Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Minutes of NCERA-180 (Site-Specific Management) in Dayton, Ohio on January 5-6, 2006 1. Nathan Watermeier (Ohio State University) opened the meeting at 8:40 a.m. on January 5th. He indicated that they at OSU had submitted the various paperwork for continuation of the groups activities. 2. K.C. Ting (University of Illinois) gave the Administrative Advisor report. He indicated that the group submitted the minutes, impact statement, and renewal proposal. He discussed various proposal, reporting, and other requirements. We must submit SAES-442 within 60 days. He suggested that the group visit the NCRA and NIMSS websites. 3. K.C. Ting (University of Illinois) gave the CSREES Update, including a list of CSREES liasons. 4. David Mulla (University of Minnesota) discussed the 8th International Conference on Precision Agriculture on 23-26 July in Minneapolis. The web site is: http://precision.agri.umn.edu/conference . The abstracts are due 31 January with the papers due 19 June. There will be parallel tracks with technical and A-Z for Practitioners. He solicited input for keynote presentations. 5. Viacheslav Adamchuk (University of Nebraska) discussed precision agriculture teaching concepts. He received 18 completed surveys from 14 states. Every course is for 3 credits. Most have about 2 hours of lecture and 2 hours of laboratory per week. He presented details of instructors, students (281 in 2003-2004), and course topics. Please see the website and notify Prof. Adamchuk if there should be any additions or changes: bse.unl.edu/adamchuk/pa_teaching. 6. Newell Kitchen (USDA-ARS) discussed activities in the ASA/SSSA/CSSA societies. A special issue in the journal Computers and Electronics in Agriculture will be based on a symposium. 7. Fran Pierce (Washington State University) presented their work on sensor networks in agriculture. 8. Tim Stombauch (University of Kentucky) presented their work on dynamic GPS positioning accuracy and management resolution. He also indicated that there is substantial effort within ASABE to develop standards for precision agriculture testing and reporting. 9. Eric Lund (VERIS Technologies) discussed the equipment technologies for precision agriculture which their company provides. 10. Harold Reetz (PPI-FAR) reported on the activities of FAR. He also discussed the precision agriculture tour sponsored after the WCSS meeting. More information can be found at www.farmresearch.com . 11. Sid Siefken (Trimble) reported on the products of their company and some industry trends. 12. Dennis Francis (University of Nebraska) presented information on sensor considerations. 13. Robert Mullen (Ohio State University) and Newell Kitchen (USDA-ARS) presented information on sensor-based algorithm performance. 14. Jesse Lowenberg-DeBoer (Purdue University) presented information on the economics of precision agriculture. Information is available at www.purdue.edu/ssmc . 15. A detailed tour of the Trimble facility in Dayton was conducted with transportation provided by bus. 16. Nyle Wollenhaupt (AGCO Corporation) presented information on environmental concerns and precision agriculture. He also indicated the importance of ISOBUS (ISO 11783). 17. Larry C. Brown (Ohio State University) discussed drainage and the use of GPS. 18. John K. Schueller (University of Florida) presented on the 2007 NCERA-180 meeting in Florida. Details on hotel, conference site, schedule, and other items were presented. Input, especially on the program, was solicited. It should be sent to wslee@ufl.edu and schuejk@ufl.edu . 19. A business meeting was held. Various items were discussed. The site of the 2008 was selected to be in Minnesota. Prof. David Mulla was elected as secretary and will rotate to Chair after the 2007 meeting. John K. Schueller rotated to Chair after this meeting.

Site-specific crop management (SSCM), commonly known as precision agriculture (PA), is a very broad concept. It is the management of crop production agriculture with proper concern for the spatial and temporal variabilities which are inherrent in crop production agriculture. As a consequence, it is very diverse and interdisciplinary. The NCERA180 has a very broad membership throughout the country, not just the North Central region. It is also diverse in its members' disciplinary backgrounds. In addition, the members are involvement in this project includes activities in research, education, and extension. The past year again witnessed continued achievements by the members of NCERA180 across such a broad and diverse front. There is insufficient space here to describe all the activities. On the research front, the members have been developing a better understanding of spatial and temporal variabilities, how to measure the variabilities, how handle variability data, and how to understand and communicate the variabilities. This included substantial efforts on sensing and mapping. This also included developing understandings of management zones, sensors, mapping and analysis techniques, and other aspects. There are at least a dozen participants in the committee who are teaching university courses in this subject. Both informal and formal committee discussions have resulted in sharing information about course content and conduct and about potential future improvements, including the sharing of datasets. SSCM and PA technologies are widely used and being considered by more of our clients. Accordingly, there is a great need for extension and other outreach education efforts. These needs are being met by activities and accomplishments of committee members. Information particularly was needed and presented on the characteristics of various PA technologies, the generation and use of management zones, the interpretation of yield maps, and determining prescriptions. A greatly increasing interest is in the area of automated guidance. Committee members have responded by developing research, instruction modules, and extension activities. This is a very big and diverse committee. So only a limited number of examples of accomplishments will be provided below. Researchers in Minnesota compared methods for delineation of management zones. They found that a combination of yield related and landscape related attributes were needed. They also developed understandings of the variable rate application of nitrogen and phosphorus. They showed the variations in yield response and nutrient losses to the environment. Researchers in Indiana showed how to apply PA to field scale research. This allows large block, low replication field trials. The investigators won an Innovator Award for this work. They also surveyed input retailers and found that three-quarters use some PA technologies. They developed sensors for soil properties and remote detection of weed infestations. As an example of the educational achievements, consider the courses taught at the University of Florida. They are AOM 4434 Precision Agriculture and AOM 5435 Advanced Precision Agriculture. These courses cover such topics as the global positioning system, geographic information systems, soil sampling and analysis, yield mapping, remote sensing, and variable rate application. These courses, and similar courses at other institutions, are being updated through efforts of the committee members to share ideas and content. Activities in Nebraska are a good example of the achievements in extension. Curricula on workshops and other outreach educational activities relevant to precision agriculture has been developed and implemented throughout Nebraska. For example, a series of Precision Agriculture Workshops was developed to introduce potential users to different technologies involved in precision agriculture to increase profitability and reduce environmental risk of crop production. The average estimated value of the knowledge obtained was $5.37/acre. Another example is the Auto-Guidance Field Day held near Mead. Participants learned the purpose and main components of auto-guidance systems for agricultural vehicles, the available technical solutions, and the benefits and drawbacks of alternative auto-guidance concepts. With an average estimated value of the knowledge gained of $10.87/acre, the total dollar value of the field day was more than $2.9 million. Similar activities in research, teaching, and extension were undertaken with often-equivalent results in other states.

