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DON BOT, OF COTTONWOOD, MINN., PEERS AT HIS 486 laptop computer. It shows a map of the corn and soybean fields on his 700-acre farm and tells him exactly how much fertilizer each fraction of an acre needs. No surprises so far. Except that Bot, 46, has the computer mounted between the steering wheel and windshield of his tractor cab, whose most high-tech feature before this was being able to pull either fertilizer or planting equipment. By spring, Bot will have a $3,000 receiver to pick up radio signals from a nearby tower; it will unscramble a satellite signal, allowing him to know, within six to 10 feet, where he is on earth. The data will tell Bot how much fertilizer his current location needs--then the computer will automatically apply that much and no more.
Bot represents the first wave of a revolution called "precision farming," which uses fewer pesticides and less fertilizer, thereby cutting waste and increasing yields. Having embraced heavy machinery and then chemicals, farmers are now adding computers and satellites to their equipment. "People think of farming as cows and pigs, but we are really getting technological," says soil scientist Pierre Robert of the University of Minnesota.
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Instead of treating an 80- to 600-acre farm as a homogeneous patch of soil, precision farming divides the land into dozens of parcels and micromanages each as a farm unto itself. Soil in each two- to five-acre rectangle is rigorously analyzed to determine its composition, nutrient needs and organic matter. Monitors on combines record how much each area yields. The information is loaded into a consultant's database. Then, using software developed for agriculture, a consultant determines how much fertilizer each parcel requires, and downloads the program to a computer in the tractor pulling a spreader. As the spreader wends its way through the fields, the amount of fertilizer sprayed is controlled by the computer (giving new meaning to the term spreadsheet). The satellite link tells the farmer when he has reached the spot that needs, say, extra nitrogen.
"We're trying to treat different parts of the field differently," says Dennis Berglund of CENTROL Crop Consulting in Twin Valley, Minn., "to get the best return and have the least environmentalimpact." In standard farming, excess fertilizer leeches off the land and into the ground water. But if fertilizer application is determined by the condition of each parcel, that problem should go the way of the draft horse. Precision farming should cut expenses by directing the fertilizer only to where it is needed. Early studies show that this technique can increase profits by $50 to $150 an acre, says Pierre Robert, thanks to cost savings and extra yields. If that holds up, precision farming could become as indispensable as sunshine.
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