January / February, 2001
Precision
Agriculture Provides New Challenges
in Research, Teaching and Extension
By: Timothy M. Harrigan and Roger C. Brook
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Precision agriculture has been described as doing the right thing in the right place at the right time for the right reason. While this has long been a fundamental goal of farm and business management, new tools are available to help achieve such an objective. Global positioning (GPS) and geographic information systems (GIS) and related technologies are increasingly used to record, analyze and manage spatial information gathered in sampling, scouting, remote sensing and yield mapping activities. Geographic information |
The promise of better management and improved profitability have encouraged a new generation of high-tech managers to view every pass across a field as an opportunity to gather information to facilitate better business decisions. Global positioning systems, yield monitors and mapping software are standard equipment on many new tractors and combines. Planters, manure and fertilizer spreaders and pesticide application equipment are being equipped with sensors, controllers and actuators to vary crop inputs based on need and yield potential.
In an effort to improve the process, research in developing and integrating precision management technologies is vigorous. The call for presentations for the year 2000 Annual International Meeting of the ASAE lists at least twenty sessions related to precision agriculture ranging from new developments in sensors and controls, to remote sensing, vision systems and statistical and decisions support systems.
The excitement of precision agriculture is reflected in the teaching, research and extension programs of the Agricultural Engineering faculty. Dr. Roger Brook serves as the coordinator of precision agriculture programs on campus. Dr. Brook is involved in a project sponsored by the Phosphate and Potash Institute to compare site-specific and field-average fertilizer management practices in corn and soybean production in Michigan. He is in the process of evaluating the role of precision agriculture in assessing both the quality and storability of chipping potatoes. Dr. Brook is also involved in research to better understand the spatial variability of the soybean cyst nematode and options for site-specific management of this pest.
Dr. William Northcott is conducting research to better understand spatial and temporal variability of rainfall across fields and how it influences crop yields. An objective of the research is to determine an optimal rain gage distribution in precision farming applications. Dr. Northcott is also studying the spatial variability of crop yield perpendicular to tile lines in an effort to improve drainage design. He will offer an undergraduate Biosystems Engineering course in Geographic Information Systems to be offered during spring term, 2001.
Dr. Gary Van Ee and Richard Ledebuhr have long emphasized the concepts of precision agriculture in their pesticide application work. Growers of high-value orchard crops are encouraged to move away from managing an entire orchard in a uniform fashion and toward management of small blocks or even individual trees with nutrients and crop protectants applied as needed. Their work in development of application equipment to allow variable-rate application of crop protectants will provide improved targeting and allow tighter control of crop inputs to protect the environment and improve profitability.
Through extension activities, Dr. Timothy Harrigan and Dr. Roger Brook have enjoyed the opportunity to work directly with innovative growers in adapting precision agriculture. Over the last few years they have organized special demonstrations at the Ag Expo farm show highlighting equipment developments and have organized a series of ANR Week conferences drawing on the expertise of invited speakers from throughout the United States and Canada. Dr. Harrigan has conducted numerous meetings throughout the state as an instructor of the MORE INFORMATION–MORE CONTROL workshops underwritten by a consortium of major machinery manufacturers and cooperatives.
These rapidly evolving technologies are challenging the abilities of agribusiness firms to provide equipment and information management services in a timely and efficient manner. Dr. Harrigan has been working with interested faculty to propose an undergraduate program in Biosystems Technology Management. The program is designed to train people in the physical sciences, emerging technologies, and an integrated, systems approach in solving practical, complex problems. Program graduates will have strong skills in electronics and computer and information systems, spatial analysis, sensors and controls, and the technical aspects of production systems.
Emerging technologies are changing the way food is produced, processed, distributed and marketed. The Agricultural Engineering faculty are delighted to accept the challenge presented by this rapid change.
