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Improving decision
criteria for site-specific management systems
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Illinois farmers and crop consultants using site-specific technologies for the increased economic returns and environmental benefits that are possible with these management systems will have more information to base decisions on as results from new research become available.
 A team of agricultural economists and crop scientists at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana is gathering and evaluating data on fertility, crop development, environment, geography, economics and other factors which might prove important to decision making. C-FAR funding allowed the team to take a broad, interdisciplinary approach to the project and to purchase equipment for gathering the information. Data is being collected from the 225-acre Colonel Dudley Smith farm north of Pana and on the 640-acre Williams farm near Farmer City.
"We're developing different and more detailed layers of information than currently available or used with this technology," said Robert Hornbaker, an agricultural economist with the UI College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. "For instance, the fertility, soil and elevation survey information is more intensive than what is typically used now. In 1997 we'll use digital cameras to do aerial photography work which, together with remote sensing information and resource information, will give us a detailed view of what happens to the crop over the growing season."
The researchers also will use computer modeling technologies to evaluate the data for factors that are important to decision making.
The broad base of data collected from the two farms, combined with computer analysis, will help researchers identify decision criteria for site-specific technologies that could allow producers to increase economic returns and decrease environmental problems, Hornbaker said.
Another component of the project is a four-state survey of farmer attitudes toward site-specific technologies. The
survey will help researchers better understand what farmers know and what they would need to see before they would adopt site-specific management technologies. "What are the implications for Illinois and the Corn Belt if we see adoption of these technologies in three years versus 10 years? This survey will be a kind of pulse-check that could help us predict the structure of agriculture into the future," Hornbaker said.
Hornbaker anticipates farmers using site-specific technologies will see many changes in the way information is collected and used in these management systems over the next few years. Results from this research project will be reported at farm field days, through Cooperative Extension Service programs and at conferences.
Related C-FAR Research
At Illinois State University, Patrick O'Rourke is working with farmers and retailers to assess rate of adoption, investment requirements and ownership of data used in precision farming. Preliminary analysis indicates dealers expect the acreage under precision farming management to increase by 90 percent next year.
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