Intro
What is Precision Ag?: The combination of Agronomy and Technology
Smaller regions such as Europe and Australia depend more on precision farming because of less farmland and labor supply so they have other learn to be way more efficient
Hard to show economic value
Hard to see benefits from inputs because
how much can I make per square foot = yield
how much do I need to maximize total production? Need to change what you think regarding what t. Takes to be successful
Site Specific Crop Management
smaller fields allowed for more specific management if crop
farmers “knew” the land and the plants
precision farming is the use of technology for site specific management
back when we knew the land better it allowed for more specific management techniques, could develop it based off of what the land needed
getting into the 80s sizes of farms and rates of consolidation increased
instead of relying on the farmer to know the land, rely on computers….
the accumulation of so much data makes it hard to know how to manage the land in a site specific way
USDA definition of a farm is based on total sales: need to reach $1,000 or more a year
average size in the US is 444 acres (relatively small….)
40% of all farms in the use have $500,000 or more in sales
this group are the ones who are using precision agriculture
data in precision is slightly skewed
What is precision farming?
the proper and effecient management of a specific unit of area or space
all inclusive system that’s going to allow for us to monitor and detect where when and how much we apply to every square inch at every point in time
technology we’re talking about wasn’t designed for us in CA
goal is to produce more efficiently with less inputs
it is truly about proper and specific management of a specific unit of area
which we’ll define the specific unit of area later
if we can define those units we can treat them differently in a way that is needs to be successful
How long has precision farming been practiced? can argue for as long as farming has been existing
depends on the management unit you are discussing/how you define it
technically since agriculture began
Concept of precision farming?
use of technology to delineate space and time
trying to create an image of difference across an area/time
each area of space have specific requirements and the goal of precision farming is to be able to tell you the difference between the spaces
getting into your tractor and telling it to identify a certain place and it will take you there
Overlaying of data to create a “Complete Picture”
harvest all the plants and account how much it produced and overlay it and ask yourself the question of can you improve that spot and if you can how?
sometimes you will never improve that spot, dont farm there
concept is to produce more with less
Tailoring of management practices within a field
”farming by the foot”
can come up with a prescription for how much you need to each area
so you only use the fertilizer that you need
Tools of the Trade
precision farming is an integrated agricultural management system incorporating several technologies (tools)
Global Positioning System (GPS) : system developed in US
live in the 90s
found in almost everything now
Geographical information systems (GIS):
kind of like a catchall, talk about it all the time but not specifically
extremely powerful if you know how to ask the right question
allows for us to collect the information so we can compare it and observe the differences to know how to manage areas differently
most of us dont have the ability to take in all the data and come up with solutions = decision support
collect info on specific attributes based on wherever you are in the world
accumulates all the info/data collected from yield monitoring and remote sensing
yield monitoring
system to collect attributes
how one specific area performs
remote sensing
system to collect attributes
The ability to scan and read differences in growth from a distance
no different than standing next to your field and looking at it
allows us to identify differences we can’t see
can do it from far distances (satellites so a great job)
variable rate technology
what we load out management strategy into
allows us to apply needed corrective measures per unit area
none of the rest of the tools matter if you can’t do this
Precision allows growers to manage variability
What is variability? = variation in crop, soil, and environmental characteristics over space and time
spatial variability
distance and depth
how things change over distance and depth like how soils can change
Temporal variability
time
measure of how in this specific area how year to year changes causes differences
like weather, pest pressures,
Both of them together can create big differences
like having clayey soils and when it rains a lot it becomes water logged and plants die
some areas of sandy soils and do great when its rainy but not when its dry
one can exacerbate the other
The vision of a precision farm
Fully integrated system where all decisions are data driven
ie coming up with your fertility scheme
Barriers to this vision
technology is expensive
most popular/heavily used is auto steering because it requires no decision support (dont need to compile data to come up with a solution, you’re just driving straight)
simplest way to add more plants per unit area
can work longer
larger farms have more use for technology and can afford it
smaller farms began purchasing them because the realized they could make more money by using it
Utilization of the technology
University of Nebraska – Lincoln Survey Results of 126 Responses across major production zone in NE with Average farm size 1,507 acres
most are yield maps
almost all farmers had them and drew pretty pictures but they dont/didnt use the data to make data driven changes to yield production
How important is precision farming now that you have the technology? How Goldman Sachs sees it:
Market Potential of Precision Agriculture
Goldman Sachs said precision ag is where you should put your money
Talked to companies, growers, academics
How will Agriculture keep pace with population?
Precision ag is where you should put your money
Promise of Precision Farming
Economics
Should save us money
we’re not going to apply more than what we need
only going to invest in the things that need to happen so we’re not wasting resources
fuel and time
Brings back a huge amount of economic return
Efficiency
optimization
allows for us to match our application, seeding, irrigation rates etc to the soil. Utilizes the inputs we need in a more efficient manner
Production
able to ID where you can and can’t improve production and where you can apply your inputs to get the most benefit
Environment
not applying things in excess and not being wasteful of limited resources
Pitfalls
Too big and complicated
too expensive
what does that mean? - added cost
cost of data collection
inability to evaluate the benefit
dont often see huge improvements
Things to remember moving forward
Precision farming will not make you a better farmer
precision versus accuracy
Precision is measuring the differences where accuracy is the delivery of the application of those differences
don’t tend to spend enough money in the accuracy of our application
resolution
smallest management zone you want to deal with whether it be 1 ft one yard 1 acre etc
higher the res the higher the cost
pick the one that’s profitable for you
yield maps
only be developed for some crops
the creation of one is possible in every crop though
traceability
issue, not as big in CA,
it all goes to John Deere and then who really owns your data
The diversified grower
Development of technology was for whom?
just because its there..
start small