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PRECISION AG
ENVIRONMENTAL
BENEFITS
FANTASTIC, AS ARE
THE
ECONOMIC BENEFITS!
It’s official, the era of precision agriculture has arrived,
and its technologies are helping crop farmers make
significant gains, according to a study produced by the
Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM).
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
has identified the three pillars of sustainability for the
agriculture industry: 1) reduced environmental impact;
2) increased productivity and yield, and; 3) a better
overall economic result. Although simple enough in its
statement, it doesn’t work effectively unless all three
elements are met.
“For the environmental benefits of precision agriculture
to take shape, farmers need to generate more yield and
at least break even from a financial standpoint,” said
Curt Blades, AEM Senior Vice President of Ag Services.
“If a farmer is going to change a practice or invest in
a new technology, the economic impact of that action
has to be part of the conversation. Fortunately, we now
have some rather compelling research that makes it a
big part of the conversation.”
The AEM worked with the American Soybean
Association, CropLife America, and the National Corn
Growers Association on the study to examine how it
could better-align with the three USDA sustainability
pillars.
The group examined six areas of the crop farming
industry where precision agriculture can impact
environmentally and economically: productivity and
crop yield; fertilizer use; herbicide use; fossil fuel use;
water use, and; carbon emissions.
It then looked at five areas where precision agriculture
can make an impact: auto guidance; machine section
control; variable rate; fleet analytics (telematics), and;
precision irrigation.
“Farmers are the original stewards of the land and have
been doing good things for a long time. Technology
now affords farmers the ability to do even more—
things that could never have happened before,” Blades
stated.
The AEM study determined how precision ag
technologies can impact productivity, fertilizer and
herbicide application, fossil fuel usage, and water use.
THE RESULTS
The study examined various crop types across
the United States and determined that by utilizing
precision agriculture technologies, crop farmers are
successfully doing more with less.
Farmers utilizing precision agriculture technologies
gained a:
•
4 percent increase in crop production
•
7 percent reduction in fertilizer usage
•
9 percent reduction in herbicide application
•
6 percent reduction in fossil fuel required
•
4 percent reduction in water use
While the environmental benefits are fantastic, so too
are the economic benefits.
“That’s six percent less fuel on a tractor that is likely
running 20 hours a day for a couple of weeks
straight,” Blades explained. “That isn’t just real money
ANDREW JOSEPH
FARMS.COM
Precision agriculture technology study shows positive results in environmental
benefits and farm economics
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