SWAT 007: Wes Anderson on Equipping Agronomists with Technology

SWAT Agronomy

Our conversation today covers Wes Anderson’s extensive agronomy background as the vice president of agronomy at Croptimistic Technology. We will discuss the opportunity he saw with SWAT Maps, what’s happening with SWAT water and some of his thoughts on the role site-specific agronomy in some of the carbon and sustainability metrics that are being discussed in agriculture.

Wes was originally hired by Crop Pro Consulting three years ago as the first employee in Alberta, and has since grown the business to servicing around 70,000 acres in the province. As the company shifted strategy to license their technology to agronomy service providers, his role changed to vp of agronomy for Croptimistic. In this capacity, Wes and his team support the agronomists and partners around the globe who work with SWAT Maps and the SWAT ecosystem of products.

“I always say before you can manage it, you've got to first map it and then you’ve got to measure it. And until you map it and measure it, it's hard to manage it. So we have all these amazing tools. What really gets me excited every day to come to work is seeing the opportunity to combine multiple technologies to provide value.”

- Wes Anderson, vice president of agronomy at Croptimistic Technology

On Today’s Episode:

1:59 - Discover Wes’s background in agriculture and his experiences that led to crop science and agronomy

3:50 - Learn about the opportunity Wes got to participate in in Australia and what differences he observed in the agricultural practices there

5:59 - Wes shares how he was first introduced to SWAT Maps and how he became involved in their operation

7:09 - Explore the benefits SWAT Maps has brought to Wes’s ability to help producers

9:41 - Hear about how Wes integrates the SWAT Map technologies with other tools to create a cohesive integrated plan for his clients

11:59 - Learn what makes SWAT Maps unique and stand out from its competitors

13:07 - Discover the benefits of SWAT water and how it can contribute to an operation’s productivity

19:49 - See how precision agriculture techniques can be altered and applied once mapping and testing is performed

22:01 - Learn about the effects of varying organic matter in soil composition

23:55 - Explore the groundtruthing process and how that is incorporated into the mapping process

25:11 - Wes shares answers to common questions he receives including measuring carbon and managing nitrous oxide emissions

29:50 - Discover the SWAT Maps onboarding protocol for agronomists

Follow Wes on Twitter @fielddirt

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The SWAT Agronomy Podcast is brought to you by SWAT MAPS, and hosted by Tim Hammerich.