Crossing That Narrow Country Bridge Into the 21st Century

1. Crossing That Narrow Country Bridge Into the 21st Century R.L. (Bob) NielsenAgronomy Dept.,Purdue UniversityWest Lafayette, IN 47907-1150ph. (765) 494-4802Internet:rnielsen@purdue.edu

2. What’s on the other side of that bridge? • Cyberspace & ag. information • GPS, GIS, SSF, PF, & BS • Designer genes • Corn may not be just corn anymore R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

3. Cyberspace & Ag. Information

4. Cyberspace Includes... • Primarily the Internet • World Wide Web, Gophers, Email, News Groups, List Servers • CD-ROM Programs • Purdue’s Corn Growth & Development CD • Satellite delivery • Good for remote areas R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

5. Advantages of Cyberspace... • Open 24 hours per day • Good for users • Good for developers • Content can be revised easily • Encourages timely updates • What I see in the field today can be on the Web tonight, including digital images • Timely information is appealing to users R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

6. Advantages of Cyberspace... • Not limited to own information • Links to other folks’ Web sites greatly broadens scope of information available to clientele from single site • Encourages collaboration among individuals within and among institutions • Discourages duplication of efforts in neighboring institutions R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

7. Advantages of Cyberspace... • Opportunity for use of multimedia • High resolution, color images easily incorporated into Web documents • Sound, video, and animation somewhat limited today by… • Skills of developer in many situations • Low speed modem connections of users’ computers • Browser limitations (esp. ‘old’ versions) R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

8. Advantages of Cyberspace... • Multimedia enhances ability to tell a more complete story • Diagnostic images of diseases or insects • Planter calibration videos • Crop growth & development images and video • Expert’s voice leading you through a tutorial on interpreting site-specific data R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

9. Advantages of Cyberspace... • Email offers opportunity to easily… • Communicate one-on-one between user & “expert” • Share timely information to specific lists of Email users • County Extension Educators • Farmers • Industry contacts R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

10. Disadvantages of Cyberspace... • Clientele’s capabilities • Local Internet Service Provider availability • Speed of modem connections • Quality of local phone lines • “Power” of computer itself • Not as instantaneous as DTN and other satellite delivery systems • Time to dialup & connect can be nuisance R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

11. Disadvantages of Cyberspace... • Separating junk from fact on the Web is not always easy for layperson • Some advocate need for peer reviews similar to refereed journals • ‘Snake oil’ products & questionable advice are already on the Web • My responsibility as an Extension Specialist includes sorting out the junk from the valuable in reviewing Web sites for my clientele R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

12. “The Best Corn Site on the Web!” www.agry.purdue.edu/agronomy/ext/corn R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

13. GPS, GIS, SSF, PF, & BS • GPS: Global Positioning Systems • GIS: Geographic Information Systems • SSF: Site-Specific Farming • PF: Precision Farming • BS: _________ R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

14. Precision Farming: Excitement! • Color maps are fun to look at! • Yield monitors are fun to look at! • Hi-tech wizardry is fun to buy and vendors love to sell it to you! • Landlords are impressed! • Finally, maybe we can finally identify and correct those problem areas in our fields once and for all! R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

15. Precision Farming: Tools • The tools to manage cropland on a site-specific basis are here or are being developed rapidly • Yield monitors • Grid soil sampling • Variable rate applicators & seeders • Portable GPS data recorders • Software to ‘massage’ the data R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

16. Precision Farming: Reality • Crop yields are influenced by vast array of yield limiting factors (YLF) • Some influence yield directly • Some interact with others to influence yield • Some occur every year, others do not • Some influence different crops differently • Weather interacts with most of them R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

17. Which YLF Are Most Important? Last year? This field? Next year? That field?

18. ‘Perennial’ Yield Limiting Factors • The causes of some yield limiting factors occur every year • Soil fertility or pH patterns • Soil drainage patterns • Patterns of perennial weed growth • These can be identified or attacked with site-specific technology R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

19. ‘Sporadic’ Yield Limiting Factors • Other yield limiting factors occur sporadically over the years... • Diseases & insects, even fertility problems are greatly dependent on weather • Site-specific technology can help identify these problems when they occur, but not necessarily prevent their reoccurrence R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

20. Identifying YLFs Is Difficult • Requires season-long monitoring • For precision farming, will require monitoring on site-specific basis • Requires good note-taking skills • You think you’ve got reams of data from the yield monitor now? Wait until you receive the data from season-long site-specific crop monitoring! R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

21. Identifying YLFs Is Difficult • Requires good agronomic skills • Esp. crop diagnostic skills • Ability to integrate layers of agronomic information and relate to yield • Beware the hazards of correlations! • “That patch of foxtail sure cut yields.” • “My best yields were in an area with twice the recommended soil K levels.” R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

22. An Example of theHazards of Correlations • Every single person who ate asparagus prior to 1865 is now dead, therefore….. • Eating asparagus can be hazardous to your health! R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

23. “That patch of foxtail sure cut yields.” Maybe that area of the field was also a low spot that ponded last spring, killed off some of the soybean stand, and the foxtail took advantage of the extra sunlight. So, stand loss rather than foxtail could have been the real culprit. R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

24. “My best yields were in an area with twice the recommended soil K levels.” Occurred during 1995 drought. Best yielding area was also low, poorly drained area of field So, maybe the yield response was more due to soil moisture availability differences than to soil potassium levels? R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

25. My Advice? • Hire a good agronomist to be your Sherlock Holmes! • You’ll need the season-long expertise to help with the Precision Farming puzzle R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

