Using Precision Technologies to Conduct Large Scale on-Farm Research.

The adoption of precision agriculture technologies including mapping and GIS software programs, commercial farm machinery equipped with prescription-enabled variable rate (VR) controls, and combines equipped with GPS-enabled yield monitors, has streamlined the process for conducting on-farm research. The coordinated use of these technologies enables researchers to establish protocols that minimize the cooperating farmer's logistics, while maintaining the integrity of sound scientific research. Commercially available mapping software programs are used to create field-scale spatial plot designs that are directly uploaded to the VR display to spatially control seeding, sidedress nitrogen fertilizer, or starter fertilizer rates for individual treatments. Calibrated yield monitors allow farmers to collect yield data for each treatment without having to change their normal harvesting procedures. To date, we have conducted over 20 starter fertilizer / biological trials, over 90 seeding rate trials and over 260 nitrogen rate on-farm trials in Indiana. The data are processed with commercial GIS software programs and aggregated to develop optimum seeding and nitrogen rate recommendations that are applicable to different growing environments, farming practices, and hybrids. Results from individual on-farm trials were also grouped together based on similar regions and soil types to develop region-specific recommendations. Recently, our focus has transitioned to use these large field-scale data sets to examine the response to seeding and nitrogen rate within a field based on management zones derived from soil and landscape properties and historical yield data.