It can be easy to be impressed by slick new technology — the lights and displays, read outs and even images. With technology comes data, and it’s actually the data collected that really proves a tech’s worth. It’s crucial, then, that tech adopters understand the data analysis portion of ag tech, but this isn’t always the case.
Adrienne Levay of Lakeland College explains that those using ag tech need a solid understanding of the fundamentals of farm data — known as data literacy. Being able to separate the wheat from the chaff on the capabilities and value of new tech as it comes online is critical to determining if tech is paying its way and offering a return.
“If you want to get into tech, you’re going to have to get into data,” she says. Levay explains that not all data is the same, and that high quality data is the goal if farmers and agronomists stand a chance of leveraging the data to make decisions.
How can farmers and industry become better at number crunching? Levay says that the Manitoba-based EMILI Data Initiative is working to answer that part of the question. With funding from Protein Industries Canada and in partnership with Assiniboine College, Sask Polytech, Community Safety Knowledge Alliance and Lakeland College, the project has developed four of 10 learning modules, to help growers better understand the ins and outs of data literacy.
Related: PIC announces co-investment in data improvement project
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