Production Blog
Dan Davidson DTN Agronomist

Monday 07/19/10
Here to Stay

I am attending the 10th biennial International Conference on Precision Ag in Denver CO.

The first such conference was held in 1992 and this week is the tenth. How the technology has changed during the last two decades. And while much of the technology is still here, the vendors making and selling it are continually changing with some leaving the industry and others joining.

Of course at any such event there is a trade show, some keynote speakers and individual presentations on both the science and the application of the technology.

But what is interesting is how the use of yield monitor data, grid soil sampling and variable fertilizer application hasn't changed much of two decades with only about 20% adoption.

But the introduction of lightbar navigation (80+% adoption), assisted steering and section control really showed farmers that there were benefits from adopting the right technology.

The technology that falls under precision agriculture is broad and includes patterned soil sampling, management zones, variable rate application of seeds and inputs, crop and soil sensors, section control, height control, imagining, etc. It is a broad list and each has a function and a cost and a learning curve.

However technology development continues to outpace broad scale adoption and that is a quandry that manufacturers, vendors and experts can't seen to answer. Nevertheless almost all growers use some form of technology on their farm be it as simple as a lightbar to as complex as using geographic information systems (GIS) to track all field activies, inputs and outputs.

I still think the cost and complexities of the technology outweight the perceived value for its use - simply stated most guy don't believe they can make a profit from the technology.
Posted at 3:30PM CDT 07/19/10 by Dan Davidson
Comments (5)
dan, i would love to have gps capable systems from planter to sprayer to combine. i do grid sample the soil, but for someone in the hobby farm group( less than a section), it is still out of reach. what happens to the dated systems so a guy could get his foot in the door? i mean a five plus year old set up without all the latest bells and whistles. i never hear of any used stuff like that. thanks dave wiebke
Posted by Unknown at 7:09PM CDT 07/20/10
Some of the economics studies show that precision ag works for both small growers and large growers. However it seems to me that the buy-in cost per acre for a small producer is to high to be justifiable. However you can hire some of the work done like variable rate application. But in the end you will have to buy some gadgets and it will take more years to pay off since you have less acres. It is tough to find used equipment - just try to find a yield monitor - not easy. And technology changes rapidly and the gadget you buy this year will be basically obsolete in 3+ years.
Posted by Daniel Davidson at 11:34PM CDT 07/20/10
I attended two days of sessions and felt overwhelmed - not from the fact there is are new and exciting technologies because I didn't feel there were any but from sitting on my bums for a couple days listening to presentations validating these new technologies. Here is how it all works, if you haven't already realized this. A company or person invents a technology or machine, they market it, farmers buy it and then universities researchers come along a bit later after the technology has been introduced and want money to research its effects on production. So they come up with scientific conclusions that farmers already learned a few years earlier. That is the jist of what I got out of the conference. However one of the new emphasis is using some of these technologies to ascertain and track carbon pools in the soil as part of the carbon sequestration emphasis.
Posted by Daniel Davidson at 9:55AM CDT 07/21/10
I am a relatively small, small-grain farmer in ND. I started using GIS tools from Farm Works because they were affordable and effective. Disclaimer-I have since become a dealer for FW. In addition we are doing Variable Rate N application and Yield mapping (all using Farm Works). It does take a commitment to make it work. Biggest savings so far are in N useage. Next goal is to use profit mapping to identify non-profitable areas and put them into forage production for a few years. In the least it will bump my crop insurance yields, and maybe make me more profit but eliminating maybe 30 acres of money-losing production. And in a few years maybe the soil will be better when we work it back up.
Posted by LeeFarms at 9:53PM CDT 07/21/10
Precision Ag is about three things - one is collecting data to change you you do things (such as grind sampling), second is about have the equipment to make that change (such as variable rate application) and third is having the skills and committment to process the data, translate it into information and then turn it into a decision that you can implement and improve your bottom line. Sometimes I think the biggest drawback for the small operator is just have the equipment to change what they are doing. I am a fan of the technology but being a small operator means I can't invest much in application equipment
Posted by Daniel Davidson at 7:38AM CDT 07/23/10
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