Precise pastures
By James D. Ritchie

Producers tend to think about precision agriculture in terms of row-crops. But forage and pastures benefit from this agronomic tool as well. MFA's precision agronomy program assists producers with both row-crops and pastures.

Precision agriculture has become the catchall phrase to describe management practices that allow for variability within fields. But the big challenge has been--and still is--to show the value of precision technology at a basic agronomic and economic level. Systems need to provide growers with solutions for planning, planting, growing and harvesting--not just help a farmer precisely identify his position in the field.

"Our mission is, first, to collect baseline information that lets us know what we've got," said David Hughes, manager of MFA's newly formed Precision Agronomy Systems. "In Missouri, soils are more variable than in some other regions. We can use site-specific techniques to identify and catalog that variability. Then, a farmer can decide where to target limited dollars to best achieve a yield and profit response."

MFA Agricultural Systems Information Lab (ASIL) is headquartered at the MFA home office in Columbia. Hughes and Ron Richmond, MFA's precision farming specialist, formerly managed precision-farming systems at the Lexington and Macon MFA Agri Services Centers, respectively.

Basic to ASIL's service is establishing accurate farm and field boundaries. These are represented on high-resolution aerial photographs, with field acreages shown. Where GPS (global positioning systems) is used, actual acres can be determined.

"Then, we accurately inventory the soil resources in each field," said Richmond. "Not just the fertility, but other soil characteristics that affect the inherent productivity of that particular parcel of land. The real logic of variability in the field is variability of production.

"You need to start with the end in mind," he added. "You need a goal--a destination--before you can figure out how to get there."

And this approach may have more potential to increase income on forage land than on cropland, he said. He notes that most rowcrop growers have historically managed their soil resources more intensively than have forage/livestock producers.

"When you are willing to evaluate land resources and, if necessary, redesign the architecture of each field, you can do a lot better job managing forage production and overall farm/ranch efficiency," said Dr. Paul Tracy, director of agronomy services for MFA. "With accurate mapping, you can tailor your management to fit your resources."

"The concept [site-specific management] for us is the same with pasture and cropland," said John McBee, manager of Circle A Angus North, near Huntsville, Mo. "We want to identify those areas where our fertilizer dollars can be spent to our best advantage."

McBee has sampled more than 5,000 acres of forage land on five-acre grids. He also has sampled some 1,400 acres of cropland on two-acre grids.

"I didn't realize how much variation there is in pasture ground pH, nitrogen, phosphorus and potash," McBee added. "A lot of our land is reclaimed coal strip-mine ground. We started gridding and sampling pastures three years ago. Our main benefit has been cost savings with variable-rate fertilizer application.

"We use variable-rate application on those pastures that are most productive," he continued. "We are getting more production from each fertilizer dollar by doing this than we would from trying to get more production from more marginal land. I think the cost of grid sampling and mapping will be paid back over a five-year period, and it gives me a lot better idea of what the farm is doing."

However, if you plan to use precision techniques solely for variable-rate fertility application, you'll be missing a lot of the potential, said Tracy.

"I look at it as an entire forage-animal management system, not just as precision farming techniques applied to forage land," he said. "In fact, on most pastures, soil sampling on grids will not be the most important element in forage improvement.

"Look at the plants; what's growing there and how healthy are they?" he continued. "The No. 1 influence on yields, in both crops and forages, is moisture management. Weed and brush control are critical in many grasslands."

David Hughes agrees. "For forage producers, just identifying the resources they control and how best to manage those resources is a great leap forward, especially with more marginal land. A grower needs to take a harder look at how he manages what he has. That alone can lead to more intensive management of the resources a farmer has. Precision farming techniques are a tool to help him do that, but the tool itself doesn't make success."

With ASIL, Hughes and Richmond can centralize technical support and standardize how information is gathered, processed and recorded. "As we go along, we also want to lend marketing support to farmers," said Hughes. "And we will also be able to document good environmental stewardship, which is becoming more important all the time."

And it all starts with modifying your field design to best fit your resource base.

"The goal is to help producers put that information into practice in ways that will boost their bottom lines," said Ron Richmond. "It's going to take some effort on the farmers' part, too. To know but not to do is the same as not knowing."