Precision Pays

In this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we listen to an explanation of how precision agriculture sometimes actually misses the mark.

The whole idea of precision agriculture is being able to precisely place seeds, fertilizer, pesticides and any other applications in the exact right place at the exact right time in the exact right portion, right? Well, it’s not always that easy. And attendees at the recent International Conference on Precision Agriculture heard that sometimes you just have to realize that precision agriculture is not that precise.

Auburn University associate professor and extension specialist John Fulton held a session where he explained some of the limiting factors you have to consider when using precision practices. He explained you have to consider the actual physics involved to get the molecules of chemicals to the nozzle tip and how the speed the tractor is moving can affect the actual application.

His biggest advice to the audience was to slow down.

You can hear more of my conversation with Fulton in this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast it in the player below below. Precision Pays Podcast

You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here.

Nothing like moving across country to put you a bit behind. Just a couple of things left over from last month’s 10th International Conference on Precision Agriculture that I wanted to share with you. First and foremost is the awards handed out at the ICPA gathering. The awards were presented by Paul Schrimpf, Group Editor the CropLife Media Group at Meister Media Worldwide, which includes PrecisionAg.com, the award sponsors.

Paul presented the Farmer Award to Ken Dalenberg (above) of Marshfield, Illinois – who was recognized for the role he has played in helping to develop and promote new agricultural technology for crop management. Ken has worked with a number of research projects on his farm to evaluate precision farming technology, along with other innovative products and practices through the University of Illinois, the Potash & Phosphate Institute, the United Soybean Board, and others.

Dr. Jess Lowenberg-DeBoer of Purdue University (left) and Dr. Harold Reetz (right, below) of Reetz Agronomics were honored with Legacy Awards during the conference. Dr. Lowenberg-DeBoer’s work in precision agriculture economics included groundbreaking research into the profitability of every aspect of it, including tracking the adoption of technology at the farm and service provider level, which played an important role in the growth of precision.

Reetz has been a champion of technology and precision agriculture throughout his four decade-long career, founding the InfoAg Conference in the mid-1990s as a way of getting people together to share experiences and build a networked community of vendors, users, and service providers. Now with Reetz Agronomics, Harold continues his champion role, especially as it applies to the conservation aspects of precision technology, and he serves on the board of the Conservation Technology and Information Center.

Picking up the Consultant/Entrepreneur Award was the OptiGro Team at Jimmy Sanders, Inc. of Cleveland, MS. Accepting the award on behalf of the team was Clint Jayroe (left). OptiGro provides agricultural advice, information, and precision agriculture resources to farmer-customers for maximum return on investment, while Jimmy Sanders, Inc. has been an agricultural leader and innovator in the Mid-South since 1953, serving production agriculture with farm inputs and on-farm expertise for the Mississippi River Delta region. They service a diverse crop mix of rice, cotton, corn, soybeans, wheat, grain sorghum and even specialty crops such as sweet potatoes and peanuts.

In addition, there were several student winners recognized at the event, including: Eric Allphin, Xystus Amakor, David Harper, Ming Li, Joe David Luck, Daniel K. Mullenix, Georg Ruß, Ajay Sharda, Yeyin Shi and Luciano S. Shiratsuchi. You can see all the photos in the ICPA Photo Album.

Special thanks to for sponsoring our trip to the 10th International Conference on Precision Agriculture.

A precision agriculture pioneer was on hand last week for the Conservation Technology and Information Center (CTIC) Conservation in Action tour near Williamsburg, Virginia.

Harold Reetz, who founded the InfoAg Conference, is one of the board members for the CTIC. He recently retired after 28 years with the International Plant Nutrition Institute and started Reetz Agronomics.

As a champion of technology and precision agriculture throughout his four decade-long career, Reetz was one of the recipients of the Legacy Award in the PrecisionAg Awards of Excellence program for 2010 at the recent International Conference on Precision Agriculture.

In an interview with Chuck Zimmerman at the CTIC board meeting last week, Harold said he has three passions – high yield production systems, precision technology and conservation. Harold Reetz Interview

Conservation In Action Tour 2010 Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Conservation In Action Tour last week was made
possible by and the

In this edition of the Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we listen in on one of the sessions at the recent International Conference on Precision Agriculture held in Denver, Colorado.

