Customer Conversations: Albert O’Connor
Near the town of Columbus, Indiana – noted for its collection of modern architecture – you’ll find Albert O’Connor’s farm. Albert, along with wife Kim and son Jake, farm approximately 2,500 acres of corn, soybeans and seed corn, and run a small herd of Simmental and Angus cattle – most of them destined to shine in regional county fair and 4H competition show rings.
Recognized as a Century Farm, O’Connor Farms was established in 1911. Albert is the fourth generation of his family to run the farm. New Purdue graduate Jake will be the fifth.
We had a chance to talk with Albert recently about his experience as an Advanced Agrilytics customer. Here is his story.
What led you to choose Advanced Agrilytics?
At that time, variable rate technology was being more widely used in corn and soybean production, and we saw variable rate prescriptions coming out. I needed someone to help me take advantage of that (variable rate) technology. I saw Advanced Agrilytics as a pioneer in that area, so that was the first reason I went to them.
The second reason is that I saw working with Advanced Agrilytics as a way to get the most ROI from our data. We needed one central place to have our soil sampling and other soil data compiled and analyzed, by people who knew what they were doing. Our data seemed to be in a lot of different places – we had notebooks in file cabinets, thumb drives, and other places. It felt like we weren’t getting as much value out of our data as we should be.
We’ve had good data from our yield monitors since 2006, but we weren’t doing anything with it. We were collecting all of this data and spending money on equipment with all of this data-collecting technology built in, but we weren’t seeing any benefit from it. That’s Advanced Agrilytics’ wheelhouse—they took all of that data and made it useful. Today, we build our entire year’s agronomic plan around the data analysis that Advanced Agrilytics provides.
What agronomic challenges were you facing?
We needed to get a better handle on nutrient management. We needed a better plan and a better routine in place, rather than just saying “that field doesn’t look right – we should soil sample that field.”
What’s it like to work with Advanced Agrilytics?
Our experience with Advanced Agrilytics has been excellent. The service is great – and even better, now we have a much more organized agronomic plan and process throughout the season. It’s a detailed process – right after harvest, you start reviewing seed performance to help you make better-informed seed selection choices. You have solid data analysis and great agronomic support to help you plan out your fertility plan. It’s very detailed, which we appreciate.
What is your annual data review like?
First, we sit down and figure out what seed varieties work the best in certain situations, certain soil types and (seeding) rates. That tells us what we’re going to purchase for the next year. Our Advanced Agrilytics team sifts through the data for us and with us – showing us strategies for optimizing our seed placement, selecting the best seed varieties for various fields, etc.
It’s very important to me to work with Advanced Agrilytics because they’re unbiased – they’re not selling me a product. A seed company will say, “Yeah, you can plant this one everywhere, anywhere.” Well, you can’t. You have to put the right seed in the right spots and the right grades.
Another advantage of working with Advanced Agrilytics is that they rank your fields for you in terms of which fields are making money for you year after year, and which ones are subpar. When you’re making agronomic decisions that affect the success of your farming operation, that’s really valuable.
“Advanced Agrilytics is different – their goal isn’t to sell me anything. Their goal is to make me more successful. Everything Advanced Agrilytics tells you, they have the data to back it up and show you how it will make you money.”
What other benefits have you seen from working with Advanced Agrilytics?
Our soil fertility is definitely more balanced. The good acres are better and the bad acres have gotten better. The soil tests have gotten better throughout the years, and the (nutrient) levels throughout the field on a per-acre basis are more consistent. And the yields are definitely better. The APH (actual production history) of my acres has gone up significantly in the last 10 years.
What are the most important benefits of your relationship with Advanced Agrilytics?
Number one would be the value of getting unbiased recommendations. Before, you’d have a seed guy telling you, “You can plant this variety anywhere,” or a fertility guy trying to sell you some stuff, or chem guy saying, “My stuff’s better, add this in with it too.” Advanced Agrilytics is different – their goal isn’t to sell me anything. Their goal is to make me more successful. Everything Advanced Agrilytics tells you, they have the data to back it up and show you how it will make you money. They won’t push something on you just to sell a product. They have nothing to sell besides their knowledge. They’re not pushing products on you.
Would you recommend Advanced Agrilytics to other farmers?
Absolutely! And actually, I already have. As you know, people in the country are always looking at the crops when they drive around. And they notice that growers who work with Advanced Agrilytics, their fields always look good. The quality of their service sells itself.
Get Started Now with Advanced Agrilytics!
info@advancedagrilytics.com (877) 327-6428 (877-FARM GATE)
Last Updated on April 1, 2025