• FieldLark AI is described as "Your AI Agromonist" provided by Advancing Eco Agriculture.

• A company that provided agronomy services founded by John Kempf in the early 2006.

• Let's breakdown what it's about, what kind of information it will provide and then the kicker, the cost to join in on the program.

Breakdown:

• Where does FieldLark AI get its information from?

  FieldLark AI is powered by a custom large language model trained on AEA’s proprietary data—from in-field observations and agronomic notes to John Kempf’s published research, podcast interviews, and regenerative insights–and additional resources.

• What kinds of questions can I ask FieldLark AI?

  FieldLark AI can interpret soil and sap test results, provide specific recommendations based on those tests, answer questions about product usage by crop and growth stage, tank mix compatibility, regenerative farming practices, and seasonal application timing.

  Whether you’re wondering how to improve moisture exchange in heavy soils, when to apply foliars for best results, or which nutrients support stronger wheat and barley stands, FieldLark AI provides practical, biologically based guidance tailored to your crop and timing.

Trial:

• The depth of information provided, does dive pretty deep for information regarding the question asked and helps solidify common sense questions while providing in depth reasoning as to why.

• The response time from question to answer was quick.

Picture that sparked the curiosity:

Question:

When a plant has around 30-40% of their leaves shaded out from neighboring plants, would that cause a lower photosynthetic production?

FielLark:

Ah, that's a fantastic question that gets right to the heart of how plants capture energy! You've hit on a crucial point about plant efficiency in the field.

Yes, when a plant has 30-40% of its leaves shaded out by neighboring plants, it absolutely leads to lower photosynthetic production. Think of it like a solar panel: if a significant portion of it is in shadow, it simply can't generate as much electricity, even if the sun is shining brightly on the rest of the panel.

Here's why this happens and what it means for plant performance:

1. Light Interception is Key: Photosynthesis is the process by which plants convert light energy into chemical energy (sugars). For this to happen efficiently, leaves need direct access to sunlight. When leaves are shaded, they aren't receiving the necessary light intensity to photosynthesize at their full potential. Imagine holding your hands six inches apart in the sunshine; your bottom hand is completely blacked out by the top one. The same effect occurs with plant leaves – the upper canopy shades the lower leaves.

2. Underutilized Potential: Our crops often photosynthesize at only a fraction of their inherent capacity, sometimes as little as 15-25%. This is largely due to limiting factors, and insufficient light interception for all leaves is a major one. Even though the shaded leaves are capable of photosynthesis, they are starved of the light they need.

3. The Role of Diffuse Light and Morphology:

   • Diffuse Light: While direct sunlight is powerful, diffuse light (light that has been scattered, like on a cloudy day or within a high tunnel) can actually reach more leaf surfaces, including those lower down in the canopy. This is why plants often thrive in high tunnels, where light is well-diffused. In the field, strategies like intercropping (planting different crops together) can help diffuse light and allow lower leaves to capture more energy. For example, planting lettuce near corn can provide some beneficial light diffusion for the lettuce.
   • Plant Morphology and Spacing: The physical architecture of a plant (its morphology) and how plants are spaced in the field significantly impact light interception. By optimizing plant architecture—for instance, breeding corn varieties that can produce multiple ears on fewer plants, or designing crops with tillers that spread horizontally before growing vertically—we can increase light interception per plant. This allows for lower plant populations, reducing crowding and shading, and ultimately increasing the efficiency of the entire crop. It's about getting more sunlight to more leaf surface area.

4. Impact on Plant Health: When plants are not photosynthesizing efficiently due to shading or other limitations, they are compromised. This leads to lower Brix levels (a measure of sugar content in plant sap), indicating that the plant is in a "starvation mode." A plant operating at low photosynthetic efficiency will allocate a much smaller percentage of its sugars to the grain or fruit, prioritizing its own survival. Conversely, a plant with high photosynthetic efficiency (e.g., 30% or more) will produce a surplus of energy, leading to significantly more biomass both above and below ground, and improved overall health and resilience.

In essence, maximizing light interception across the entire plant canopy is a fundamental step in unlocking a plant's full photosynthetic potential, leading to healthier, more productive crops.

Follow up:

What are some practical field strategies, beyond intercropping, to improve light diffusion and reduce shading in a crop?

Fieldlark:

That's a brilliant follow-up! While intercropping is a fantastic tool for light diffusion and overall ecosystem health, there are indeed many other practical strategies we can employ in the field to ensure our crops are basking in just the right amount of sunshine and minimizing unproductive shading. It's all about optimizing that precious light resource!

Here are some key strategies, rooted in regenerative principles:

1. Optimized Plant Spacing and Population

This is perhaps the most direct way to manage light interception.

