Precision agriculture is a farming method that uses the global navigation satellite system (GNSS), sensors on the ground, and drones in the air to study individual farm fields. With these tools, farmers can fine-tune their approaches to planting, harvesting, and maintaining crops to save themselves time and money. Minnesota farmers have used the technology since the early 1990s to improve crop yields while protecting the health of their soil.
Precision agriculture is also known as site-specific crop management, satellite agriculture, and as-needed farming. Although there are multiple definitions, the U.S. Department of Agriculture defines the method’s goal as making the most of “inputs for agricultural production according to the capability of the land.” In practice, this means considering the strengths and weaknesses of land before seeding it.
Farmers have worked towards this goal in Minnesota and around the world for thousands of years. In the twenty-first century, however, they use satellites, ground sensors, drones, and real-time data collection to achieve it.
The global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and related equipment allow farmers to look more closely at their fields. Satellites provide real-time data to tools like tractors, combines, mowers, and water sprayers. The tools, in turn, communicate via Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Global Information Systems (GIS). The GPS units work with GNSS and ground stations across the globe to pinpoint exact locations; GIS methods help farmers map their fields. In this way, crop producers exploit technology in order to operate sustainably while increasing their yields.
Sensors in the ground and attached to field equipment can measure soil conditions such as water or potassium content. The sensor data is combined with GNSS and GIS to create another type of field map—one that illustrates soil contents. Equipment can read the maps and, in response, apply the appropriate level of seeds, water, nutrients, or chemicals to each zone of the field. Farmers can also use the maps to adjust crop management and plan for future growing seasons.
Drones are another key part of precision agriculture. After they fly over a field and survey its zones, farmers use the data they collect to create overhead images of their farmland that highlight areas with disease or pest issues. Patterns and colors not normally seen with the human eye may become visible.
Individual Minnesota farmers began experimenting with precision agriculture methods in the 1980s. The first tools they used were soil sensors capable of measuring organic matter. In 1985, in a test of related technology, University of Minnesota researchers sprayed different amounts of lime on fields and measured their effect. By the 1990s, commercial farms had begun to take up the practice in large numbers.
Since then, precision methods have become standard practice in Minnesota and throughout the upper Midwest. A 2006 survey of the Crop Ecology, Management, and Quality Division of the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA Division C-3) ranked precision technology one of the most game-changing farm tools developed between 1955 and 2005.
Consulting firms began to form across Minnesota in the 2000s to assist farmers in collecting data. They also analyzed these findings to make recommendations about how they can increase crop yields. Jerry Johnson founded one such firm, Superior Edge, in Mankato in 2003. Clients in Minnesota and the Dakotas increasingly sought out Johnson’s help with farm software and data collection.
Johnson formed a second company, Farmers Intelligence, in 2011 to sell drones that take aerial pictures of fields. By 2017, it had acquired more than thirty patents. A third Johnson venture—FourthWing Sensors—developed out of Farmers Intelligence to handle the drones’ design and manufacture.
The Precision Agriculture Center on the University of Minnesota’s St. Paul campus was established in 1995 to meet increasing demand for information-technology training related to farming. It was the first project of its kind in the United States. Responding to a demand for greater understanding of site-specific techniques in Minnesota, the Precision Agriculture Center promotes collaborative research, education, and outreach programs. It also partners with companies, farmers, and academics to develop training modules. In the 2010s, it expanded its offerings to cover modules in yield map interpretation, intensive soil sampling, farm experiment design, and precision farming profit studies.
The Center uses an area called Loveall’s Field in southern Minnesota for an ongoing research project. To demonstrate the value of site-specific soil fertility treatments, participants observe how sampling intensity and method affect fertility. They also evaluate the cost-effectiveness of intensive sampling. Throughout the process, they use site-specific data, often gathered with GNSS, GPS, and GIS, to make management decisions.
In 2017, Minnesota firms like Farm Intelligence and Superior Edge continue to lead the industry. Rowbot Systems, based in Minneapolis, builds two-foot-wide robots that farmers can program to navigate cornfields and apply nitrogen to soil.
Winfield United, a subsidiary of Land O’Lakes headquartered in Arden Hills, sells crop-protection products and management tools that draw from the principles of precision agriculture. Its name reflects the 2015 merger of Winfield Solutions, with United Supplies. Its flagship product, the R7 Tool©, allows farmers to apply seeds, nutrients, and crop-protecting treatments to fields at adjustable, customized rates. Members of the Agricultural Retailers Association named the R7 the winner of an industry-wide technology contest in October 2012.
Winfield earned $4.8 billion in revenue during 2015. In 2016, it partnered with the Climate Corporation to integrate the R7 Tool© with Climate FieldView™, a proprietary platform that monitors soil chemistry.
The ability of precision agriculture tools to accurately predict future conditions is likely to improve over time. Prediction accuracy in particular is helpful to farmers, since it can determine how they decide to plant and manage their fields. Prediction analysis helps them prepare their resources from season to season and year to year. As climate change accelerates and weather patterns become more extreme, monitoring annual changes will be increasingly important.