REGINA – Precision farming is proving itself in the high-input, high-yield American corn belt, but will it pay for itself in low-input prairie dryland farming?
Depending on whom you talk to, the answer ranges from an emphatic “yes” to a qualified “probably.”
This year’s Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association annual meeting featured several speakers on precision agriculture.
More study needed
Dan Pennock, of the department of soil science at the University of Saskatchewan, called the technology “a remarkable tool” with interesting possibilities, but more study is needed to confirm its economic viability.
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But Don Butcher, who is a partner in Precision Alliance, Manitoba’s first independent precision farming service provider, said even in its rudimentary state, the technology will start making money for the user within one or two years.
And he said precision farming will frustrate university and government researchers because, by its nature, it doesn’t lend itself to generalizations.
“The grower is the driver, not the research department … .
“The response (to targeting inputs) on your farm or part of a field will be a unique response and it will be very difficult to predict responses province-wide.”
As for the expense, he said a yield monitor costs about $7,500 and on 1,000 acres of cropland it would only have to boost yield by one or two bushels to pay for itself.
Pennock thinks there is room for both practical and more basic research.
“I don’t think there is a substantial difference of opinion. There is a need for different levels of research to meet different needs,” he said.
He added that although some farmers will have the inclination and computer skills to develop management plans to make the best use of the field data that precision technology can provide, wider use depends on farmers turning to consultants.
There is a history in corn and soybean areas of the United States, Ontario and even the high moisture areas in Manitoba of farmers using consultant to help draft management plans.
But in drier Saskatchewan and Alberta that has not been the case, he said in an interview. With a tradition of independent decision making, will farmers be willing to pay for consultants, he asked.
However, eventually the technology will become commonplace and farmers will be using it to save money in ways we haven’t even considered, he said.
