In this session, we will discuss our work using big data to inform farmer decisions, from optimizing soybean planting dates to setting corn versus soybean planting order and other crop management decisions, all with the underlying goal of maximizing farm gate soybean yield and profitability.

Speaker: Shawn Conley, University of Wisconsin

Biography: Dr. Shawn P. Conley is a Professor and the State Soybean and Small Grain Specialist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In this role I lead the UW Soybean Research Program “a.k.a. The UW BeanTeam” and actively collaborate across all disciplines to generate science-based solutions to address real world problems in soybean and small grain production systems. This knowledge is then integrated and delivered through my Extension program. During my academic career, I have authored or co-authored 148 refereed journal articles, generated over $7.5M in extramural funding and have spoken at >800 events and to nearly 65,000 clients. What drives not only me, but the staff and graduate students in my program, is our commitment to delivering our research finding back to our clients in a palatable fashion. As such, many of our research papers are also developed into Extension publications. Furthermore, everything our program develops is delivered through our webpage www.coolbean.info and pushed to clients through my list-serve and Twitter handle @badgerbean. My commitment to agriculture and the Wisconsin Idea have also led me to coauthor a children’s book entitled “Coolbean the Soybean”.