made and if there is anything I can do to assist that process.
I’ve talked to many in the seed sector over the years who tell me they don’t have an efficient system for deciding the best treatment for some types of seeds, which raises a bigger question: how can companies quickly and objectively evaluate their data to determine the best fertilizers, pesticides, inoculants or plant varieties for their customers?
Regardless of the type of research being done, good data is essential. Once collected, a critical bottleneck can crop up when that data needs to be analyzed. Most of us with backgrounds in agriculture, plant breeding, pathology, physiology or related fields aren’t experts in statistical analysis. Much of the time, our data is scattered in various Excel files then gathered at some later date for analysis using specialized software or code. That can be time consuming and prone to errors.
However, when data is stored in a central database in a single software program where experimental designs and data analysis can be run time and again, and everyone who needs the information can easily access it, the result is significant time savings, improved data management, faster decision-making and greater accuracy.
It occurs to me that when I talk about our Genovix software, I tend to focus on its value for plant breeders largely because our founder, Dieter Mulitze, came from a plant breeding background and developed the program to address challenges he saw in that sector. But the article on seed treatment decisions got me thinking about how our software can be used for so much more than plant breeding.
Over the years, Dieter integrated many experimental designs into Genovix to meet the wide-ranging needs of agricultural researchers and breeders. Those same analytic and statistical tools can be used any time data needs to be compared. It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about plant breeding, fertilizers or seed treatments. What matters is that technology designed for one segment of the seed sector can be leveraged by another for the benefit of the industry and its customers.
Regardless of our specific focuses, we all serve the seed industry and, when we think outside the box, it’s very likely we’ll find the solutions to our problems have already been invented.
