A Model for Agro-Economic Analysis of Soil pH Mapping

Core soil sampling followed by laboratory analysis is the traditional method used to map soil pH prior to variable rate application (VRA) of lime on cropland. A recently developed automated soil sampling system capable of measuring soil pH on-the-go has significantly increased sampling resolution. However, adoption of such systems must be justified economically. This paper presents a method for assessing the economic benefit from automated mapping of soil pH prior to variable rate lime application. In this work, geostatistical, agronomic, and economic methods were used to generate a comprehensive numerical model for quantitative assessment of the net return over cost of liming for different lime management strategies. The strategies included: automated pH mapping, manual grid soil sampling, and whole field sampling used in combination with either variable or fixed rate liming. The model was demonstrated using a simulated field with known average pH and semivariogram model. The analysis showed the largest benefit ($6.13ha^–1year^–1) from using VRA with automated soil pH mapping versus VRA based on 1ha (2.5acres) manual grid point sampling for the selected simulated field conditions. A sensitivity analysis demonstrated that for a wide range of field conditions and crop prices, VRA plus automated mapping promises higher relative benefits than VRA based on either manual grid point or grid cell sampling.     

Farmer Experience with Precision Agriculture in Denmark and the US Eastern Corn Belt

Two mail surveys were carried out in Denmark and the Eastern Corn Belt, USA in 2002. Questionnaires were sent to 580 farmers who had used precision agriculture (PA) and 198 responses were received. The surveys focused on the current status of use of PA in both countries, including: PA practices, equipment and software, Internet and e-mail use, information sources for PA, satisfaction level from service providers, data handling, interpretation, storage and ownership, value of data for decision making, changes in management practices, desired information and services, and the next planned step in the practice of PA. The survey results showed more similarities in practicing PA between the two countries than differences. Time requirement and high cost of data handling were cited as the main problems. Survey respondents found soil maps to be more valuable than yield maps in management decisions. About 80% of the respondents would like to store the PA data themselves. The majority of the respondents indicated that they have changed their management practices due to PA, but not substantially. Some 90 of the respondents used the Internet and e-mail for agricultural purposes, but only a small number for PA websites.     

Precision Agriculture and Sustainability

Precision Agriculture (PA) can help in managing crop production inputs in an environmentally friendly way. By using site-specific knowledge, PA can target rates of fertilizer, seed and chemicals for soil and other conditions. PA substitutes information and knowledge for physical inputs. A literature review indicates PA can contribute in many ways to long-term sustainability of production agriculture, confirming the intuitive idea that PA should reduce environmental loading by applying fertilizers and pesticides only where they are needed, and when they are needed. Precision agriculture benefits to the environment come from more targeted use of inputs that reduce losses from excess applications and from reduction of losses due to nutrient imbalances, weed escapes, insect damage, etc. Other benefits include a reduction in pesticide resistance development. One limitation of the papers reviewed is that only a few actually measured directly environmental indices, such as leaching with the use of soil sensors. Most of them estimated indirectly the environmental benefits by measuring the reduced chemical loading. Results from an on-farm trial in Argentina provide an example of how site-specific information and variable rate application could be used in maintaining profitability while reducing N applications. Results of the sensitivity analysis show that PA is a modestly more profitable alternative than whole field management, for a wide range of restrictions on N application levels. These restrictions might be government regulations or the landowner's understanding of environmental stewardship. In the example, variable rate of N maintains farm profitability even when nitrogen is restricted to less than half of the recommended uniform rate.     

Economics of Variable Rate Lime in Indiana

In Indiana, variable rate application (VRA) of lime is often considered a good place to start site-specific management (SSM). This is because soil pH is one of the most variable of manageable soil characteristics in the state, the availability of essential nutrients is closely related to soil pH, and because spreaders can be retrofitted relatively inexpensively to do VRA. The objective of this study is to evaluate the profitability of VRA for lime as a stand-alone activity. The methodology involves a spreadsheet model using corn and soybean pH response functions estimated with small plot data. The overall results indicate increased annual returns to corn and soybean production with site-specific pH management strategies. On average, SSM with agronomic recommendations provides an increased annual return of $7.24 per hectare (ha) (+1.78%). SSM with the economic decision rule provides an average increase in annual return of $19.55 ha^–1 (+4.82%). Information strategy, which uses site-specific information to determine the economically optimal uniform rate of lime, provides an average increase in annual return of $14.38 ha^–1 (+3.54%).