Spotlight on Economics: Economic Lessons From 精密股份有限公司riculture in N.D.

Precision agriculture has become a new frontier for technology adoption.

埃里克汉森, assistant professor, NDSU Agribusiness and Applied Economics Department (NDSU photo)

埃里克·汉森，助理教授

NDSU Agribusiness and Applied Economics Department

Agricultural technology has been evolving for centuries.

Increased production and reduced production risk are some of the many benefits derived from technological advancements. In the 21st century, precision agriculture has become a new frontier for technology adoption.

Precision agriculture involves collecting data and making farm management decisions with great locational specificity. By accounting for variability within a field, precision agriculture technologies may allow farm managers to maximize yields, 降低投入成本或降低风险.

Precision agriculture technologies include commonly adopted tools such as global positioning systems for providing precise location information, automatic section control for reducing overapplication of crop inputs, and variable-rate technologies for adjusting seeding and fertilizer application rates throughout a field. Emerging technologies such as 卫星图像 and unmanned aircraft systems for monitoring crop progress are also part of this category.

A 2018 survey of North Dakota farm owners offers greater clarity on precision agriculture adoption and usage patterns. Survey responses were received from 453 individuals, 176 of who were active decision makers on operations that grow crops. These 176 crop operations are considered in the remainder of this article.

Data were collected on the adoption of automatic section control, 自动驾驶和全球定位系统, 卫星图像, 可变速率施氮, variable-rate seeding and unmanned aircraft systems. The most commonly adopted technologies were 自动驾驶和全球定位系统 (adopted by 60% of respondents), 自动分段控制(53%), 可变速率施氮 (34%) and variable-rate seeding (27%). Satellite imagery (15%) and unmanned aircraft systems (7%) were adopted by relatively few respondents.

The specific operations that adopt precision agriculture technologies often can be explained by the concept of economies of size. Economies of size exist when average costs are decreasing as output is increasing. 除其他原因外, economies of size may exist because larger operations can fully use their resources, 比如技术, and can invest in expensive technologies that may be infeasible for smaller operations.

意料之中的是, the survey shows that larger operations are more likely to adopt precision agriculture technologies. 与较小的操作相比, 至少有2个操作,000 crop acres were 46% more likely to have adopted automatic section control, 40% more likely to have adopted 自动驾驶和全球定位系统, 20% more likely to have adopted 卫星图像, 41% more likely to have adopted 可变速率施氮 and 28% more likely to have adopted variable-rate seeding. This reflects trends in precision agriculture adoption that have been noted in previous years and across different regions.

The survey also found connections between cropping patterns and precision agriculture technology adoption. 在分析的176种作物操作中, 62%的人种植玉米, 76%的人种植大豆, 74% grew wheat and 61% grew at least one other crop. (These percentages don’t add up to 100% because most operations grew more than one crop.)

Farm management decisions often are guided by the concepts of marginal input cost (the cost of using one more unit of an input) and marginal value product (the increase in revenue created by using that additional input). Marginal input cost and marginal value product are used to maximize profits.

Precision agriculture technologies allow farm managers to make profit-maximizing decisions with greater accuracy. The potential benefit of making these decisions correctly, and therefore the potential benefit of adopting precision agriculture technologies, may be heightened for crops that have relatively high input costs or revenues.

意料之中的是, 玉米生产商, who face higher production costs for inputs such as seed and fertilizer than producers of most other North Dakota crops, were more likely to have adopted precision agriculture technologies than other producers.

Precision agriculture technologies are prominent in production systems in North Dakota and across the U.S. As these technologies become even more widespread in the years to come, fundamental economic concepts will continue to provide useful perspectives on precision agriculture technology adoption and usage.

NDSU农业通讯- 8月. 19, 2020