Fact vs. Myth, What is
Holding Precision
Agriculture Back
Daniel Edmonds
Cody Daft
Zimbabwe, January 2008
Communication
• German Coastguard
N Uptake, Wheat and Corn
140
Wheat
Corn
120
100
N uptake, 80
lb/ac
60
40
20
0
30
60
90 120 150 180 210 240
Day
• Myth: Variable Nitrogen Rate Application
is too difficult
• Fact: Variable Nitrogen Rate Application
is indeed difficult, but not overwhelming
• Myth: The only precision agriculture
technology that is going to make me
money is an auto guidance system
• Fact: There are lots of precision
agriculture tools available today that have
delivered economic benefits (VERIS,
GreenSeeker, Yield Mapping)
• Myth: VRT is only for large farmers
• Fact: This would exclude most of
Oklahoma
• Myth: My Grandpa was a good farmer
and he applied 100 lbs of N/ac, every
year, and we still have the farm.
• Fact: Grandpa wasn’t a very good farmer
• Myth: The YP0*RI=YPN algorithm
developed by OSU is only useful in
Oklahoma
• Fact: Farmers in Iowa, Minnesota,
Illinois, Nebraska, Mexico, Argentina,
Australia, and Canada have benefited
from using this approach
• Myth: The GreenSeeker RT200
equipment is difficult to install
• Fact: Dave Geils, Illinois: “… it was easy to
install and only took a few hours. You just
attach the sensors, plug it in, and it was
good to go.”
• Myth: The NRCS program sounds good
(support of VRT), but it is pie in the sky.
• Fact (Jan, 2008): Randy Becker is utilizing
the EQUIP program, through the NRCS.
In his contract he will be receiving $11.10
per acre on 640 acres for 3 years.
Basically the NRCS is paying for his
system in full.
• Myth: I just need to get the right flat rate,
since my fields don’t have any spatial
variability
• Fact: If your fields don’t have any spatial
variability, you must already be in heaven
• Myth: The GreenSeeker RT200 isn’t
going to make me any money, because it
is too expensive ($22,000 retro-fit sprayer)
• Fact: Dave Geils, Illinois. “We saved at
least 20 units across the board. The total
nitrogen savings was about $24,000. So I
paid for the cost of GreenSeeker the first
year. ”
• Myth: The government is going to take
care of me. Uncle Sam and I go way back
and he just isn’t going to let me down.
• Fact: Farmer: “Government programs are
not going to keep giving us money if we
aren’t good environmental stewards. We
might as well get in front of the game with
tools like GreenSeeker.”
• Myth: The N Rich Strip and Ramp
Calibration Strip were developed
separately for different reasons
• Fact: The RCS approach was developed
after the SBNRC as a visual diagnostic
tool, and potential alternative for farmers.
Both hinge on the same concepts.
• Myth: OSU is working in third world
countries because farmers
in Oklahoma won’t listen to them
• Fact: OSU is working in third world
countries because it is the right
thing to do.
• Myth: With the advent of the GreenSeeker
N management approach, soil testing for
NH4-N and NO3-N is now worthless.
• Fact: The N Rich Strip – GreenSeeker
and/or RAMP approach is much better
than the N soil test. HOWEVER, soil
sampling for N, especially 0-2 ft is still
incredibly useful.
• Myth: The reason that OSU is pushing the
GreenSeeker technology is because it
could make OSU a little money
• Fact: The reason that OSU is pushing the
GreenSeeker technology is because it
could make OSU A LOT of MONEY!
• and the football stadium is overbudget
Ambassador of
Agriculture
Fabric
• “One can stand still in a flowing stream,
but not in a world of men”
• What we do can impact many far beyond
the reaches of
those intended
April 16, 2007
Dr. Norman Borlaug
Ciudad Obregon, MX
Endorses GreenSeeker
approach for improved N
management
• Corn N Management versus Wheat
• Graph showing N uptake as a function of
time, show why N preplant (50%) in corn is
so important