In this episode of the SWAT Agronomy podcast we feature Chris Hawkins. Chris is the sales director at Croptimistic Technology based in Saskatchewan. In that role he serves both farmers directly as well as the partners that Croptimistic works with. He’s also responsible for the partner services side of the business, so one of his key objectives is to help their partners grow their businesses.

Chris tells host Tim Hammerich talk about his path from the family farm to farm machinery to now ag tech. They also talk more about his experiences working with SWAT MAPS customers, why they don’t have a big sales team, and the path forward for precision agriculture.

“ When we can build a zone map for our farmers that is built on those stable properties, and they can count on that map being accurate year after year after year. Then they realized that they can manage those zones better than they could ever do in the past.” - Chris Hawkins

Follow Chris on X: @SWATMAPSHawk

Key Moments:

00:00 Introduction to SWAT Agronomy

00:48 Guest Introduction: Chris Hawkins

02:10 Chris Hawkins' Career Journey

03:43 Understanding Precision Agriculture

08:44 Challenges and Solutions in Agronomy

13:52 Partner Services and Growth

21:48 Future of Agriculture Technology

24:21 Conclusion and Farewell

Learn more at SWATMAPS.com.

Brett McArtor joins the show to talk about how he using SWAT MAPS in his role as senior research associate at Corteva Agriscience. Since graduating from Iowa State, Brett has remained focused on working directly with farmers to perform trials and research projects on their operations. His work has always involved farmer-led science to determine how new products fit into management systems and how they affect the bottom line.

“What does variability within a field mean? I mean, every field has variability, but to what degree is that variability? And is it yield limiting? Is it something that we need to make a decision on? And that's where that boots on the ground part comes in, where we're, we use that SWAT data to go back out, identify what's actually going on in that field.” - Brett McArtor

Brett dives into why and how a company like Corteva Agriscience is using precision ag technology, and why SWAT MAPS in particular.

00:00 How Brett thinks about field variability

00:32 Assessing the degree and relevance of variables in a field

00:36 Impact on yield and decision making

00:40 Field analysis with SWAT data

Learn more at SWATMAPS.com

Paul Sullivan (Twitter/X) joins the show to talk about the challenges he and his farmers are dealing with in his area of Eastern Ontario. We discuss some really interesting population trials that he’s doing, fertility issues coming off years of high fertilizer prices, and what difference SWAT MAPS has made for him and his farmer customers.

“When we look at yield, yield is a component of kernel number times kernel weight, and that gives us basically yield per acre. So with the definition of the SWAT MAPS we feel those yield components, we can kind of connect the genetics with the water supplying capacity in addition to the management of the farm.” - Paul Sullivan

Paul is a certified crop consultant and agronomist in Eastern Ontario. He has operated his agronomy services firm, PT Sullivan Agro, since 1997, and started using SWAT MAPS in recent years. His area of the province, which is just outside of Ottawa, is mostly corn, soybeans and wheat. Paul’s work focuses on developing crop plans around nutrient management, pH, pesticides, and some genetic recommendations as well.

Before starting the business, Paul spent eight years as a soil and crop advisor with the ministry of agriculture and food covering three counties with the provincial extension group there. So he has a long history of working directly with farmers to solve agronomic problems.

00:00 Welcome to SWAT Agronomy Podcast

00:26 Introduction to Today's Episode

00:55 Meet Paul Sullivan

02:23 Paul's Agronomy Journey

02:49 Early Challenges and Solutions

04:48 Soil and Fertility Issues

06:18 Managing Crop Residue

08:28 Adopting SWAT MAPS

14:47 Population Trials and Hybrid Management

21:03 Impact of SWAT Maps on Business

23:20 Conclusion and Farewell

Learn more at SWATMAPS.com