ARS | Publication request: PRECISION AGRICULTURE RESEARCH: LESSONS LEARNED IN CORN/SOYBEAN

Submitted to: Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: October 7, 1999
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Multi-disciplinary precision agriculture research is productive, efficient, and rewarding, but it is not without challenges. Much of the work conducted at the University of Illinois and the University of Missouri initially was centered on variable-rate fertilization, although other aspects of precision agriculture were examined. The primary finding of this work was that precision agriculture is dependent upon information (i.e., accurate maps) and that sufficient information is prohibitively expensive by traditional methods (i.e., soil sampling). The discovery of the dependency of precision agriculture and information and the expense associated with information accumulation was only possible due to the participation of economists, engineers, and agronomists. We have concluded that sufficient information requires dense data sets obtainable only through sensor methods, and that multi-disciplinary systems analysis for this type of research is quintessential. Much of our work in corn and soybean crop prduction is now centered on the use of land-, air-, and space-based sensor systems. Examples include aerial imaging, soil electrical conductivity surveys, and digital terrain acquisition and analysis.