Precision Ag Survey Updates

Terry Griffin, Ph.D., CCAAssistant Professor – Economics

2011 NCERA-180 Little Rock, AR

Sources of Data• USDA-ARMS (farm level)• CropLife/Purdue University Precision Ag Survey

– Whipker and Akridge (2009)• International network of collaborators

CropLife Ag Retailer Survey

• Returns specific to economics of individual farms, cropping systems and regions

• Farmers and ag businesses have generally adopted practices where there is a clear return on investment

• Two new questions for 2011

GPS-enabled Navigation Technologies Adoption

• Service Providers • Farmers

2001 2002 2003 2004 20050

20

40

60

80

100

Corn Soybean Winter wheat Spring wheat Cotton%

of p

lant

ed a

cres

Source: USDA-ARMS Data

1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 20100%

20%

40%

60%

Lightbars Auto Guidance

% o

f Ser

vice

Pro

vide

rs

Source: Whipker and Akridge, 2009

Yield Monitor Adoption by CountryCountry Estimate Year Source (year) M ha -1

United States 30 000 2000 Daberkow et al. (2002) 335 Argentina 5000 2009 Bongiovanni (2010) 172 Brazil 500 2009 Molin (2010) 11 Chile 60 2009 Best (2010) 100 Uruguay 150 2009 Terra (2010) 100 U.K. 400 2000 Stafford (2000) 107 Denmark 400 2000 Stafford (2000) 247 France 50 2000 Stafford (2000) 5 Germany 4250 2003 Wagner (2000) 523 Netherlands 6 2000 Stafford (2000) 27 Sweden 150 2000 Stafford (2000) 119 Belgium 6 2000 Stafford (2000) 17 Spain 5 2003 4ECPA (2003) 1 Portugal 4 2003 Conceicao (2003) 6 Australia 800 2000 Lowenberg-DeBoer (2003) 42 South Africa 15 2000 Nell (2000) 3

Adoption Rates of Yield Monitors

1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 20100

102030405060708090

100

CornSoybeanCottonWinter wheat

% p

lant

ed a

cres

Sources: before 1995 Mangold1995 to 2005: USDA ARMS2008 Cotton Inc.

Soybean Farms, 2002

Other uses

Irrigation

Divide crop production

Negotiate new crop lease

Tile drainage

Conduct field experiments

Document yields

Monitor crop moisture

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Without GPS With GPS

Percent of Farms

Source: USDA-ARMS Data, Griffin 2009

Cotton Farms, 2003

Other uses

Irrigation

Divide crop production

Negotiate new crop lease

Tile drainage

Conduct field experiments

Document yields

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Without GPS With GPS

Percent of Farms

Source: USDA-ARMS Data, Griffin 2009

Corn Farms, 2005

Other uses

Irrigation

Divide crop production

Negotiate new crop lease

Tile drainage

Conduct field experiments

Document yields

Monitor crop moisture

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Without GPS With GPS

Percent of Farms

Source: USDA-ARMS Data, Griffin 2009

Use of yield monitor data for selected crops: with and without GPS, 2002 – 2005

Soybean

(2002)

Cotton

(2003)

Barley

(2003)

Durum

wheat

(2004)

Spring

wheat

(2004)

Winter

wheat

(2004)

Corn

(2005)

With GPS? Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No

Monitor crop moisture 68 86 * * 68 67 100 52 60 63 60 85 91 83

Document yields 50 40 25 41 76 38 69 65 54 37 41 29 51 30

Field trials 42 23 37 * 32 5 * 13 53 9 14 9 46 28

Tile drainage 32 8 5 3 6 6 * * 7 * 32 2 31 7

Negotiate crop lease 9 1 1 3 5 * 53 * 21 * * 1 5 2

Divide crop

production 6 7 7 54 12 11 * 48 * 3 7 8 12 11

Irrigation 4 * 4 8 24 3 * * * * * * 4 3

Other uses 7 13 1 19 15 8 53 * 6 20 * 7 7 5

Photo Source: Unidentified

Soil Sampling• 30% of Sao Paulo sugar mills grid soil sample

– 70% of the total area, Silva et al (2010) • In US, reduction in grid and zone soil sampling

– Localized precision soil sampling methods common if associated with a reputable third-party expertise

– More than half of U.S. service providers offered soil sampling with GPS, 59% offered grid soil sampling, one-fourth offered soil sampling by soil type• (Whipker and Akridge, 2009)

Site-Specific Analysis Offered

14th Annual Precision Ag Dealership Survey, Purdue/CropLife Magazine, 2009

Variable Rate Application Offered

14th Annual Precision Ag Dealership Survey, Purdue/CropLife Magazine, 2009

1997 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 20090

102030405060708090

100

Controller-Driven Single Nutrient Controller-Driven Multi Nutrient Variable Rate Seeding

% o

f Dea

lers

Sur

veye

d

VRT Services Offered by Service Providers

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 20090%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Multi Only Single Only Both

Whipker and Akridge, 2009

Lime application duration and VRT

Peanu

ts

Cotton

Potatoe

s

Barley

Rice

Soybe

anCorn

Wint

er whe

atOats

Sugarb

eets

Sorghu

m0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

No VRTVRT

Yea

rs b

etw

een

lime

appl

icat

ions

Source: Griffin 2010, USDA-ARMS

All means differences statistically significantly different p=0.05

2 New Questions for 2011

Precision Ag Website Resources• PrecisionTalk on AgTalk

– http://talk.newagtalk.com/• PrecisionAg Network

– http://www.precisionagnetwork.com/• Alabama Precision Ag

– http://www.alabamaprecisionagonline.com• Purdue Site Specific Management Center

– http://www.purdue.edu/ssmc• University of Arkansas

– http://www.aragriculture.org/precisionag/

Terry Griffin Assistant Professor - Economics501.671.2182 tgriffin@uaex.edu

Post Doctoral Position: Spatial Statisticshttps://jobs.uark.edu/position # 0600611