PRECISIONFARMING:ADOPTION,

PROFITABILITY,ANDMAKINGBETTER
USEOFDATA

T.W.Griffin,J.LowenbergDeBoer,D.M.Lambert,andJ.Peone
SiteSpecificManagementCenterPurdueUniversity
T.PayneandS.G.Daberkow
USDAERS

3partpresentation
1)AdoptiontrendsintheUSandWorldwide
2)ReviewofPAprofitabilityliterature
3)Makingbetteruseofyieldmonitordata

AdoptionTrends
Worldwidenetworkofcollaborators
USDAARMSstudy
PAServicesDealershipSurvey
WhipkerandAkridge,2004

CombineYieldMonitors

YieldMonitorGrainFlowSensor

YieldMap
Loweryields
Higheryields

ActualAdoptionRatesofU.S.YieldMonitors
Approximately30,000in2000
45,000in2003

Source:before1995Mangold
After1995USDAARMS

ActualAdoptionRatesofU.S.YieldMapping
YieldMonitorplusaGPS

Source:USDAARMS

EuropeanYieldMonitorUse
Total Permillionacres

Germany 4250
UnitedKingdom
Denmark 400
Sweden 150
France
50
Holland 6
Belgium 6
Spain
5
Portugal 4

212
400
100
48
2
11
7
0
3

2003
43
2000
2000
2000
2000
2000
2003
2003

2000

Year

LatinAmericanYieldMonitorUse

Argentina
Brazil
Chile
Uruguay

Total

1000
100
12
4

Permillionacres

17
1
8
3

Year

2003
2002
2000
2000

Yieldmonitorsbycountry
permillionacres

SoilMappingAdoption

Source:USDAARMS

RemoteSensingAdoption
Redefined
question
in2002

Source:USDAARMS

AdoptionofVRTFertilizer

Source:USDAARMS

AdoptionofVRTinCorn

Source:USDAARMS

AdoptionofVRTinSoybean

Source:USDAARMS

AdoptionofVRTinCotton

Source:USDAARMS

VRTOfferedbyAgRetailers
67%ofserviceprovidersofferVRT
40%offersinglenutrientVRT
Stilllessthan50%by2006

23%offermultinutrientVRTin2004
28%ofprovidersexpecttoofferby2006

<10%offerVRTseeding

Source:WhipkerandAkridge,2004

ServiceProvidersOfferingVRT
fertilizer,lime,andpesticides

Source:WhipkerandAkridge

VRTFertilizerbyRegion

Source:WhipkerandAkridge,2004

GPSLightbars

PurdueDavisFarm

GPSLightbarGuidance
usedbyServiceProviders
61%offer
applicationswith
GPSguidance
72%inMidwest
39%inotherstates

Source:WhipkerandAkridge,2004

GPSAutoGuidance
5.3%ofdealersuseGPSautoguidance
4.2%inMidwestand7.4%inotherstates
Regionaldifference?

Source:WhipkerandAkridge,2004

OnthegoSensors
SoilDrbeenaroundthelongest
Greenseeker
NorskHydroNsensor
~320totalunits
~300inEurope

SensorsforMapping
SoilpHsensoravailable
VerisMobileSensorPlatform>5sold
Ksensorbeingdeveloped
7.8%ofdealersoffersoilECmapping*

*Source:WhipkerandAkridge,2004

FundamentalConstraintsofAdoption
Lackofresearchsupport
Humancapitalcosts
Lackofeducationandtraining

FundamentalConstraintsofAdoption
Lackofsupportandconsulting
Highopportunitycostofmanagementtime
Informationintensive/embodiedknowledge

Informationintensivevs.
Embodiedknowledge
Informationintensive

Embodiedknowledge

Fieldleveldatato
makedecisions

Informationpurchased
intheformofaninput

Requiresadditional
dataandskill

Requiresminimal
additionaldata/skill

VRTandprecision
agriculture

Hybridcorn

IPM

RoundupReadyorBt

FundamentalIncentivesofAdoption
Technologycostsaredeclining
Incorporationoftechnologyinsociety
GPSincarsandboats

