Now that I have been home for a few days and settled back in I am looking back on my months in Nebraska. This summer has been filled with planting and crop scouting to, drone work and spraying. I worked as a Research Technician for one WinField United's Answer Plot teams. Their answer plots are where they conduct all in field research on crops all the way from planting to harvest. When I first got to Nebraska planting was top priority. We spent roughly a month getting all of our plots planted. Our territory did research on corn, soybeans, and sorghum. Some plots had all three crops while others only had two different crops. It all depended on location of the plot and demand of that crop in that area, and the size of the plot.
After planting was finished, lots of other tasks started. First and foremost was stand counts with an imagery drone. Each plot was flown once for those stand counts except a plot that was being used for a specific stand count project I was conducting. All of those flights were periodically uploaded into a software and analyzed. I was also flying a few plots periodically to capture aerial images for different research purposes. Doing different flights mainly took place all summer. It seemed like everywhere I went, I had that imagery drone with me.
One of my jobs that I did all summer long was spraying the borders of the plot. As simple and monotonous as this sounds, it was important to keep the plots clean. A few other tasks that took place a majority of the summer included taking samples (soil, tissue, and nematode) and scouting each plot in vast detail each week. As crops grew other things like side dressing and cultivating took place as well.
Once crops hit the correct stages spray drone applications started. We did lots of different trial spraying at different crop stages. We were testing different kinds of chemicals and biologicals. Each plot also received an insecticide application with the spray drone. I was lucky enough to get to do lots of operating with our spray drone and to say I learned a lot would be an understatement. Throughout the season we were having some different issues with our drone that weren’t consistent at all. We actually spent some time trying to crash/replicate issues the drone was having. It was definitely an odd and eye opening experience, but all the troubleshooting was fun and taught me a lot!
Now I have only scratched the surface of my time in Nebraska, but in the past several months I have learned so much while having a ton of fun! Between working, learning, and exploring I wish it didn’t have to come to an end. I will always be thankful for the opportunity I had to spend time in western Nebraska and I would do it all over again every time.
Love,
Kendra