SUSTAINABLE FARMING:

PRECISION AGRICULTURE

What is Precision Agriculture?

The practice of managing specific field areas based on

variability within the field. (SSToolbox)
Managing each crop production input - fertilizer, limestone,
herbicide, insecticide, seed, etc. - On a site-specific basis to
reduce waste, increase profits, and maintain the quality of
the environment.
(John Deere)

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.


An integrated agricultural management
system incorporating several technologies.
The technological tools often include the
global positioning system, geographical
information system, yield monitor, variable
rate technology, and remote sensing.
(http://www.amesremote.com/section4.htm)

Why precision
agriculture?

Growers are facing increased input costs

nitrogen, fuel

Labor is becoming harder to find

Allows farms to reduce labor needs

Environmentally friendly
Putting inputs precisely where they are needed
Environment degradation has risen notably

Generate farm specific data to increase profits

Profit margin has decreased steadily with current
production method

It is about management:
Farming by the squarefoot

Traditional Mgt.

Precision Mgt.

40-160+ Acres

1/10-1/100 Acre

Building Blocks of Precision

Agriculture

A smorgasbord of technologies.
Yield
Monitors

Direct &
Remote
Sensing

Precision
Navigation

Variable
Rate
Technology

Global Positioning Systems

Geographic Information Systems

Farming

Manageme
nt Decision

Data
Collection

Analysis

Data Collection

Boundary Mapping
Remote Sensing
Weather Data
Soil Sampling
Crop Condition
Yield Monitoring
Irrigation Testing
Pest Scouting
Soil Moisture

Analysis

Determining Variability
Determining Possible Causes of Variability
How much do measured soil and crop
characteristics vary?
How much do the variations affect crop yield
and/or crop quality?

Management Decisions

Is it possible to change/mitigate the

variability?
Will the change increase yield, increase
quality, decrease inputs?
Is the change profitable?
How are you going to implement this
change?

Farming

Applying the Decisions

Variable
Variable
Variable
Variable

Rate
Rate
Rate
Rate

Irrigation
Pesticide Application
Fertilizer Application
Seeding/Planting

Precision Agriculture

Now that we know the cycle of precision

agriculture; What are its building blocks?
Global Positioning System (GPS)
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Applications: Yield Monitors, Direct and Remote
Sensing, Precision Navigation, Variable Rate
Technology

Precision Agriculture - Lesson 1

Global Positioning System (GPS)

Military Satellites
GPS Receivers
Locating your
position on Earth
Prices range from
$100 to $40,000

Precision Agriculture - Lesson 1

Geographic Information Systems

(GIS)

Tying information to
its location on the
Earth
Management Zones
Fertilizer/Pesticide
Prescriptions

Maps and Data

Layers
History
Analysis by Location

Precision Agriculture - Lesson 1

Applications

Precision Navigation
Yield Monitors
Direct Sensing
Veris
EM38

Remote Sensing
Aerial Imaging
Satellite Imaging

Variable Rate
Technology/Applicatio
n:

Fertilizer, plant growth

regulators, defoliant

Precision Agriculture - Lesson 1

Yield Monitoring

Sensors on combine or cotton picker

determine yield, typically at 1 second intervals
Controller connects GPS data to sensor data
allowing for creation of yield map
Typically use 1m accuracy GPS
Cotton pickers use light emitters (Ag Leader)
or microwave technology (John Deere)
Yield monitors are report cards for farmers

Yield Maps

Ultimate goal is a profit map!

Yield Map

Lower yields
Higher yields

Variable Rate
Application

Technology exists to variable rate apply most

crop inputs:
Fertilizer, seed, insecticide, plant growth
regulators, defoliant

Fertilizer is probably most frequently applied

on a variable rate basis

Variable Rate
Application

Seeding Prescription Map

Higher seeding rates under pivot.

Nitrogen Prescription Map

Based on multiple years of yield data

Sensor Technology

Greenseeker is a commercially available

product that measures NDVI (Normalized
Difference Vegetative Index), which basically
indicates how green the crop is
Why is this important?
Indicator of plant health and growth

What can we use this for?

Nitrogen application was original purpose

Sensor Technology

Remote Sensing

Commercial providers of aerial based NDVI

and thermal imagery
In Alabama, primarily for cotton management
Plant growth regulators and defoliant

Remote Sensing

Scouting image
product from
commercial
vendor

Thermal image
product from
commercial
vendor

Articles

http://www.environmentalleader.com/2015/03/
11/precision-agriculture-software-improvesnitrogen-efficiency-reduces-pollution/

Reference

http://www.environmentalleader.com/2015/03/
11/precision-agriculture-software-improvesnitrogen-efficiency-reduces-pollution/