Pioneer^® Yield Pyramid™ decision tool to aid in complex crop management decisions

On July 13, Pioneer introduced the Pioneer^® Yield Pyramid™ decision tool, a new proprietary, data-driven tool designed to bring even more value to farmers. By identifying where a grower is currently with crop yields and then prioritizing certain management decisions and practices, this tool can help increase yield potential in specific areas.

Site-specific weather information, soil data and management practices from more than 56,000 locations are grouped into 10 Genetic x Environment x Management (GEM) zones. These GEM zones are the first step in the yield pyramid. Within each GEM zone, there are five yield levels, each with corresponding management factors. Level one represents USDA county average corn yield. Levels two through four are based off internal Pioneer data. The fifth level represents the future and where corn yields are heading.

With the Pioneer Yield Pyramid decision tool, farmers can compare their practices and yield results with the typical results within each yield level and determine if there are any differences or gaps. Advanced data science tools, including data clustering and machine learning, and thousands of on-farm data points collected by the Pioneer^® agronomy team in the past 10 years were used to develop a sophisticated crop model that can synthesize thousands of trials to help farmers prioritize management decisions.

“Any time we build something, we need to start from the bottom up. The Pioneer Yield Pyramid decision tool starts with a strong foundation that is intended to guide farmers up the pyramid as they strive to optimize their farm productivity,” said Matt Clover, Pioneer Agronomy Manager. “By combining the on-site trial data and the performance simulations, we are able to replicate a multitude of environments across a wide range of growing conditions, giving farmers specific management recommendations so they have the best chance of achieving high yields.”

To move up the pyramid requires attention to foundational management practices while addressing the additional factors that become more important as yield increases. Each of the 10 GEM zones has specific action steps to help growers move up the pyramid. In addition, sophisticated data science tools were used to evaluate all the measured crop management factors and rank their importance in achieving higher yields. Farmers can use this prioritized list to make better decisions on where to make changes or invest inputs for their operation.

“One of the fundamental concepts of the pyramid is that each key factor must be addressed at each yield level before you can move up the pyramid,” Clover said. “This prioritization helps farmers decide where to spend input dollars so they can optimize their return on investment.”

The Pioneer^® Yield Pyramid™ decision tool is available for farmers through their local agronomist, who is the subject matter expert, as well as your local Pioneer sales representative.