Peter Kyveryga says it’s no secret that manure applications can be difficult to handle. It also should be no secret that the Iowa Soybean Association offers manure management resources to farmers through its On-Farm Network. Peter says the On-Farm Network encourages farmers to conduct their own manure management techniques through trials and field tests, but he adds that there is plenty of information and data available through the On-Farm Network. ISA’s manure management program looks at the performance of manure, considers the nutrient value of different manures and looks at manure variability. The On-Farm Network has also developed protocols for using precision farm equipment to record and locate areas of trials and field tests.
Chuck interviewed Peter about ISA’s Manure Management. You can listen to Chuck’s interview here:Peter Kyveryga Interview (6 min. MP3)
The big advantage of the Iowa Soybean Association’s On-Farm Network is the first-hand look at what ISA has to offer. At least, that’s what ISA’s On-Farm Senior Research Associate Peter Kyveryga thinks. He says the On-Farm Network influences people where it counts most: out in the field. Peter says on farm trials show results and that’s a big factor for most people involved in the ag industry.
Peter has been researching data on variable rate applications of nitrogen, trying to determine what is beneficial for farmers. While his office is still looking for answers, Peter does suggest that farmers should execute small scale trials to determine results before fully jumping into any kind of application.
Chuck interviewed Peter about the statistical analysis work he does with the On-Farm Network. You can listen to Chuck’s interview here:Peter Kyveryga Interview (8 min. MP3)
Chuck interviewed Tracy Blackmer, the Director of Research for the Iowa Soybean Association about how On-Farm Network makes maximizing precision ag on the individual farm a community effort. In the picture Tracy is standing next to an Iowa state map showing locations where they’ve conducted projects for the program.
You can listen to Chuck’s interview with Tracy here:Tracy Blackmer (10 min. MP3)
I know we’ve already mentioned some findings from the PrecisionAg Institute about whether precision agriculture pays. I had an opportunity to talk with K. Elliott Nowels, who authored a report for the Institute titled, “Precision Powers Profit” (pdf file) to learn more about what they did find.
First of all they found that 80% of farmers who use precision are making more money. In other words, precision really does pay. He says that they found that farmers using precision not only make more profit but they also produce higher yields. They also talked to growers who don’t use precision and found that cost and complexity are the two main barriers for them.
He says there’s three things growers should keep in mind about precision agriculture technology. 1. It’s a more efficient crop production system; 2. You’ll find yourself producing more and making more money; and 3. Because of an increasing amount of environmental scrutiny it shows that you’re becoming a better steward of the land.
Don’t forget that this interview is part of our Precision Pays Podcast. Subscribe on your computer and get them automatically using these instructions.
Precision technology isn’t just for farming anymore. The Dickinson Press reports that the Golden Valley Soil Conservation District in North Dakota is working on saline reclamation project. The project will examine the impact of increased levels of saline in surface and groundwater. Golden Valley says the higher levels of saline result in degraded water bodies and reduced crop and forage production. Precision farming technology and GPS technology are a big part of making the research possible.
Four cooperative conservation efforts in the state received funding from a $600,000 pot. The efforts target salinity management, erosion control in the Red River Valley, precision farming, soil health and invasive weeds on grazing land…
Maps with saline areas outlined before, during and after management changes can also be used to measure reclamation with soil tests and viewing saline effects using GPS. Down the road, wells will detect a water table rise recurring with crop fallow or intensive annual cropping. This gives producers time to make land use changes before the salt levels reduce production, stated the literature.
NRCS assistant state conservationist Jennifer Heglund is in charge of EQIP and part of the selection process.
“A proposal is evaluated based on the impact it would have on local natural resource concerns and how appropriate and applicable the proposal is for the farming and ranching operations in that area,” Heglund said. “In western North Dakota, there has been a big promotion of no-till type practices and still there are some salinity issues that are making agriculture difficult mainly due to saline seeps.”
Click here to view the entire article.
USDA’s Cooperative Extension Service has a good summary of a workshop held earlier this year on “Engineering Solutions for Specialty Crop Challenges.”
The workshop provided a forum for special crop industries to engage the science and technology community. Industry representatives voiced their concerns with regard to productivity, production efficiency, post-harvest processing, and environmental quality. In response, the research community offered some engineering science and technology capabilities that could form key components of eventual solutions.
