Half of the farmers in the biggest corn, soybean, and wheat states employ precision agriculture in their operations — from GPS guidance of tractors and combines to deploying drones to scout fields or monitor livestock — twice the national average, said a USDA report on computer usage on Wednesday. Far more farms have a cellular internet connection than broadband; 18 percent have no internet access at all.
Earlier this year, two Purdue economists said that adoption rates for precision agriculture technology “have been very high during the past 10 years, and given the increased venture capital devoted to developing these technologies, [are] likely to continue at an accelerated pace.” For crops, precision agriculture uses computers to track production in each section of land on a farm and tailor seed, fertilizer, and pesticide usage accordingly. Large-scale operators were both the most keenly interested in the technology and the most pleased with the results of using it, said a 2019 Purdue survey.
Overall, 57 percent of farms access the internet through a cellular data plan, compared to 41 percent that use a high-speed connection via DSL, cable, or fiber-optic, said the USDA’s Farm Computer Usage and Ownership report, which is issued every two years. In a June survey that drew 15,000 responses, 82 percent of farmers said they have internet access, up from 75 percent in 2019.
Smartphones were the most popular device. Sixty-three percent of farmers have one, compared to 55 percent with a desktop or laptop computer and 24 percent with a tablet.
For the first time, the USDA asked producers if they use precision agriculture practices to manage crops or livestock. “This would include use of global positioning (GPS) guidance systems, GPS yield monitoring and soil mapping, variable rate input applications, use of drones for scouting fields or monitoring livestock, electronic tagging, precision feeding, robotic milking, etc.,” said the survey.
In six major Farm Belt states, from Illinois to North Dakota, positive responses were roughly double the U.S. average of 25 percent. Some 54 percent of farms in North Dakota said they use precision agriculture, followed closely by South Dakota (53 percent), Iowa (52 percent), Nebraska (51 percent), Illinois (48 percent), and Kansas (46 percent). The report did not specify which practices are being used.
Iowa is the No. 1 corn and hog state; Illinois leads the nation in soybean production; Kansas and North Dakota compete for No. 1 in wheat; Nebraska and Kansas are among the top cattle states; and South Dakota is a key grower of sunflowers, wheat, corn, and soybeans.
Precision agriculture “is not one technology but a toolkit from which farmers choose what they need,” wrote James Lowenberg-DeBoer of Great Britain’s Hunter Adams University and Bruce Erickson of Purdue in an Agronomy Journal article in 2019. Global Navigation Satellite Systems guidance, known as GPS in the United States, “is being adopted rapidly. Variable rate technology adoption rarely exceeds 20 percent of farms.”
GPS guidance “and associated technologies like sprayer boom control and planter row or section shutoffs are becoming standard practice for mechanized agriculture,” said the article. “They are being adopted as fast as any agricultural technology in recent memory.”
To read the Farm Computer Usage and Ownership report, click here.