• The Principle: Every plant needs its personal space to capture sunlight efficiently. Too many plants in a given area, and they start shading each other, leading to competition for light, water, and nutrients. Too few, and you're leaving yield potential on the table and giving weeds an open invitation.
• Practical Application:
  • Adjust Row Spacing: For some crops, narrower rows can lead to quicker canopy closure, which is excellent for shading out weeds between rows. However, for other crops, slightly wider row spacing might allow more light to penetrate deeper into the canopy, benefiting lower leaves and promoting better air circulation, which can reduce disease pressure. The optimal spacing depends on the crop, its growth habit, and your specific goals.
  • Manage Plant Population: As your soil health improves and its capacity to hold water and nutrients increases, you can often support a higher plant population without increasing self-shading stress. This is because healthier plants are more vigorous and efficient. Conversely, if soil health is still building, a slightly lower population might be more appropriate to ensure each plant gets ample light and resources.
• Expected Outcomes: Improved individual plant vigor, reduced intra-crop competition for light, better weed suppression (with narrower rows), and potentially higher yields due to more efficient photosynthesis across the field.

2. Strategic Variety Selection (Plant Morphology)

Not all plants are built the same, and their architecture plays a huge role in light capture.

• The Principle: The way a plant's leaves are oriented and its overall structure (morphology) dictates how effectively it captures light and how much light penetrates to lower leaves or neighboring plants.
• Practical Application:
  • Choose Erectophile Varieties: Some crop varieties have more upright leaves (erectophile) compared to those with more horizontal leaves (planophile). Erectophile leaves allow more light to filter down through the canopy, ensuring that lower leaves receive adequate light for photosynthesis. This can be particularly beneficial in dense plantings or for crops where light penetration is critical for fruit development.
  • Consider Plant Architecture: Select varieties that naturally have a more open canopy structure or those that can be managed (e.g., through minimal pruning in high-value crops) to allow better light penetration and air flow.
• Expected Outcomes: More uniform light distribution throughout the plant canopy, reduced shading of lower leaves, improved air circulation (reducing disease risk), and potentially higher overall photosynthetic efficiency.

3. Enhancing Soil Health for Vigorous Growth

A healthy plant is a competitive plant, and it all starts in the soil.

• The Principle: A loose, crumbly, well-drained soil with high organic matter and a thriving microbiome provides the ideal environment for robust root growth. Vigorous roots lead to vigorous shoots, allowing plants to grow taller, faster, and develop a fuller, healthier canopy that can effectively capture light and outcompete weeds.
• Practical Application:
  • Eliminate Compaction: Address hardpans and compaction layers through practices like subsoiling (being mindful to avoid secondary tillage that negates benefits), zone tillage, or encouraging earthworms and deep-rooted cover crops. This allows roots to grow deeper and faster, supporting a larger, more efficient above-ground structure.
  • Increase Organic Matter: Continuously build soil organic matter through recycling crop residues, applying compost and animal manures, and growing green manures. High organic matter improves soil structure, water infiltration, and nutrient availability, all of which fuel vigorous plant growth.
  • Foster Soil Life: Promote a diverse and active soil microbiome. Microbes and earthworms are crucial for creating stable soil aggregates and macropores, which improve aeration and drainage—conditions essential for healthy root and shoot development.
• Expected Outcomes: Stronger, healthier plants with greater photosynthetic capacity, enhanced resilience to stress, and a natural ability to outcompete less vigorous plants (like weeds) for light.

4. Strategic Weed Management

Weeds are the ultimate light competitors. Managing them effectively directly reduces unwanted shading.

• The Principle: Weeds compete directly with your cash crop for light, water, and nutrients. By suppressing weeds, you ensure that the available light is primarily captured by your desired crop.
• Practical Application:
  • Smother Crops and Cover Crops: Utilize dense cover crops or "smother crops" (like buckwheat or rye) to outcompete and shade out weeds before planting your cash crop. Keeping the soil covered year-round is a cornerstone of biological farming for weed control.
  • Mulching: Applying organic mulches (straw, wood chips, compost) to the soil surface directly shades out weed seeds, preventing germination and growth. Mulch also conserves moisture and feeds soil life.
  • Targeted Cultivation: While minimizing tillage is key, strategic, shallow cultivation (like using a rotary hoe or disk hillers) can break soil crusts, aerate the soil, and control small in-row weeds without excessive soil disturbance. This can stimulate crop growth and create a "dust mulch" that inhibits weed germination.
  • Banding Fertilizer: Applying fertilizer directly in the crop row, rather than broadcasting, ensures that your crop gets the nutrients it needs to grow vigorously, while starving weeds in the inter-row space.
• Expected Outcomes: Reduced competition for light, water, and nutrients, leading to a healthier, more productive cash crop and a significant reduction in weed pressure.

By integrating these strategies, you're not just managing light; you're building a more resilient, productive, and biologically active agroecosystem.

Pricing:

• The kicker: to gain access to the LLM Data set this is what it's going to run you.

• Free Account gets you a limited number of Questions (currently unclear if its lifetime or if it resets monthly)

• Basic Tier gets you 50 Questions per Month, while the new addition to a "Pro Tier" provides "Unlimited Questions"... Until further tiers are added.

• 20% off prices if you pay in full for a year of access.

• Noticeably within 5 Days there was an added subscription Tier to access the Dataset.

July 21, 2025

July 26, 2025

I have no partnership with AEA, I'm offering a glimpse into the Data that is provided while using FieldLark and hopefully will help people decide whether they are interested in the service.