Given the large membership of this committee, it is not possible to list all the publications. In general, there are certain publishing venues whose USA contributors are likely to be NCERA180 members working on NCERA180 activities. For example these include: 1. The journal "Precision Agriculture" where most of the USA-authored articles are NCERA180-related. 2. The journal "Computers and Electronics in Agriculture" where many of the USA-authored articles are NCERA-180 related. 3. Conference and journal publications of some professional societies with significant SSCM or PA content. These especially include ASABE, ASA, and SSSA. 4. The biennial International Conference on Precision Agriculture held in Minneapolis in even-numberd years is dominated by NCERA180 contributions. 5. Most of the USA contributions to the biennial European Conference on Precision Agriculture are NCERA180 efforts. 6. A wide variety of extension publications are published in the states which are members of this committee. A somewhat random sampling of publications might be: Mulla, D. J. (Ed.) 2005. Proc. 7th Intl. Conf. Prec. Agric. Includes 176 papers and 2000 pages of research. Univ. Minnesota. St. Paul, MN. Shin, D. J., W. S. Lee, and S. Y. Na. 2005. Dynamic load estimation in silage harvesting. Trans. ASAE 48(4): 1131-1320 Lee, W. S., J. K. Schueller, and T. F. Burks. 2005. Wagon-based silage yield mapping system. Agricultural Engineering. (online journal) Vol. VII. Manuscript IT 05 003. Subramanian V., T.F. Burks, and S. Singh. 2005. Autonomous Greenhouse Sprayer Vehicle using Machine Vision and Ladar for Steering Control. Applied Engineering in Agriculture 21(5):1-9. Ping, J.L., and A. Dobermann. 2005. Processing of yield map data. Precision Agriculture 6:193-212. Y. Miao, D. J. Mulla and P. C. Robert. 2005. Combining soil-landscape and spatial-temporal variability of yield information to delineate site-specific management zones. In: (J. V. Stafford, ed.), Proc. 5th European Conf. Precision Ag. P. 811-818. Wageningen Academic Publ. Wageningen, The Netherlands. Bausch, Walter C. and Jorge A. Delgado. 2005. Impact of residual soil nitrate on in-season nitrogen applications to irrigated corn based on remotely sensed assessments of crop nitrogen status. Precision Agriculture 6: 509-519. Schepers, A., J. F. Shanahan, M. A. Liebig, J.S. Schepers, S. Johnson, and A. Luchiari. Agron. J. Appropriateness of management zones for characterizing spatial variability of soil properties and corn yields across years. Agron. J. 96:195-204. 2004. Adamchuk, V.I., M.T. Morgan, and J.M. Lowenberg-DeBoer. 2004. A model for agro-economic analysis of soil pH mapping. Precision Agriculture, 5:109-127. Siefken, R.J., V.I. Adamchuk, D.E. Eisenhauer, and L.L. Bashford. 2005. Mapping soil mechanical resistance with a multiple blade system. Applied Engineering in Agriculture 21(1):15-23. Adamchuk, V.I., J.W. Hummel, M.T. Morgan, and S.K. Upadhyaya. 2004. On-the-go soil sensors for precision agriculture. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 44:71-91. Delgado, J.A. and W.C. Bausch. 2005. Potential use of precision conservation techniques to reduce nitrate leaching in irrigated crops. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 60(6): 38-46. Wiles, L.J. 2005. Sampling to make maps for site-specific weed management. Weed Science 53:228-235. Scharf, P.C., Kitchen, N.R., Sudduth, K.A., Davis, J.G., Hubbard, V.C., Lory, J.A. 2005. Field-Scale Variability in Optimal Nitrogen Fertilizer Rate for Corn. Agronomy Journal. 97:452-461. P. Gowda and D. Mulla. 2005. Environmental benefits of precision agriculture-A modeling case study. Intl Annual Meeting Am. Soc. Ag. Eng., Tampa, FL. Paper No. 051042. Cugati, S.A., W.M. Miller, and J.K. Schueller. 2005. Dynamic modeling of variable-rate granular applicator hydraulic flow control valve. 5th European Conference on Precision Agriculture. Uppsala, Sweden. June 9-12. Tarr, A.B., K.J. Moore, D.G. Bullock, P.M. Dixon, C.L. Burns. 2005. Improving map accuracy of soil variables using soil electrical conductivity as a covariate. Precision Agriculture 6:255-270. Kitchen, N.R., Sudduth, K.A., Myers, D.B., Massey, R.E., Sadler, E.J., Lerch, R.N., Hummel, J.W., Palm, H.L. 2005. Development of a Conservation-Oriented Precision Agriculture System: Crop Production Assessment and Plan Implementation. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. 60(6):421-430.