In my last post I started by saying, “You would think by now that those of us working in the conservation field would have a really good handle on the value of topsoil. Again, you would think… However in 2015 we still struggle with a quantifiable value for topsoil.”Dr. Rick Cruse’s work gives us a terrific start. However, more research is needed to help us understand variations within fields, across regions and between states because a ton of topsoil does not always equal a ton of topsoil. More research is needed to help us understand why, …
Putting the Data to Work
The talk today is about Big Data. The question is, will we use what we collect? It reminds me of the 1990’s tagline, “Data Rich, Information Poor.” In the mid 1990’s, USDA NRCS Chief Paul Johnson commissioned a Blue Ribbon panel to study NRCS data collection named “Data Rich, Information Poor.” As you can guess from the title, the conclusion of the report found that NRCS had a huge storehouse of natural resource data that was never converted into useful information.Organizations produce data every day. However, many companies fail to turn …