April 15, 2021

Precision Agriculture and Technology

by: Michael Langemeier and Michael Boehlje

Precision agriculture utilizes biotechnology and nutritional technology; monitoring, measuring, and information technology; and process control technology to increase resource efficiency, reduce input cost, and/or improve product value.  This series of articles will discuss precision agricultural technologies, potential payoffs of using these technologies, and the capabilities and skills that will be needed to manage these technologies.

ARTICLES WITHIN PUBLICATION:

Importance of New Technologies for Crop Farming

March 5, 2021

Adoption of technology has been important to production agriculture for decades. Through the adoption of technology and improved managerial practices, aggregate agricultural U.S. farm output in the United States tripled from 1948 to 2017 with almost no corresponding increase in aggregate input (USDA-ERS, 2021). For reasons explained below, the adoption of technology in production agriculture…

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Information Technology and Value Creation

March 12, 2021

The use of information technology systems or digital technology has evolved through a number of stages over the last two to three decades. During the 1990s, it was recognized that more accurate and timely data could be used to make better decisions.

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The Role of Information in Today’s Uncertain Business Climate

March 18, 2021

The increasing role that knowledge and information play in obtaining control of resources, increasing profits, and reducing risk in farming is occurring for two fundamental reasons. The first reason is the dramatic growth in knowledge and information of the chemical, biological, and physical processes involved in agricultural production.

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Adoption of Precision Agriculture Technologies

March 26, 2021

This article discussed the adoption of precision agriculture technologies. Adoption rates have been very high during the last ten years, and given the increased venture capital devoted to developing these technologies is likely to continue at an accelerated pace.

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Potential Payoffs of Precision Farming

April 2, 2021

This article discussed the possible payoffs for the agricultural producer, for the value chain, and for the
environment associated with the further adoption of precision agriculture. As we develop technologies
and tools to expand the toolkit for precision farming and digitization systems and platforms to enhance
farmer’s profit margins as well as create value for the value chain and society as a whole, the farming
sector will be increasingly transformed from “growing stuff” to biological manufacturing.

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Automation and Robotics in Production Agriculture

April 9, 2021

This article discussed trends in automation and robotics in the general economy, and provided examples
of using these technologies in production agriculture. Possible benefits of the adoption of automation and robotics will include reductions in costs, improvements in productivity, increases in the production of value-added products, reduced downtime and improved capacity utilization, and reductions in operating risk.

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What Will Be the Capabilities and Skills Needed to Manage the Farm of the Future?

April 15, 2021

A recent article discussed a number of automation and precision agriculture technologies that will be increasingly used in production agriculture. The adoption and use of these technologies will require additional expertise and skills of managers and the workforce on the farm in the future. This article explores the capabilities and skills that may be needed…

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