Dan Frieberg: Turning Data into Solutions
By Jackie Pucci Senior Writer | Meister Media Worldwide
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As co-founder of Premier Crop Systems , Dan Frieberg’s passion turning data into actionable solutions for farmer-clients for more than two decades has earned him the 2021 PrecisionAg Award of Excellence Legacy award. Advertisement
Dan Frieberg
In the early years of precision agriculture, Frieberg recognized the opportunity the budding field held for ag retailers and their customers. Ag Leader had, by then, launched the first yield monitor, and growers had begun grid sampling and making variable-rate applications of nutrients. “I knew that putting all that data together would be potentially something powerful,” he tells PrecisionAg. In 1999, he, Kate Raun, and a likeminded group of retailers founded Premier Crop LLC, and over the years developed a software platform that provides analytics and variable rate prescriptions. That small start-up in Des Moines now serves close to 8 million acres, helping to improve farm profitability, sustainability, and efficiency. MORE BY JACKIE PUCCI
Excellence Awards July 19, 2021
Excellence Awards July 19, 2021
“Dan is passionate about the grower. Everything he does in the eye of the grower operation and how he can make a grower more successful,” says his nominator, Renee Hansen. “He knows how difficult it is to raise a crop, to understand and use all the data, and he knows how complex agronomy is, yet accepts the challenge to combine it all together and benefit the grower.”
Frieberg’s career is diverse, spanning wholesale fertilizer sales, retail management, business consulting, and association work, having served as CEO of the Iowa Fertilizer and Chemical Association and later the Agribusiness Association of Iowa. Premier Crop Systems’ Enhanced Learning Blocks are used to create randomized, replicated trials on a grower’s field. (For purpose of illustration only, image not to scale.) After working with numerous companies and agronomists Frieberg, with his team patented what they call Enhanced Learning Blocks, which are trials within a field that are replicated and randomized in order to find the right rate within a field. This is all done through a prescription and technology so a farmer doesn’t have to stop and can continue to farm at their own pace while the technology does the work for them. “We were introducing an experiment into parts of every field. It was a low-risk way for growers to test rates, and so they would risk one acre of anything: one acre of lower nitrogen, one acre of higher nutrients, one acre of higher population,” he says. The beauty of Premier Crop’s approach was that it automated the process of being able to conduct trials in farm fields in scale. “Doing trials is just a way to inform a better future decision,” Frieberg says. Using the data from the Enhanced Learning Block, Dan has gone further in his approach to scientific trials and created response curves that will inform a grower of the statistical confidence that the rate provides. “Beyond this, Dan is still working to perfect the right-rate technology for fertilizer and seeding rates through more advanced spatial data in like areas of fields within Eco Regions. His primary goal is to help growers and advisors build a faster and better automated prescription using data science and machine learning that is optimal for each part of the field,” Hansen adds. Frieberg credits his thousands of interactions with growers and advisers over the years with teaching him about the marriage of geography and agronomy. “I was fortunate to have Craig Struve, Garry Pellett, Tom Fullenkamp, John Hester, Clyde Martin, Ron Stutsman, Larry Thomsen, Tom Edwards, Ken Root, and the Tinsmans as early retailer and association mentors. Many of them would later become equity partners or customers of Premier Crop. Larry Wenthold, Chuck Wagner, Dave Hintzsche, Dan Frick, and Ron Farrell all joined that group in Premier Crop’s early years. All were committed to the concept of providing the best possible agronomic recommendations to their grower customers,” he says, adding:
“I’m not sure where it came from, but ‘people support what they help create’ was significant advice early on. I had it framed and put it on my office wall to remind me that even though I thought I knew what needed to be done, sometimes it’s good to slow down and collaborate – let others be part of creating the solution.”
His take on the future of farming? “It’s going to be variable-rate everything. The history of our industry so far, for a lot of people is that we have taken agronomic knowledge that was created in a university trial and applied it spatially in fields, but agronomic knowledge creation is going to move from being plot-driven to trial-driven in the farmers’ fields. “A decade from now, we will look back on 2021 and say, ‘My goodness, we were really crude.’ A lot of people think we’ve arrived, but we’re going to look back and say we haven’t arrived at all – as an industry we were just barely getting started.”
0 1 5 Wade Wilson: A Selfless Commitment to Improve the Practice of Farming
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Jackie Pucci is Senior Writer for PrecisionAg, CropLife , and AgriBusiness Global  specializing in the ag technology and crop inputs sectors.

