Premier Crop has been challenged by growers and industry skeptics. The recent euphoria over the value of grower's data has been a welcome change in that more growers are starting to value their data and wonder how to best put it to use. But having spent so much time with growers, I know that in the end the ultimate credibility test for every data offering will be "does it pay?"

In case you haven't heard, there's a target on your back! Our modern crop production system is on a collision course with the non-farming public who are becoming more removed from farming with each generation. Many outside of agriculture, including regulators, associate high-yield crop production with being environmentally reckless.

Got data? You may be thinking, "Yes, I have plenty of it", or maybe, "No, how do I get it?" Even if you have no precision-ag data, chances are you have this data.

"But how do I know if what I am seeing in my data analysis is real?"

There is a popular reminder used in crop production to spur a sense of urgency. It goes something like this: "You only get to plant a field 40 times in your farming lifetime. If you rotate crops, you might only get 20 chances to get it right with soybeans or corn."

When we look back to 2012 it was historically dry, and 2013 started out wet and then turned dry. As some growers in the Midwest face yields below expectations, they're finding new and different ways to learn from their data.