Cotton Farming

Although some cotton producers may think satellite imagery, onboard controllers, yield monitors and other precision farming components are beyond their means and are mostly tools for those committing large acreages to the crop, Mississippi producer Kenneth Hood and his associates in the research and remote sensing arenas have accumulated compelling data showing even small investments in this dynamic technology will be recouped and will enhance possibilities for profit in the short term, regardless of the acres managed in precision ag systems. Following is part three of a three-part series.

No More Happy Mediums
To illustrate insecticide savings resulting from precision ag techniques, Hood refers to 1,825 acres of cotton that he sprayed with Bidrin for plant bugs last year. Although the machine traveled over every acre of this field, only 1,046 acres – about 57 percent of the total – were treated. The savings in material amounted to 43 percent. On just that one application, the savings over the entire field amounted to $4,100, or about $2.25 per acre.

Hood admits that in years past he would often try to hit a happy medium with a particular application, an approach that may not help the crop in the long run and at the same time may be a waste of money budgeted for the particular chemical being applied.

"For example, let's say the vegetation index indicates a need for 12 ounces of Pix in part of a field, 8 ounces in another part and no Pix at all in yet another part," he explains. "Before depending on precision ag procedures to regulate the application, I might just settle on an eight-ounce, blanket application across the whole field. In reality, that both hurts yield and wastes money. Eight ounces wouldn't be enough where 12 ounces were needed, thus setting the stage for rank growth, and on areas where the plants needed more size, the Pix would arrest vegetative growth.

"With precision ag, you put precise amounts where they're needed precisely when needed. Last year, we saved 50 percent in material costs on plant growth regulator applications."

No two growing seasons are exactly alike, and thus the process of finishing out a crop and preparing it for termination cannot be carried out the same way each year. But, as Hood has learned, accurately programming waterings and fertility inputs toward the end of the growing season offers the potential for speeding up a crop 10 days to two weeks, meaning definite gains in time and dollars, not to mention giving the producer the edge on beating adverse fall weather.

"Precision ag helps us to make crop termination less of an art and more of a science," he says. "We take imagery every week, and it's taught us a valuable lesson. What looks good to the human eye may not correspond with what the imagery – the big eye in the sky – is telling us."

To illustrate, Hood refers to a field irrigated by center pivot. One half had been planted to peanuts the year before. At maturity, anyone visually inspecting the whole field would have determined that both halves were ready to defoliate. But, by letting the vegetation index imagery make the call for him, Hood defoliated the side following peanuts 10 days after the other side. The side following peanuts out-yielded the other half of the field by an average of 200 pounds of lint per acre, a yield increase that would have been lost had the whole field been defoliated at once.

Near-Term Returns
Farmers who may want to implement a few precision ag techniques in their cotton production system, but who commit less acreage to the crop than do the Hoods, might be surprised to find out that getting started isn't nearly as expensive as they had supposed, given the possible returns in the near term.

Hood gives an example, using a figure of $10,000 to cover a yield monitor, subscription fees, mapping software and other items needed for initial precision ag implementation.

"Let's say a producer plants 600 acres of cotton and makes an initial $10,000 investment in precision ag," he says. "If this investment increases overall yield by only 10 pounds, in a 60-cent market he's recouped $3,600. If his precision ag expenditures save just $10.67 in seeding rates, herbicides, insecticides and plant growth regulators – which, in our experience, would be considerably lower than the combined savings for these inputs – he's completely recouped his $10,000 investment the first season."

But, as Hood is quick to point out, the real beauty of precision ag is the potential for increasing yields while reducing costs and making more improvements each successive growing season.

No matter how many acres a producer farms or how many different crops he grows, precision agriculture technology is available to him right now, and it is steadily improving and becoming more user friendly as time goes by.

"No prudent farmer jumps into any new system wholesale the first time around, and this is especially true of precision ag. Fortunately, this technology can be acquired incrementally, starting with the yield monitor. Our experience validates that precision agriculture aids in decisions having to do with diseases, weed and insect control, fertility, irrigation, crop termination, and much, much more. Ultimately, this technology can help producers put fewer dollars in a crop while taking more dollars out of it."

