DENVER, Colo. – Farmers are forming technology associations to deal with precision agriculture issues, says Dave Varner of the University of Nebraska.
“Between those and the (internet discussion) forums for farmers, there has been some producer driven information about precision ag getting out there,” he said.
Varner said Montana farmers have been leaders in forming support associations.
“Participation has no boundaries on-line. The Agtalk forum ( www.newagtalk.com) is very busy with farmers from here and Canada,” he said.
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“On-line communication seems like a natural for farmers due to their locations and the nature of this subject.”
Nebraska farmers set up the Nebraska Agricultural Technologies Association at www.neata.org in 2001 and most recently its related Facebook forum at www.facebook.com/neatapage.
“Long-term members of these forums and associations have become the experts in this technology,” said Varner, an agriculture extension specialist.
“The whole farm community benefits from sharing their collective knowledge.”
Other websites include farmingforum.co.uk, www.ksagresearch.com/smf and www.extension.org/category/precision agriculture.
It’s a fact
Science-based analysis of the food supply by Britain’s Royal Society suggests that the planet should not make use of the four billion acres of potentially arable land that is unused or underused, mainly in Africa and Latin America.
Doing so would more than double the current supply of 3.5 billion acres, but the cost to the ecosystem would result in widespread environmental damage.
The association recommends sustainable intensification, based on the use of improvements in plant breeding and precision farming technology that make better use of nutrients and water.