Dan Frieberg: Turning Data into Solutions

Leveraging Agronomic Data to Optimize Nutrient Applications, Improve Crop Performance
It’s no secret that yield has been the metric used by growers for many years to essentially determine the success of their season. Countless decisions made around crop rotation strategy, plant timing, spray or no spray, till or no-till, what products to apply, if any, all summarized in one number…yield. Along with that, the notion of profitability, many argue, comes right along with it. Advertisement
But with today’s data-driven era across all industries, not just agriculture, we are starting to see a shift suggesting a mentality more focused on quality over quantity. Not just planting within a time range, planting at the “right” time. Not just spraying or not spraying, spraying precisely in the “right” spots. Not just applying the product with the most compelling rebate program, but applying the “right” product. Growers aren’t just looking for a solution, they’re looking for the best solution, and the best means to not just produce the most, but also generate the most profit. Some say that reducing input costs is key, while others swear by pushing fields to produce more yield. The reality? Farming is complex and there is not one thing that solves all. Dan Frieburg, VP of Technical Services at Premier Crop Systems in Des Moines, IA, sums it up best. “In order for us to drive more profits, we can’t do it by treating every part of every field like it’s the same.”
The statement is one that resonates with me because at Rantizo , we had the same conversations with ag retailers and growers this year as it pertained to fungicide applications. Rather than doing what was once common practice and applying blanketed fungicide across an entire field, we had several growers looking to execute a new strategy. For example, one trial we completed with Aker involved a real-time decision to eliminate planned fungicide applications in a certain portion of a field due to underperformance indicated by field imagery data. Essentially the conversation between the agronomy team and the grower led to the decision to double down on the fields that were performing well, and not exhaust resources on the other areas. A similar example to share is from a grower we worked with in northeastern Iowa. Based on the field data he had, he knew that the edges of his fields were continuously ravaged by critters. As a result, he decided to skip fungicide applications in those very specific areas and only target the areas performing well. The result was yield increases in the targeted areas, which theoretically also meant profitable acres. Harvest has been wrapping up in my neck of the woods here in Iowa for the past couple of weeks. Along with the communal sigh some may release after a year full of ups and downs, comes the shift in focus to the 2021 season. Realistically, many growers probably initiated their planning before they even fired up the combine, and nutrient applications are top of mind. The end goal is always the same…a successful season. That success of course, for most, is driven by conversations about yield and profitability. But not all fields are created equal and therefore, the end result is often far from uniform. One field may be high in nutrients, but yield is underperforming. Another field may show high yields, but register low in certain nutrients. The conundrum that many face is simply knowing what data will drive the conversation on actions needed to produce the desired results. Ag retailers can start by working with growers to not just analyze data throughout the season to ensure things are on track or determine if course corrections are needed, but they can also use that data to determine what prescriptions are needed for the upcoming season. Mark Stutsman, COO of Stutsman, Inc. out of Hills, IA, thinks that soil nutrient testing might be a good place to start. “We have a lot to learn about what soil nutrient test results are telling us,” Stutsman stated. “Now is a great time to start studying and looking at answers to questions like: ‘What is the optimal range for each nutrient’? and ‘How much of a nutrient is readily available that shows up in the tests?’” he added. That’s where companies like Premier Crop Systems come in. Frieburg clarifies that the company is not a soil testing lab, but rather an analytics company. The workflow looks something like this:
Soil samples are collected in growers’ fields. Samples are then sent off to a lab for testing. The lab provides the test results. Premier Crop Systems builds analytics tying the lab results to geo-targeted locations in the field. Variable rate prescriptions are determined from there. Although Frieburg admits he deliberately tries not to argue which soil sampling method is the best, he does say that Premier Crop Systems advocates for growers and ag retailers to utilize spatial soil sampling. He cites flaws in the days of gathering core samples from various spots in a field, mixing them up in a bucket, sending them to the lab, and then using those results as a holistic representation of field soil health. “In hindsight what you were doing was pretending what came back accurately represented pH and organic matter, and P and K levels in that field. With GPS we can actually geo-reference those samples,” he stated. Snapshot of how Premier Crop Systems combines agronomics and economics to drive higher returns within each part of each field. One of the ways Frieburg says that Premier Crop Systems is different is in their strategy for leveraging their analytics. “When precision agriculture first was getting started, many ag retailers were trying to help the grower in building up low testing areas and mining down high testing areas. The logic was that at some point, the fields will be neutral,” he explained. “Many times that hasn’t happened.”
“The reality is that some of the most productive fields are actually the lowest testing from a nutrient perspective; the more you push those areas, the higher the yield, the more nutrients they remove. If you’re focused on ppm on a soil test it’s hard to catch up. That’s the wrong goal. Nobody gets paid by ppm, they get paid by higher yield. Nutrient response is the same way. The ideal combination of soil supplied nutrients and fertilizer supplied nutrients changes within fields. Now growers and ag retailers can leverage that to their benefit.”
“Premier Crop Systems was started in the late 90’s,” Frieburg explained. “Commodity prices at the time were horrible. We realized then and still today that before a grower can truly market their crop, they better know their true cost per bushel. It’s a big deal because we believe that growers aren’t doing more variable rate activity even today because they’re not convinced it pays. We’re trying to help overcome that while providing actionable insights.”
How does that tie back to nutrient applications? “With geospatial analytics we’re able to suggest to a grower that they spend more on fertilizer on a certain part of the field. We’re grabbing the As Planted file and tying the cost out spatially. In the end, this can help increase profitability for the farmer,” Frieburg concluded. As we dust off the 2020 season and look to 2021, what strategies do you plan to use with growers and their nutrient applications? 015Leveraging Agronomic Data to Optimize Nutrient Applications, Improve Crop Performance
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Emily Carlson is an agricultural marketing professional currently working with Iowa City-based startup, Rantizo . She has spent the past couple years meeting with and learning about the needs of both farmers and ag retailers around the country when it comes to subjects like: labor shortages, precision equipment, and crop protection. Emily has been a contributing writer for thought pieces on rural broadband, as well as, business topics like SEO and social media best practices. As the press and media relations contact with Rantizo, she has also helped bring to light articles highlighting drones, swarming, precision agriculture, crop protection and much more. See all author stories here. Leave a Reply