Increasedcomfortlevelwithtechnology
USDAFSAandNRCSusingGISwithfarmers

FundamentalIncentivesofAdoption
AutomatingRecordKeeping
Identitytrackingofcommodities
Pesticiderecordkeeping
Environmentalregulationsmonitorinputuse
Mayleadintocostsharingforadoption

FundamentalIncentivesofAdoption
Autoguidancesystems
Increasefarmsizewithsameequipmentset
Reduceoverlap,expandworkday,increasespeed

Matchequipmentoperations(6,8,12row)
Controlledtrafficking
Striptill

EconomiesofScaleinDataAnalysis
Skilltoanalyze2000acworksfor20,000ac
PotentialforPAconsultingoutsourcing
Complementarygoodsandservices

Part2:PAProfitabilityReview
StandaloneVRTfertilizeroftendoesnot
covercosts
SwintonandLowenbergDeBoer(1998)

In2000,63%ofstudiesshowedprofits,but
budgetmethodsnotstandardized
LambertandLowenbergDeBoer(2000)

Economicsofprecisionagriculturearesitespecific

ProfitabilityStudiestoDate
Reviewed234articles
210reportedsomekindofbenefitorloss
Ofthose,68%reportedpositivebenefits
52%ofstudiesinvolvedaneconomist

ArticlesbyTechnology

ArticlesbyCrop

Part3:BetterUseofData
Manyfarmerscollectingdata
10+yearsandseveralmegabytes

Questionremains:whattodowiththedata?
Noonehasalltheanswers
Isdatavaluableenoughtojustifyprocessing?

BetterUseofData
Betterfarmlevelexperimentaldesigns
Spatialstatisticalmethods
Morereliablelocalinformation

BetterExperimentalDesigns
Smallplotdesignsdeveloped70yearsago
Blockingandreplicationsneutralizevariability

Precisionagriculturemeasuresvariability
Spatialstatisticscanmodelvariability

BetterExperimentalDesigns
Opportunityforfewerreplicationlargeblocks
Typesofcomparisonsfarmertendtoconduct
Experimentaldesignsbeingtestedin4states
Farmerfeedbackcrucialtoevaluation

64acrefield
Satelliteimage
takeninJuly
Redoutlineis
fieldboundary

Planned
comparison
design
3varieties
Singleblock
nonreplicated
Note:soiltypes
areoutlinedin
blue
Eachvarietyis
representedon
eachmajorsoil
type/zone

Oncedesignsare
decideduponin
offseason,
implementation
issimpleat
plantingtime
Treatmentscan
bechangedat
normalplanter
refillingtimes
Soybeanharvest
canbeconducted
atanyangleto
planterpass

YieldMonitorDataAnalysis
Yieldmonitordataanalysisservicepilotproject
37thAnnualTopFarmerCropWorkshop
July1821,2004

Morereliableresultsgained

http://www.agecon.purdue.edu/topfarmer

Summary
Adoptionhasbeenslowanduneven
Economicswelldocumentedmanystudies
Informationintensivevs.embodiedknowledgeag
Needforanalysisservicestoovercomeconstraints

RoleofExtensionFarmManagement
Thirdpartyevaluationdesperatelyneeded
Firmunderstandingofprecisiontechnologies

Helpfarmersdevelopownrecommendations
insteadofsupplyinganswer
Onfarmcomparisons

RoleofExtensionFarmManagement
Assistfarmersandagbusinessesin
understandingeconomicsofinformation
Barrierstoadoptionareanopportunityfor
extensiontobemorerelevant

TerryGriffin
twgriffi@purdue.edu
765.494.4257
SiteSpecificManagementCenter
PurdueUniversity
http://www.purdue.edu/ssmc