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Practical Use of Precision Agriculture. Roger Teal. What Is Precision Agriculture?. Lowering the resolution size in order to be more precise with soil and nutrient management to improve efficiency of plant use to reduce cost of production and environmental degradation.
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Practical Use of Precision Agriculture Roger Teal
What Is Precision Agriculture? • Lowering the resolution size in order to be more precise with soil and nutrient management to improve efficiency of plant use to reduce cost of production and environmental degradation.
Why are we so concerned about Precision Agriculture now? • Precision Agriculture has always been around
So Why Are We Concerned Now? • Profit margin has decreased steadily with current production methods. • Environmental degradation has risen notably.
Practical Usage from a Crop Consultant Prospective • Must be immediately beneficial to the farmer. • Most farmers can not afford to wait for the long term benefits. • Must be easy to use and not time restraining. • Must have minimum risk involved in use for safety and finance.
Current Precision Methods Being Practiced • Variable Rate Nutrient Application • Soil sampling • Sensor-based • Yield Mapping
Soil Sampling • Grid soil sampling • Topography soil sampling • Veris soil measuring
Sensor-based • Satellite imagery • Aerial imagery • Land-based imagery
Yield Mapping • Yield Monitor
My Suggestions about the current tools of Precision Agriculture • Use Grid soil Sampling on per acre basis, taking soil samples every 5 years. • Cost about $20/acre • Cost anywhere from 10 to 15/acre for variable rate application, or about $5/acre over uniform application. • Use random soil samples on per field basis every third year after the grid soil sample to monitor soil nitrogen levels.
My Suggestions about the current tools of Precision Agriculture • Use NDVI measurements from airplane sensors less than 10,000 feet if possible, since land-based sensors are not yet in use. • Using the current yield predicting model (OSU) • (NDVI)/days from planting to sensing where GDD above 0 • Use yield monitors with GPS to look for trends in the field for low producing versus high producing areas.
Remember that you want to reduce the risk involved in using precision agriculture, that way you are putting more grain in the cart from more efficient nutrient application.
References • Precision Agriculture Center Online. 1996. University of Minnesota. http://precision.agri.umn.edu • Swinton, S.M. and J. Lowenberg-DeBoer. 1998. Evaluating the Profitability of Site-Specific Farming. J. Prod. Agric. 11:439-446.
References • Joan R. Davenport. Assistant Professor of Soil Science. Washington State University. jdavenp@tricity.wsu.edu • Harold Reetz. Potash & Phosphate Institute. http://www.ppi-far.org/ • Farmer Brown’s Plow Shop. Yesterday’s Technology for Today’s Times. http://www.farmerbrownsplowshop.bigstep.com/