Photo credit: FREEPIK
When reviewing the yield quantity for their potato crop, farmers usually calculate the average amount of yield per hectare of a certain field, in some cases even over multiple fields. However, the variation in crop yield within fields can be relatively large. Knowing on what spots in the field crop yields are relatively low can give insights in the optimal fertilization strategy for the upcoming year. When considering the availability of nutrients out of crop residue degradation in the following year, a lower crop yield in this year will indicate less nutrients being available in the crop residues. But a lower crop yield might also indicate a structural lower nutrient content in the soil, indicating the need for more a specific soil analysis on that location. So, insight in the crop yield over a field is the first piece of a puzzle to create the fertilization strategy of the following year. Besides, it can give insight in the profitability of less productive parts of a field. If crop yields are substantially lower in a certain part of a field, crops with high input costs might not be profitable in this site. Quantifying this data might even result in growing different crops in certain locations as the high input crop (for instance potatoes) is not profitable.