5 Free Ways FBN® Can Help Your Planting Agronomics

FBN Network

May 09, 2024

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Tap into the combined intelligence of hundreds of millions of acres of precision data shared anonymously by thousands of farmers when you use FBN.

Here are five free analytics tools from FBN that can help your planting:

1. Soil Temperature Map

Affecting the physical, microbiological, and chemical processes, soil temperature substantially impacts whether plants can grow and flourish in that environment.

To assess the soil temperature near you, see FBN’s soil temperature map of the United States. It shows the average soil temperatures from up to 10 cm into the ground. The map is updated daily with a three-day lag to present accurate data.

How to Use FBN’s Soil Temperature Map

  • Sign into your FBN account

  • In the top navigation menu, select Analyze

  • Select My Operations in the left sidebar

  • Select Maps in the left sidebar

  • Select Soil Temperature in the left sidebar

2. Soil Type Maps

There are approximately 70,000 soil types, organized into 12 soil orders, in the United States. Matching soil type to your crop is important for planting agronomics because crops have unique requirements for pH levels, capacity for holding water, and organic matter content. 

Analyze your soil using the FBN Soil Type Maps, which indicates the soil types as defined by Canada’s CANSIS database and the United States’ NRCS SSURGO database. 

How to Use FBN’s Soil Type Maps

First, you’ll need to add your boundary maps to your profile:

  • Sign into your FBN account

  • In the top navigation menu, select Analyze

  • Select My Data in the left sidebar

  • Select My Files in the left sidebar

  • On the screen, select Other Files and add your boundary maps

Then, you can access your soil type maps:

  • In the top navigation menu, select Analyze

  • Select My Operations in the left sidebar

  • Select Maps in the left sidebar, and then select your field

  • Hover your computer mouse over the different colors in the pie chart to view the soil type and its percentage.

  • Select Type: Natural Features and Layer: Soil Type (SSURGO)


Learn more about how soil type can impact farmland value by downloading the free FBN Finance guide Before You Buy: 4 Farmland Factors to Consider


3. FBN Seed Finder 

A critical input for the success of a farm, seed requires a significant upfront financial investment so it’s important to make an informed selection. FBN Seed Finder, agriculture’s largest real-world seed performance database, allows FBN members to verify seed claims. 

Powered by 90+ million acres of performance data, this tool unlocks information on thousands of seeds and empowers you to:

  • Access performance data

  • Sort yields by state, year, rotation, and soil texture

  • Break out seed yields by 10 environmental and practice factors

  • Find cost-efficient nitrogen rates

How to Use FBN Seed Finder

  • Sign into your FBN account

  • In the top navigation menu, go to Analyze

  • Select Seed Finder in the left sidebar

  • Use the various drop-down menus to filter your results

4. Yield Potential

While a seed variety or hybrid may have historically performed successfully in another field, each farm’s geography, soil type, and farming practices will impact the seed’s potential on that specific farm. FBN’s Yield Potential tool helps you anticipate the success of a seed on your farm, given ideal weather, soil, and management. Armed with forecasted yield data, you can plan:

By comparing the soil composition of a farmer’s fields to 44+ million acres of FBN member-contributed data, the Yield Potential tool provides estimates of how seed will perform on the farmer’s land.

How to Use Yield Potential on FBN

First, you’ll need to add your agronomic data:

  • Sign into your FBN account

  • In the top navigation menu, select Analyze, then My Data

  • Upload your precision planting files (Bonus: add a seed invoice, and your seed ROI will be calculated.) 

Alternatively, you can email your data, including invoices and seed tags, to data@farmersbusinessnetwork.com.

Once your data has been added to your profile on FBN, you can access your yield potential:

  • In the top navigation menu, select Analyze

  • Select My Operations in the left sidebar

  • Select Maps in the left sidebar

  • Select My Operations in the left sidebar

  • Select Yield Potential in the left sidebar

5. Norm, the AI Agronomic Advisor

Get high-quality, in-depth answers to your agronomic questions through FBN’s artificial intelligence (AI) tool, Norm. Powered by machine learning algorithms and advanced natural language processing (NLP) — ChatGPT’s language model — Norm was trained on data from the USDA, ag publications, ag extension services, and other reputable industry resources.

Norm, industry’s first AI Ag Advisor, can help farmers with:

  • Planting timing questions

  • Fertility calculations (MRTN)

  • Trait questions

  • Detailed chemical selection and management

To further help with planter prep, Norm is extremely powerful with equipment assistance and diagnostics.

How to Use Norm, the AI Agronomic Advisor 

  • Sign into your FBN account

  • In the top navigation menu, select Community

  • Select Ask Norm in the left sidebar

  • Type your question into the form field at the bottom and press enter

Tips: 

Get Free* Access to FBN Tools

FBN is on a mission to make farming easier for you by democratizing data, sharing unbiased information, and providing you with the digital tools you need to help your farm flourish. 

Get your free FBN membership to unlock:

Join FBN’s growing 55,000+ member network today.


Related Resources 


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FBN Network

May 09, 2024

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