By Michael Boehlje and Michael Langemeier, Center for Commercial Agriculture, Purdue University
There are a number of potential payoffs of precision farming from the producer, value chain, and environmental perspectives.
- Potential payoffs for the producer
Cost reduction/Efficiency improvement increases
The improved measurement of soil characteristics and weather patterns that is part of precision farming has the most direct and obvious payoff in terms of cost reductions and efficiency increases from more accurate use of inputs such as fertilizer, seed, chemicals, and other inputs and the systematic measurement of the impacts of these inputs on yield and profitability. In essence, precision farming is one step closer to the manufacturing mentality of production agriculture. Precision farming combined with creative ways to schedule and sequence machinery use including 24 hour-per-day operations, moving equipment among sites, and deployment based on weather patterns has the potential to increase machinery utilization and lower per acre machinery and equipment costs as well.… Continue reading