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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Columbia, Missouri » Cropping Systems and Water Quality Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #298084
Title: Production and conservation outcomes of a decade-long field-scale precision agriculture system

Author
item Kitchen, Newell
item Baffaut, Claire
item Sudduth, Kenneth - Ken
item Kremer, Robert
item MYERS, DAVID - University Of Missouri
item Lerch, Robert
item Sadler, Edward

Submitted to: ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/30/2013
Publication Date: 11/5/2013
Citation: Kitchen, N.R., Baffaut, C., Sudduth, K.A., Kremer, R.J., Myers, D.B., Lerch, R.N., Sadler, E.J. 2013. Production and conservation outcomes of a decade-long field-scale precision agriculture system [abstract]. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting. 181-2.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Evaluation of site-specific crop management has often considered only a single management practice at a time. Research is needed that simultaneously considers economic and environmental objectives in crop production. From over a decade (1993-2003) of yield and soil mapping and water quality assessment, a multi-faceted, “precision agriculture system” (PAS) was developed and initiated in 2004 on a 36-ha field in Central Missouri. The PAS assessment was accomplished by comparing it to the previous decade of conventional management. The employed PAS plan takes advantage of targeted management that addresses crop production and environmental issues. For example, corn was grown in field areas where depth to the argillic horizon was shallow and not profitable during the first decade. These same areas were more vulnerable to runoff generation and herbicide and nutrient losses. The portion of the field characterized as such was planted in a wheat-soybean rotation, with a cover crop before soybean. Cover crops were also used in the other portions of the field cropped as corn-soybean. Sediment loss with PAS has been reduced about 80% compared to pre-PAS years. Production comparing before and after PAS will also be presented.