Precision Agriculture Questions and Answers
By Terry Griffin Ph.D.
We’ve heard a lot about precision agriculture over the last 10 years. How widespread is the technology being used today?
Precision agriculture has continued becoming more widespread since the commercialization of most of the individual components of the technology. One component that has been around relatively longer is the yield monitor. The latest information from USDA in 2004 states that over 30% of planted acres of corn and soybean were harvested with a combine that has a yield monitor. These estimates fall to 10 to 15% when the yield monitor is associated with a GPS unit.
However, what is more interesting about the adoption of precision agriculture technologies is the acceptance of GPS-enabled navigation technologies such as lightbars, assisted steering, and automated guidance. Annual surveys of agricultural service providers indicate that lightbars are used by nearly 80% of dealers and automated guidance by 20% of dealers in 2007. In the previous two years, only 5 to 6% of service providers used automated guidance. Lightbars had similar adoption rates.
(Terry Griffin, Ph.D.)
I’ve heard that the WAAS correction for GPS will not be working as it has for this fall. Is this true?
For some farmers and agricultural service providers using WAAS correction for GPS signals, there may be an interruption in use. The GPS system continues to operate as usual, but for users relying upon WAAS correction a software or hardware change may be necessary. This is due to older WAAS satellites being taken off line and replaced with two new satellites. Some GPS receivers will automatically lock onto the new WAAS satellites while some receivers require a firmware upgrade to have WAAS correction. The major GPS manufacturers have information available on their websites.
(Terry Griffin, Ph.D.)
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