Leveraging Agronomic Data to Optimize Nutrient Applications, Improve Crop Performance

Zimfo Bytes 11/15
Premier Crop Systems announced that the Board of Directors has appointed Darren Fehr as President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors effective immediately. Fehr previously held the position of Director, Sales & Marketing with Premier Crop Systems and will succeed Dan Frieberg. Minneapolis-based ag-tech company Calyxt joined Agtegra Cooperative to celebrate the revival of the St. Lawrence Grain Elevator and recognize Midwest farmers for doing their part to make the foods consumers love a healthier choice. In a move designed to bring additional synergy to Bayer ‘s agency relationships, Crop Science U.S. Marketing announced it has named three firms its Agencies of Record beginning in the 2021 crop year: BBDO, HLK, and OBP. BBDO Atlanta will support the Bayer Crop Protection portfolio, including herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides for row crops and horticulture, as well as the company’s new Bayer PLUS Rewards program. HLK, which is based in St. Louis, will support Channel brand seed, regional seed brands, Bayer’s trait portfolio, and integrated systems such as the Roundup Ready Xtend Crop System. St. Louis-based OBP will support DEKALB, Asgrow, Deltapine and WestBred seed brands. The World Food Prize Foundation announced that Barbara Stinson has been named President of the organization, effective January 4, 2020. Farmers looking to capitalize on sustainability for their cotton farms should make plans to attend the first ever Cotton U on Dec. 5 at the Amarillo Farm & Ranch Show in Amarillo, Texas, to learn about a new pilot program initiated by the National Cotton Council.

Zimfo Bytes 11/15

Premier Crop Systems Appoints New President, CEO
Premier Crop Systems has announced that the Board of Directors has appointed Darren Fehr as President and CEO and a member of the Board of Directors effective immediately. Fehr previously held the position of Director, Sales & Marketing with Premier Crop Systems and will succeed Dan Frieberg. As Dan transitions toward retirement, he will remain actively engaged in the company as Vice President, Technical Services. Advertisement
Barry Schaffter, Chairman of the Board of Directors, explained, “The Board of Directors is very pleased with this leadership transition, which continues to build on the strength that Premier Crop has developed in the market.”
Darren Fehr
Premier Crop has been in business since 1999, founded by Frieberg. Frieberg states, “I am thrilled that we will continue to build seamlessly on the momentum we have created. Darren has the leadership that I believe will take this company, our partners and our customers to succeed beyond what they ever thought they could achieve. I will continue to help our customers use their data to make better decisions and look forward to the growth in the future.”
Fehr joined Premier Crop in February of 2018 and has successfully led the company in significant growth over the last two years. His passion for mentoring, leading and growing the business will be instrumental in the future of Premier Crop. “Premier Crop Systems is a company that thrives on seeing our customers exceed their own expectations and I am honored to lead this exceptional team. My strategic goal is to be clearly focused on developing our Elite Advisor Network so that our products and services continue to be in high demand from the professional farmer. Together, we have a tremendous opportunity ahead of us,” stated Fehr. Subscribe Today For
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In today’s complex and fast-paced crop production sector, the team at CROPLIFE keeps 21,000 agricultural retailers, distributors and their suppliers up to date on such decidedly 21st century issues as seed technology, biotechnology, precision agriculture, customer service and retention, and business management. See all author stories here. Leave a Reply