Dr. Ken Cassman with the University of Nebraska’s Center for Energy Sciences Research told the standing-room-only crowd that if you look at the past 40 years of farming and extrapolate those increases to the next 40 years, food production will still fall short, putting the world’s population … estimated to be 9.2 billion people by the year 2050 … and the world’s food supply on a crash course. He says estimates are that agriculture will have to increase production by 1.75 percent a year. Right now the numbers are closer to about a 1.3 percent increase. And Cassman says world agriculture will have to meet that increasing demand without negatively impacting the water supplies, nutrients, and wildlife of this planet.

So what’s the solution? Increased biotechnology to get more out of crops? Cassman says while biotechnology has increased yields somewhat, there’s no good, hard scientific evidence it will be able to meet the growing demands. He believes the real solution is meeting a food crop’s true genetic potential through something he calls Ecological Intensification.

It’s a fascinating conversation, and you can hear more of it in the player below below. Precision Pays Podcast

You can subscribe to the Precision Pays Podcast here.

This morning’s opening session of the 10th International Conference on Precision Agriculture (ICPA) was certainly a good one, as attendees heard that while the world’s farmers have increased the rate of growth of the food they produce, the current increase doesn’t match the rise in the human population and its rising incomes expected by the year 2050 when it’s expected that we’ll share this world with 9.2 billion people.

Dr. Ken Cassman with the University of Nebraska’s Center for Energy Sciences Research told the standing-room-only crowd that without negatively impacting some of the world’s most sensitive ecosystems – the rain forests, wetlands, and grassland savannahs – the current rate of production growth won’t meet the rising demand. He says a process of increasing yields and reducing agriculture’s “footprint” is necessary: a process he calls “ecological intensification (EI).” And he believes precision agriculture could play a key role in that process.

“The buffer between proper management and poor management narrows, that is, the margin for error becomes smaller in terms of what helps the crop or what hurts the crop. So your precision of management becomes the single most important factor in helping farmers achieve yields near the yield potential ceiling.”

Cassman says the goal is to achieve 80 percent of a crop’s genetic yield potential while not increasing the impact that crop has on the environment. He says while biotechnology might help get us there, there is no magic bullet. It will take a combination of new technologies and techniques to hit that potential.

And a man who shared the stage with Cassman during the opening session believes we cannot play down the importance of testing and monitoring of fields to make sure the crops are living up to their potential. Dr. William Raun with Oklahoma State University also made a pitch for funding of extension services so that testing can take place.

“Extension is obviously important to us. We cannot just do research. We’ve got to have thousands of enrich strips and ramps out there in the fields and investing in that extension so farmers can see it.” And he adds that the numbers and formulas are out there to best forecast what can happen in a field. We just need to make sure it’s measured. “Yield potential can be predicted.”

It really was a great session. Because of the length of it, I can’t post all of the audio here, but I am going to let you hear the question and answer session after Cassman’s and Raun’s presentation. You’ll also hear from Dr. Raj Khosla during this segment. You can download or listen to this session at ICPA here: Opening Session Questions and Answers

I’ve also posted the day’s pictures on the ICPA Photo Album

The 10th International Conference on Precision Agriculture (ICPA) has kicked off at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center in Denver and runs through Wednesday, July 21, 2010.

Throughout the day, hundreds of research scientists, producers, technology company representatives, equipment manufacturers, input dealers, agronomic consultants, software developers, educators, government personnel and policymakers have been pouring into the Mile High City from 40 different countries to look back on the past 20 years of precision ag innovations and to work together on the future of maximizing the potential of the world’s farmlands.

At the opening reception tonight, I caught up with Dr. Raj Khosla, the chairperson of the 10th ICPA and a professor at Colorado State University. He told me with 300-500 participants from such a wide variety of places around the world, he expects a large part of the conversation will be on the hot topic of food security.

“Precision agriculture has been mentioned as one of the soultions in meeting food security. Populations are increasing. People’s eating habits are changing.” And to meet those increasing demands, Khosla says they have to figure out how to translate some of the precision ag techniques used in the U.S. and apply them to lesser-developed countries. He says meeting the food demands of these growing countries could literally transform those societies.

“When you’re tummy is hungry is hard to listen to anything else other than feeding itself. There’s an opportunity for precision ag to contribute to lesser developed countries, smaller field sizes by coupling the technology and the [large labor markets].” He says it is just as important to use the same amount of labor to grow the larger quantities of food so precision agriculture doesn’t end up putting those workers out of jobs.

Khosla says precision agriculture is putting the right inputs in the right place, at the right time, and in the right manner. It’s a great conversation, and download or listen to Khosla’s interview at ICPA here: Dr. Raj Khosla

And check out the ICPA Photo Album