Quantifying the Economic Benefits of On-Farm Digital Technologies
This article was originally published on the farmdoc Daily website by Micah Pope and Steve Sonka. Precision agriculture has become mainstream in commercial agriculture production, and many would agree that it is “the way we farm today.” Utilization of technology varies from farmer to farmer, but the decision to invest in technology is commonly tied to the potential for increased efficiency and profitability. However, over the last couple of years, we’ve observed an interesting paradox when visiting with farmers who use precision agriculture technologies. Often, we would ask: “What is the economic return from use of those technologies?” That [...]
Evidence, Data and Farmer Decision Making
This article was originally published on farmdoc Daily by Micah Pope and Steve Sonka. Throughout much of agriculture’s history, farmers had to make decisions based only upon observation and recollection. Both sources are not precise, but it was the best evidence available. As scientific methods were introduced, farmers could employ research-based recommendations to improve production efficiency. Progress followed, even though the recommendations had to be general in nature (apply 1.2 pounds of nitrogen per bushel of expected corn yield). This applied research and outreach provided better evidence to support farmer decision making. Digital technologies are again changing the farmer decision [...]
and then