Precision Agriculture Spotlite

June 1998

ON THE ROAD TO PRECISION AGRICULTURE -- Spotlight

Site specific management concepts and applications, and more specifically Precision Agriculture, are bringing a new dimension of the information age to the American countryside. Application of the information age to managing farms, forests and the rural landscape will change methods of crop production, have the potential to improve efficiency and will affect management practices for the rural environment.

MSU's activities in this arena need to create an integrated program that combines basic research; technology development, assessment, and demonstration; and higher education. These efforts should promote partnerships among federal, state, private, and non-profit organizations for the purpose of defining, prioritizing and carrying out integrated research and education programs.

MSU has taken an important step to develop an active and visible program related to Precision Agriculture. Beginning this winter, I have (temporarily) taken on a leadership role for Precision Agriculture activities in CANR. Among my charges is to coordinate a task force to develop a strategic plan for addressing precision agriculture topics specifically, and site-specific management topics more generally.

Specific objectives for activities that should be a part of the strategic plan include:

To develop and implement a methodology for identifying the causes of variation

To develop practical guidelines for adopting precision agriculture in the framework of best management practices

To explore the use of remote sensing methods to enable management decisions to be made in "real time" during the growth of the crop

To determine the potential economic and environmental benefits of using site specific principles and technologies

To implement available technology and test developing principles on both private farms and

University research facilities

To collaborate with a range of producers to ensure that the research findings and recommendations are appropriate for adoption

Initial efforts will be oriented toward annual crops (cereals, oilseeds, and vegetables). Further efforts might include ornamentals, fruits, forest, and turf (both lawns and golf courses).

As a part of these responsibilities, I am beginning this month a series of newsletter articles that will discuss various aspects of precision agriculture and the technologies that have made these activities possible.

This page was last updated on 10/08/01.