Site Specific Farming Workshops Planned

By Tim Macklin, D. Bruce Bosley, John Ming, Bruce Fickenscher and Tim Burton

CSU Extension Agents

January 23, 2004

A significant number of corn and wheat growers have slowly adopted some form of site-specific farming or precision farming. Farmer utilization of advanced technologies in agriculture such as global positioning systems and geographic information systems have increased over the last seven to ten years. Interest by farmers has increased on topics such as; remote sensing, yield monitoring, variable rate application of nutrients and pesticides in their daily farming operations. Colorado State University Cooperative Extension is hosting workshops in February in Brush and Lamar to provide answers to many questions these progressive farmers are seeking regarding how to profitably and practically use these technologies.

Farmers are very interested in minimizing their risks of owning the expensive technological tools but not utilizing the full potential and economic benefits as promised by the industry. A majority of farmers who have yield monitors have not been able to clean the yield data to make better crop management decision in the following year. They often have created "pretty maps" with the data but have not been successful in using them to make practical management decisions. In frustration, growers have turned to crop consultants and extension agents who are well trained to answer questions related to crop production but have limited skills when it comes to "making better decisions" based on new production technology tools in agriculture.

The scheduled CSU Extension workshop is designed to help farmers make better use of the new technologies. Participants in our first workshop offered on precision agriculture a year ago were very positive about their learning experience. One farmer wrote on the evaluation form "this is the best program he has ever participated". Several of them indicated on the survey that they want a more detailed workshop to have a comprehensive understanding of this new production technology to assess the economic advantages and risks associated with it specific to their farm operations. CSU’s most recent research study has documented that managing fields with variable rate nitrogen alone greatly enhances net $ returns, $5 to $15/acres.

The advantages to precision agriculture recordkeeping are many. The Data management technologies allow farmers to document when, where, and how much of an input (particularly herbicides, fertilizers, insecticides, ag chemicals) was applied. In addition, keeping records of the environmental conditions when these were they applied can greatly limit frivolous lawsuits. Farmers can use the yield maps created to document "proven yields" for crop insurance purposes and create "as-applied" maps for record keeping. Most importantly, producers using the technology will make better crop management decisions to enhance profitability of their operations that site-specific farming promises in today’s economic stressful times.

This workshop is called Managing Farm Risks Using Variable Rate Applications in Field Management Zones. Speakers will include Dave Wagers Colorado Dryland Crop producer, Bill Stouffer, Missouri; farmers who have been successful in using the technologies and agricultural researchers who have a wealth of on-farm testing experience to make practical and profitable management applications. Dr. Raj Khosla will speak on site- specific farming fertilizer management. The Lamar workshop will be held Tuesday, February 10^th starting at 1:00 in the afternoon, Lamar Community College Trustee Building Room 121. Contact Prowers Cooperative Extension Office or Agent Tim Macklin via telephone at 336 - 7734, or by e-mail tmacklin@coop.ext.colostate.edu to receive a program flier or for more details and registration information.