Written by: Green Architect Peter Klapwijk
Thirty years of success does not guarantee 31 years of fruitful farming. Weather changes, crops evolve, substrates vary, and new discoveries are uncovered, meaning crop managers must continually learn and improve to ensure future yield.
How can you learn while you’re out tending to your crops? Here are the top ways to improve your learning curve to optimize your operations.
Connect with neighbors
Crowdsourcing and collective knowledge are two of the best ways to gain information in today’s world. You can learn almost anything from meeting and discussing your thoughts with experts who are also invested in the field. This is true for farmers and especially for farmers in the same area.
Your neighbors are likely working with the same weather conditions and the same suppliers and may have important insights. If you establish friendly relationships with neighbors, you can discover their strategies and approaches, and see their results. You might uncover their mistakes or learn helpful tips and tricks.
When you meet your neighbors, don’t be the person with the most knowledge, be the person with the most questions. You will learn a lot by asking what others are doing and why.
Be a good neighbor
If you want your neighbors to share information with you, you will need to share information with them. Don’t think of it as sharing trade secrets with a competitor, think of your knowledge share as a rising tide that lifts all boats. Everyone will benefit from pooling insights and information. When you share and collect knowledge you will have a large database to assist in your decision making.
However, when sharing and collecting information from neighbors, it is important to ensure that everyone has proper plant registration and is collecting data similarly to ensure that data is comparable. This brings us to the next point.
Analyze crop registration
Crop registration is critical for analyzing data about your plants. You should measure leaf length, fruit development, pollination, and other indicators of plant health. When you have quantifiable data, it is easy to measure and compare with data from previous years or your neighbors and colleagues.
Accurate crop registration also allows you to track the impact of any changes you make. For example, you might notice a difference in leaf length when you adjust your watering practices. You might also discover something by comparing your crop registration with your neighbors or by working with a crop consultant who can provide insights into your analysis.
Visit industry events and fairs
Trade shows, exhibitions, and fairs are great places to see new technology and learn the latest insights and discoveries. You can listen to researchers lecture about their findings and meet with experts outside of your neighborhood group.
Events can get you out of your comfort zone and often provide inspiration and motivation to try new things and expose you to ideas that you might never have thought of. You might find new tools or technology that can help you improve operations, or you might meet colleagues with whom you can develop new business.
Paskal enjoys attending industry events and fairs such as GreenTech Americas, GreenTech Amsterdam, and HortiContact Go. If you see us at an exhibition, please say hi!
Study educational and academic material
Growing is a very practical profession. This might seem at odds with academics, which tends to be more theoretical. However, a good understanding of theory is very useful when making practical decisions. Theory can guide you and ensure your decisions are based on sound and proven information. While it takes a significant investment of time and money to acquire an education, it can be very beneficial in the long run.
As with any subject, learning about farming is best in groups. Study groups that meet consistently to discuss academic materials can provide deeper insights and create a group of colleagues that can be called upon in the future for consultations. Study groups and education can also be strengthened with the help of professional experts or consultants.
Join the collective knowledge
You might be happy with your farming results, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do better. No matter your results today, it’s important to stay humble and know that next season will likely be different.
You might have noticed that all the aforementioned methods to improve your learning curve have one thing in common: they require cooperation. Sure, you could probably operate a successful horticulture business alone, but it will never reach its full potential without collective knowledge from peers and colleagues.
We hope you will go forth and collect and share knowledge, just as we try to do on our blog by sharing our insights from our own experience in the field.