In addition, yield maps, as-applied maps, and other precision data provide an important quality control on work being done by employees or custom operators. Use of yield monitor and other spatial data in Argentina will be facilitated because they will have less need to pool data across farms. It is my opinion that US farmers will need to pool precision data to achieve the full benefit of the technology. Most Corn Belt farms are not big enough to provide the range of conditions needed to begin to identify patterns without designed experiments. On the many large farms in Argentina the need to pool data is reduced.
Argentine agriculture has a long history of data sharing.
In part, this occurs because Argentinean growers have only recently started to compete for rental land. In the past, they usually focused on improving management on the acreage they already controlled. In the US, one of the reasons for reluctance to share data is that producers do not want yields and other information in the hands of those who will be competing with them to rent the farm down the road. According to Bragachini, because of the long harvest season and custom harvesting, large combines often cover 8,000 to 11,000 acres per year. By spreading the cost of the yield monitor and GPS over more acres, the per acre costs are lowered.