The only downside: months of travel means many nights spent in hotels.

Whenever I travel, whether on business or vacation, I always try to find the hotel that best meets my personal needs. Centralized location and reasonable cost are always considerations, of course. But I also like to have access to a gym for my early morning workouts and decent dining options within walking distance. I could search hotel websites individually to do my research, but it’s much more efficient to use a travel website that aggregates information and guest reviews from multiple hotels in one convenient location. By accessing data from many other travelers about their experiences, I can make the most informed decision for myself.

This same idea of crowdsourcing data can help farmers as well.

Farmers have been collecting data about their operations for hundreds of years – first in paper ledgers, then on computer spreadsheets. They have recorded details like what types of seed varieties they planted and when; how much and how often they applied each type of pesticide; how much rainfall their fields received; and ultimately, how much yield was harvested from each acre. The problem is farmers have never had a good way to analyze all this data. And data itself doesn’t have any value unless it provides insights that help you make better decisions.

During my recent visit to the San Francisco headquarters of The Climate Corporation, a Bayer subsidiary, I learned more about how today’s modern ag technology is finally able to capture some of that value.

Now, all a farmer’s data can flow seamlessly from sensors, satellites and field equipment into digital tools like Climate FieldViewTM, where it is compiled with publicly sourced information on weather, soil types, topography, etc. FieldView can combine multiple data sets and filter them through various algorithms that help growers decide what products to use, in what amount, in what location, and at what time during the season.

For example, a farmer could find out which hybrid crops have performed best in fields with sandy soil, and within that set, what other growing conditions were present in the most successful crops. FieldView also analyzes data to help farmers use nitrogen fertilizer more efficiently, thus reducing potential impacts from associated greenhouse gas emissions and water runoff. And all that data is visualized in digital maps and charts that are easy to understand, on a smartphone or tablet that the farmer can access anytime, from anywhere.