The forum included representatives from citrus, horticulture, tree fruit, almonds and grape producers. There is some pretty interesting information here for specialty crop producers on how new technology might be able help them be more efficient.
The workshop noted that labor costs and availability, product quality, and environmental concerns are some of the primary issues facing these industries. The labor situation was a common issue expressed by nearly all attendees, primarily as it relates to the shortage of labor and the prospects for automation using robotics.
Here’s another use for aerial imagery - helping ranchers decide how many cows they can support per acre, as well as how much carbon rangeland plants store.
A study by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the University of North Dakota lays a foundation for eventually allowing ranchers to get Web-based information on the quality and quantity of forage plants in their fields. Ranchers could use this information to determine stocking rates, as well as how much carbon is stored in their forage plants.
Scientists Rebecca Phillips and Ofer Beeri have developed a way to measure rangeland forage plant yields in pounds per acre, and their quality in percent of protein content, over many acres. They’re using commercial HyMap hyperspectral imagery taken by airplane, which lets them capture images at more than 200 wavelengths—all of the light in the visible wavelength bands and invisible near-infrared and short-wave infrared wavelength bands.
This past week I’ve been attending an International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Congress in Japan. On one of our stops we saw precision agriculture on display in a rice paddy! This is in development now at the Furukawa Agricultural Research Station.
I interviewed Yoshisada Nogasaka, Research Team for Farm Machinery and Systems for NARC, the National Agricultural Research Center. He’s the guy who’s developing the software to run the prototype Autonomous Rice Transplanter we saw on demonstration at the Furukawa Agricultural Research Center. This guy is enthusiastic to say the least. He says that when he demonstrates this thing on a farm the farmer asks, “Can you leave it here on my farm?” They’re really looking forward to it but they’ll have some waiting to do. He says it could be up to 10 years before commercial production.
The Florida citrus industry is being threatened by diseases such as canker and greening that could have a severe impact on production in the future.
The Florida Department of Citrus has been working with NASA for almost three years now to determine how satellite technology can help the state’s citrus industry track grove acreage and tree numbers, and eventually spot the early signs of diseases. In a recent interview with the Lakeland Ledger, FDOC director of scientific research Dan King talked about the possibilities and the progress so far.
King says one of the goals is to provide a multi-level analytical tool. “Multi-level means from the individual grove up to the government agency level,” he said. “The areas of information are all based on satellite imagery and software interpretation that allows us to develop a database of information.”
“We are working on being able to find signatures on such things as citrus greening, and those signatures will be used to evaluate imagery,” said King. “The data we are currently gathering and the research being proposed and carried forward now suggests that within two to three years, we should have an answer as to whether this is truly a capability we can generate from aerial or satellite imagery.”
Read the Lakeland Ledger interview with King here.
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Peter Kyveryga says it’s no secret that manure applications can be difficult to handle. It also should be no secret that the Iowa Soybean Association offers manure management resources to farmers through its On-Farm Network. Peter says the On-Farm Network encourages farmers to conduct their own manure management techniques through trials and field tests, but he adds that there is plenty of information and data available through the On-Farm Network. ISA’s manure management program looks at the performance of manure, considers the nutrient value of different manures and looks at manure variability. The On-Farm Network has also developed protocols for using precision farm equipment to record and locate areas of trials and field tests.
Peter Kyveryga Interview (6 min. MP3)
The big advantage of the Iowa Soybean Association’s 
I know we’ve 
Earlier this year I did 
USDA’s Cooperative Extension Service has a good summary of a workshop held earlier this year on 
Here’s another use for aerial imagery - helping ranchers decide how many cows they can support per acre, as well as how much carbon rangeland plants store. 
This past week I’ve been attending an International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Congress in Japan. On one of our stops we saw precision agriculture on display in a rice paddy! This is in development now at the 
The Florida citrus industry is being threatened by diseases such as canker and greening that could have a severe impact on production in the future. 
King says one of the goals is to provide a multi-level analytical tool. “Multi-level means from the individual grove up to the government agency level,” he said. “The areas of information are all based on satellite imagery and software interpretation that allows us to develop a database of information.”