Premier Crop Systems Appoints New President, CEO

Wednesday, August 30th, 2017
 
Syngenta and Premier Crop Systems, LLC, announce a commercial partnership to bring growers customized, variable-cost-per-bushel analysis maps - the first of this kind. "We're providing growers research at the speed of farming," said Aaron Deardorff, head of digital agriculture solutions at Syngenta. "Providing valuable tools to help growers turn data into knowledge is a priority for Syngenta and Premier." Premier, an early developer of digital agriculture tools, currently provides data-driven agronomic recommendations for millions of acres of farmland. Its newest product, Enhanced Learning Blocks, enables the automation of large-scale, on- farm, replicated trials. By integrating products like this with the Syngenta AgriEdge Excelsior program, Syngenta and Premier are giving growers needed tools to make data-driven decisions. "The software integration provides growers an opportunity to understand how their cost of production varies within each of their fields," said Mark Stelford, general manager at Premier Crop Systems. "As growers face tight margins, these insights will help optimize inputs and maximize yield, and improve return on investment." AgriEdge Excelsior from Syngenta is a whole-farm management program that helps growers increase and sustain their return on investment. It delivers trusted on-farm service, innovative products and the exclusive Land.db software. Land.db gives growers access to financial data, while Premier offers field-level productivity data. In combination, growers can review their within-field cost per bushel on blocks as small as 60 feet, and analyze up to 15 years of historical yield data. Field-relative yield maps will help growers identify opportunities to leverage their equipment's variable-rate capabilities. "Growers are looking for ways to get more out of everything they track," said Stelford. "Growers are able to enter information into Land.db and get within-field cost of production information on precise maps through this integration. Premier's capabilities also provide growers and their advisors with insights to build on their local agronomic knowledge and recommendations, using variable-rate technology." The maps demonstrate profitability per field from a cost-per-bushel perspective. Growers will also have access to specific farm prescriptions and the ability to run their own localized, on-farm trials, provided by Premier through their retailers. "Syngenta is committed to helping growers feed the world," Deardorff said. "We began using digital agriculture solutions to support that commitment more than 15 years ago, when the AgriEdge Excelsior program was started. Our broadened offers and integrations, like this collaboration with Premier Crop Systems, demonstrate that we are a partner to growers and a leader in the digital agriculture space." Currently, this integration is available to corn, soybean and wheat growers in the Midwest, with plans to expand in geography and crops. Growers interested in this offer should contact their retailer or local AgriEdge Specialist. Did you enjoy this article? Signup for our newsletter to stay informed!

Syngenta Partners With Premier Crop Systems to Turn Data Into Knowledge

Syngenta is an agriculture company helping to improve global food security by enabling millions of farmers to make better use of available resources. The company is committed to rescuing land from degradation, enhancing biodiversity and revitalizing rural communities.

Syngenta

Syngenta and Premier Crop Systems , LLC , announce a commercial partnership to bring growers customized , variable-cost-per-bushel analysis maps - the first of this kind .

na Inc.

Bank One

Companies that are using technology to make farms more efficient. 

Agriculture Technology (Agtech)

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Premier Crop Systems empowers growers and their advisors to create real value from data to make profitable and sustainable agronomic decisions.

Date	Round	Amount	Investors	Revenue	Sources
4/3/2020	Loan	$0.68M	Paycheck Protection Program	0 FY undefined
7/26/2017	Unattributed VC		Subscribe to see more	0 FY undefined	10
2/15/2017	Unattributed	$99M	Subscribe to see more	0 FY undefined	10

Date	4/3/2020	7/26/2017	2/15/2017
Round	Loan	Unattributed VC	Unattributed
Amount	$0.68M		$99M
Investors	Paycheck Protection Program	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more
Valuation
Revenue	0 FY undefined	0 FY undefined	0 FY undefined
Sources		10	10

First funding	Last Funding	Investor	Rounds	Board Seats	Type	Location
4/3/2020	4/3/2020	Paycheck Protection Program	1 Loan		Government	DC
00/00/0000	00/00/0000	Syngenta Ventures	Subscribe to see more		Corporate Venture	Switzerland

First funding	4/3/2020	00/00/0000
Last Funding	4/3/2020	00/00/0000
Investor	Paycheck Protection Program	Syngenta Ventures
Rounds	1 Loan	Subscribe to see more
Board Seats
Type	Government	Corporate Venture
Location	DC	Switzerland

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