[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
precision farming of forages
A few weeks ago, I asked people on the soils-l and forage-mg lists whether
they had any information on the use of precision agriculture techniques
relating to nutrient application on perennial forages. This is a summary of
the responses I received. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of this
information and no recommendation is implied in this listing; it is only as
complete as those who took time to reply -- my thanks to each of you who did:
Of course, some farmers have been practicing site specific farming of
forages for years. As Dan Wiersma (dwiersma@facstaff.wisc.edu) pointed out,
farmers in Wisconsin wanting legume hay will plant red clover in poorly
drained areas and alfalfa elsewhere. But more intensive site specific
management of nutrients on perennial forages does not appear to be widely
practiced at the present. According to several respondents, there is little
being done using this technology on forages in the Canadian Prairies, New
Zealand, California, Wisconsin, Minnesota, western New York state, Oklahoma,
Kansas, or Nebraska.
A few exceptions and interesting ideas follow:
1) Use of site specific application of lime is being tested in Wisconsin,
according to Dan Undersander (djunders@facstaff.wisc.edu).
2) Dan Wiersma reminded me that the planned regional dairy research center
in Marshfield, Wisconsin, will likely be farmed using precision agriculture
techniques. Land characteristics (field boundaries, soil characteristics,
elevation, etc.) will be built into a GIS database for future use.
3) In New Zealand, Jim Crush (crushj@agresearch.cri.nz) and colleagues are
planning to apply differential fertilizer P rates, depending on pasture
plant species presence. It evidently requires 3x more P to keep white clover
in a clover/perennial ryegrass mixture than for maximum yield of either in
monocultures under their conditions. How variable rates will affect plant
populations over time is unknown.
4) Chuck West (cpwest@comp.uark.edu) reported that Arkansas researchers and
extension personnel are promoting precision application of livestock waste
to avoid areas of high runoff potential. This has been based more on
landscape features than soil test results to date. Location and management
of rotational grazing is also being done in consideration of site specific
characteristics.
5) According to Dan Putnam (dhputnam@ucdavis.edu), researchers in
California have discussed the possibility of using site specific farming
with alfalfa, but do think it will pay on their relatively uniform soils,
considering the relatively low cost of P and K fertilizer.
6) Northwest Precision Ag (Blackfoot, Idaho, 208-785-5758) has just begun
grid sampling alfalfa fields for macro and micronutrients and will begin
detailed yield monitoring this year. They feel that the potential for
profitability of site specific farming is likely higher with perennial crops
that with annuals.
One requirement of site specific farming is the need to monitor yields over
the field to determine response to the variable input. Machinery for
forages has been lacking, but some equipment has been developed recently:
1) Leonard Bashford (bsen052@unlvm.unl.edu), Univ. of Nebraska, has worked
with a MS student to develop a baler with a yield monitor and GPS. They
will present a paper on the work this summer at the Am. Soc. Agric.
Engineers meeting in Minneapolis, MN.
2) Ag Tech Inc. and Technological Solutions International (tsi@initco.net)
have developed a yield monitor for use in windrowers, and has equipment and
software for site specific application of fertilizers and chemicals. TSI
does not recommend grid sampling, but rather take many fewer samples and
concentrate on sampling different landscape position, soil drainage, and
other characteristics that will likely impact yield.
3) Kevin Shinners (kjshinne@facstaff.wisc.edu) and Ron Schuler
(rschuler@facstaff.wisc.edu) have developed a forage harvester with yield
sensors that will be field tested this year.
4) I have heard that New Holland has developed or is developing forage and
manure application equipment to use with GPS, but found no information on
their web page about it.
That summarizes what I heard about in the past few weeks. Thanks, again,
for your responses. If you know of any other use of precision farming
approaches for fertilizer, livestock manure, or waste disposal on perennial
forages, please contact me. Thank you.
Michael Russelle
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Michael P. Russelle voice: 612-625-8145
USDA-Agricultural Research Service fax: 612-649-5058
439 Borlaug Hall e-mail: russelle@soils.umn.edu
University of Minnesota
St. Paul, MN 55108-6028
USA
*************************************************************
* This message was sent through forage-mg@oes.orst.edu
* To unsubscribe from this list, send the following in
* the body (not the subject line) of an email message to
* forage-mg-admin@oes.orst.edu: unsubscribe forage-mg