At Perthshire Farms, Precision Ag Maintains A Profitable Balance Between... ....DOLLARS IN AND DOLLARS OUT
Part Three of a 3-part Series By Jimmy Reed Managing Editor
Although some cotton producers may think satellite imagery, onboard controllers, yield monitors and other precision farming components are beyond their means and are mostly tools for those committing large acreages to the crop, Mississippi producer Kenneth Hood and his associates in the research and remote sensing arenas have accumulated compelling data showing even small investments in this dynamic technology will be recouped and will enhance possibilities for profit in the short term, regardless of the acres managed in precision ag systems. Following is part three of a three-part series. No More Happy Mediums To illustrate insecticide savings resulting from precision ag techniques, Hood refers to 1,825 acres of cotton that he sprayed with Bidrin for plant bugs last year. Although the machine traveled over every acre of this field, only 1,046 acres – about 57 percent of the total – were treated. The savings in material amounted to 43 percent. On just that one application, the savings over the entire field amounted to $4,100, or about $2.25 per acre. Hood admits that in years past he would often try to hit a happy medium with a particular application, an approach that may not help the crop in the long run and at the same time may be a waste of money budgeted for the particular chemical being applied. "For example, let's say the vegetation index indicates a need for 12 ounces of Pix in part of a field, 8 ounces in another part and no Pix at all in yet another part," he explains. "Before depending on precision ag procedures to regulate the application, I might just settle on an eight-ounce, blanket application across the whole field. In reality, that both hurts yield and wastes money. Eight ounces wouldn't be enough where 12 ounces were needed, thus setting the stage for rank growth, and on areas where the plants needed more size, the Pix would arrest vegetative growth. "With precision ag, you put precise amounts where they're needed precisely when needed. Last year, we saved 50 percent in material costs on plant growth regulator applications." No two growing seasons are exactly alike, and thus the process of finishing out a crop and preparing it for termination cannot be carried out the same way each year. But, as Hood has learned, accurately programming waterings and fertility inputs toward the end of the growing season offers the potential for speeding up a crop 10 days to two weeks, meaning definite gains in time and dollars, not to mention giving the producer the edge on beating adverse fall weather. "Precision ag helps us to make crop termination less of an art and more of a science," he says. "We take imagery every week, and it's taught us a valuable lesson. What looks good to the human eye may not correspond with what the imagery – the big eye in the sky – is telling us." To illustrate, Hood refers to a field irrigated by center pivot. One half had been planted to peanuts the year before. At maturity, anyone visually inspecting the whole field would have determined that both halves were ready to defoliate. But, by letting the vegetation index imagery make the call for him, Hood defoliated the side following peanuts 10 days after the other side. The side following peanuts out-yielded the other half of the field by an average of 200 pounds of lint per acre, a yield increase that would have been lost had the whole field been defoliated at once. Near-Term Returns Farmers who may want to implement a few precision ag techniques in their cotton production system, but who commit less acreage to the crop than do the Hoods, might be surprised to find out that getting started isn't nearly as expensive as they had supposed, given the possible returns in the near term. Hood gives an example, using a figure of $10,000 to cover a yield monitor, subscription fees, mapping software and other items needed for initial precision ag implementation. "Let's say a producer plants 600 acres of cotton and makes an initial $10,000 investment in precision ag," he says. "If this investment increases overall yield by only 10 pounds, in a 60-cent market he's recouped $3,600. If his precision ag expenditures save just $10.67 in seeding rates, herbicides, insecticides and plant growth regulators – which, in our experience, would be considerably lower than the combined savings for these inputs – he's completely recouped his $10,000 investment the first season." But, as Hood is quick to point out, the real beauty of precision ag is the potential for increasing yields while reducing costs and making more improvements each successive growing season. No matter how many acres a producer farms or how many different crops he grows, precision agriculture technology is available to him right now, and it is steadily improving and becoming more user friendly as time goes by. "No prudent farmer jumps into any new system wholesale the first time around, and this is especially true of precision ag. Fortunately, this technology can be acquired incrementally, starting with the yield monitor. Our experience validates that precision agriculture aids in decisions having to do with diseases, weed and insect control, fertility, irrigation, crop termination, and much, much more. Ultimately, this technology can help producers put fewer dollars in a crop while taking more dollars out of it."
Contact Jimmy Reed at (901) 767-4020 or by e-mail at jreed@vancepublishing.com
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