214
Commerce and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the
University of Illinois. A voluntary enterprise, CCNetAg provided a vehicle for
farmers, agribusiness managers, and university researchers to jointly explore adoption of these tools. The key elements of precision farming are as follows:
• Georeferencing as indicated by satellites linking to the farm field.
• Key farming operations are being directed by and are capturing digital information on the following:
• Soil characteristics
• Nutrient application
• Planting
• Crop scouting
• Harvesting
Since 1997, technologies have advanced, although the general categories remain
relevant. For example, auto-steer capabilities on farm machinery have become much
more prevalent. And active, detailed measurement of the planting process (recording where “skips” occur) is now feasible. Furthermore, the ability to monitor the
status of farm machinery as it operates is now paired with electronic communications to signal when machine operations may be out of acceptable bounds. While
there have been many publications describing precision agriculture, reports with
independent evaluation of the economics of adoption are much less numerous. One
means to assess whether there are net benefits of a technology is to monitor its marketplace adoption. For several years the Center for Food and Agricultural Business
at Purdue University and CropLife magazine have surveyed agricultural input suppliers regarding the adoption of precision agriculture. Focused primarily on the
Midwest and Southern regions in the United States, this work is a particularly useful
assessment of the technology’s application. From the 2017 report, there is clear
evidence of adoption for key precision agriculture practices (Erickson et al. 2017).
The crop input dealers who provided input for this study are uniquely well positioned to understand and report on adoption of these technologies. Their firms provide inputs (fertilizer, pesticides, and seeds) and services to producers evaluating
and adopting precision agriculture.
Early interest in precision agriculture focused on site-specific application of
inputs and on the use of yield monitors. As shown in Fig. 8.3, grid sampling, a practice associated with site-specific lime and fertilizer application, is currently
employed on nearly half of the crop acres. Increased coverage to 6 out of 10 acres
is expected by 2020. Similar adoption rates have been experienced for GPS-assisted
yield monitors. Over the last decade, the use of GPS guidance systems has increased
rapidly to a current use estimated to exceed 60%. Continued strong growth to 2020
is expected. The use of satellite imagery and UAVs as tools to support crop production is more recent. Current use affects 19% and 6% of acreages, respectively.
Interesting, acreage covered by UAVs is expected to increase by over threefold, to
22%, in just 3 years.
Erickson et al. (2017) describe a relatively consistent adoption pattern for variable rate technology (VRT) practices. In the early 2000s, adoption was at
S. T. Sonka
Commerce and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the
University of Illinois. A voluntary enterprise, CCNetAg provided a vehicle for
farmers, agribusiness managers, and university researchers to jointly explore adoption of these tools. The key elements of precision farming are as follows:
• Georeferencing as indicated by satellites linking to the farm field.
• Key farming operations are being directed by and are capturing digital information on the following:
• Soil characteristics
• Nutrient application
• Planting
• Crop scouting
• Harvesting
Since 1997, technologies have advanced, although the general categories remain
relevant. For example, auto-steer capabilities on farm machinery have become much
more prevalent. And active, detailed measurement of the planting process (recording where “skips” occur) is now feasible. Furthermore, the ability to monitor the
status of farm machinery as it operates is now paired with electronic communications to signal when machine operations may be out of acceptable bounds. While
there have been many publications describing precision agriculture, reports with
independent evaluation of the economics of adoption are much less numerous. One
means to assess whether there are net benefits of a technology is to monitor its marketplace adoption. For several years the Center for Food and Agricultural Business
at Purdue University and CropLife magazine have surveyed agricultural input suppliers regarding the adoption of precision agriculture. Focused primarily on the
Midwest and Southern regions in the United States, this work is a particularly useful
assessment of the technology’s application. From the 2017 report, there is clear
evidence of adoption for key precision agriculture practices (Erickson et al. 2017).
The crop input dealers who provided input for this study are uniquely well positioned to understand and report on adoption of these technologies. Their firms provide inputs (fertilizer, pesticides, and seeds) and services to producers evaluating
and adopting precision agriculture.
Early interest in precision agriculture focused on site-specific application of
inputs and on the use of yield monitors. As shown in Fig. 8.3, grid sampling, a practice associated with site-specific lime and fertilizer application, is currently
employed on nearly half of the crop acres. Increased coverage to 6 out of 10 acres
is expected by 2020. Similar adoption rates have been experienced for GPS-assisted
yield monitors. Over the last decade, the use of GPS guidance systems has increased
rapidly to a current use estimated to exceed 60%. Continued strong growth to 2020
is expected. The use of satellite imagery and UAVs as tools to support crop production is more recent. Current use affects 19% and 6% of acreages, respectively.
Interesting, acreage covered by UAVs is expected to increase by over threefold, to
22%, in just 3 years.
Erickson et al. (2017) describe a relatively consistent adoption pattern for variable rate technology (VRT) practices. In the early 2000s, adoption was at
S. T. Sonka