26. Precision Farming: Challenge • It may be that we’ll only be able to fine-tune our crop production to a limited extent with site-specific technology • Identify and correct obvious yield limiting factors such as soil fertility, pH, drainage • Identify and attack certain yield limiting factors ‘on the go’ during the season • e.g., developing pest or disease problems R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

27. Precision Farming: Challenge • But, we may be limited when trying to site-specifically manage those yield limiting factors that interact heavily with seasonal weather patterns • At least, until we can better predict next year’s weather! R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

28. Designer Genes:The Promise of “Biotech”

29. The Promise of “Biotech” • Biotechnology allows seed companies... • To speed up hybrid development by decreasing the number of generations required to incorporate improved traits, • To incorporate traits from other species that have hitherto been unavailable to plant breeders, and • To charge more for seed! R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

30. Current crops Bt corn (ECB) Bt cotton Liberty tolerant corn Poast tolerant corn Roundup tolerant soybean & corn STS tolerant soybean On the horizon Bt corn (CRW) Way down the road Drought resistance Nitrogen fixation Disease resistance Antibiotics/vaccines Yield itself ‘Biotech’ Products R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

31. ‘Biotech’ Is Just A Tool • Hybrid improvement also requires genetic and physiological research in order to identify desirable traits and the gene(s) that code for their expression • ‘Biotech’ products to date are primarily single gene traits • Multiple gene traits are more difficult to work with, yet account for many important crop traits R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

32. Evaluating “Biotech” Varieties • Evaluate ‘biotech’ varieties like you would any other ‘normal’ variety… • Yield potential compared to other elites • Consider ‘yield drag’ or ‘yield lag’ effects • Characteristics desirable for your farm • Frequency of payback for improved trait • e.g., How many years in ten do European corn borers cause economic yield loss in your farming operation? R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

33. Corn May Not Be Just Corn On The Other Side of That Bridge!

34. Some Folks Say... • Within a few years, there won’t be such a thing as no. 2 yellow dent corn anymore! R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

35. Some Folks Say... • No. 2 yellow dent corn no more! • Corn with value-added characteristics will be grown for specific niche markets that differ greatly from the traditional 4-legged ones of the past. R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

36. Some Folks Say... • No. 2 yellow dent corn no more! • Specific niche markets for corn. • Farmers will profit greatly from the production of value-added identity-preserved (I-P) crops. R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

37. What Are I-P Crops? • Any crop marketed for... • Specific end uses based on a particular variety or set of genetic traits, and for • Which a premium is paid above the price for the crop as a raw commodity. • I-P crops are not new... R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

38. Seed corn, soybean, wheat, oats, etc. Popcorn Sweetcorn Waxy starch corn High lysine corn White corn High amylose starch corn High oil corn High protein soybean for tofu Low-saturated-fat soybean I-P Crops Are Not New! R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

39. Characteristics of I-P Crop Production • Specific crop varieties often required. • Bred for specific genetic traits. • Ah.....the potential for biotechnology! • Sex with adjacent fields often prohibited. • Cross-pollination often ‘contaminates’ grain with undesirable genes that ‘dilute’ the desired trait. R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

40. Characteristics of I-P Crop Production • Specific crop varieties sometimes required. • Specific inputs (or lack thereof) are sometimes required. • For example, organic production practices for food grade grain may be required. R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

41. Characteristics of I-P Crop Production • Specific crop varieties sometimes required. • Specific inputs (or lack thereof) are sometimes required. • Seed must be harvested and stored separately from that of other fields. • To avoid ‘contamination’ with other varieties. • All the way from field to market. R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

42. Characteristics of I-P Crop Production • Specific crop varieties sometimes required. • Specific inputs (or lack thereof) are sometimes required. • Seed must be harvested and stored separately from that of other fields. • Grower contracts usually advisable. • Protects from the uncertainty of spot markets. R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

43. Advantages of I-P Crops... • Allow growers to benefit economically from added value of crops. • Through market premiums for the grain. • Through guaranteed markets for the grain. • Possibly by participating in ownership of I-P ventures? R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

44. Advantages of I-P Crops... • Allow growers to benefit economically from added value of crops. • Allow seed researchers to recapture costs of new genetic technology. • Through higher seed prices. • Through partnerships with other industries. R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

45. Advantages of I-P Crops... • Allow growers to benefit economically from added value of crops. • Allow seed researchers to recapture costs of new genetic technology. • Allow end-users to create even greater value-added outputs more efficiently. • Grain with high levels of desired constituents. • Grain with improved milling characteristics. R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

46. Disadvantages of I-P Crops... • Genetic ‘baggage’ sometimes restricts yield or other agronomic characteristics. • Yield “drag” • Sometimes, “bad” genes come along for the ride with the targeted genes. • Yield “lag” • Sometimes new traits are not yet incorporated into elite hybrids. R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

47. Disadvantages of I-P Crops... • Genetic “baggage” • Value-added characteristics sometimes influenced by ‘Mother Nature’ or production practices. • Protein content • Oil content R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

48. Disadvantages of I-P Crops... • Genetic “baggage” • Influence of “Mother Nature” • Niche markets can fill or expire quickly. • How many acres of ‘baby corn’ does it take to saturate the salad bar market? • Some I-P ventures will fluctuate greatly from year to year. • Some I-P ventures will fail. R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

49. Disadvantages of I-P Crops... • Genetic “baggage” • Influence of “Mother Nature” • Niche markets can fill quickly. • Harvest & handling requires extra TLC • Quality of product more important R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy

50. Disadvantages of I-P Crops... • Genetic “baggage” • Influence of “Mother Nature” • Niche markets can fill quickly. • Harvest & handling requires extra TLC • Local infrastructure (elevators) often not adequate for large-scale I-P crop production. • Isolation to maintain identity and purity will likely be on-farm. R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Purdue Agronomy