Data Analytics: So Easy a Cow Could Do It?

In the age of technology, there is no limit to the applications of data and data analytics. This spans company type, region and industry. This includes, yes, dairy farmers. Not exactly an industry that some may think has a wealth of data available, or has the skill set or capabilities to analyze the data even if it was available. Well, many farmers are proving that stereotype wrong as they have adapted their business strategy and adopted data-driven business decisions.

According to an article in the Wisconsin State Farmer, one particular dairy farm saved $70,000 on seed and fertilizer in 2018 by making business decisions based on the data interpreted from a computer program designed specifically for tracking various statistics and data sets on dairy farms. Those results were significant savings for that family dairy farm.

They aren’t alone either. The movement towards data-driven business decisions has taken over their industry. According to the Wisconsin State Farmer, a startup company called the Farmers Business Network was actually founded on the idea of bringing data to independent farmers across the continent. As of April 2019, they have nearly 8,000 farmers participating as members, covering 30 million acres of cropland across North America.

Farming is not the only industry changing business decision-making based on new data that is available to them. Big data analytics are being used across all industries for things such as supply chain management, profitability analysis, inventory control and selling, general, and administrative costs evaluation. How are you using data analytics to transform your business? 

For more information, see: www.wisfarmer.com