Soybeans Today January 2001

SRVP farmer embraces precision ag

by Rich Maples

Kim Ellington is an old hand at using computers and satellite technology in his farming operation. Now the Chicot County farmer is working with the University of Arkansas to find new ways to tap into precision agriculture.

Ellington has enrolled a 72.5-acre field in the U of A's Soybean Research Verification Program. It's one of several fields where scientists are studying precision ag with funding from the Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board and the United Soybean Board.

Ellington's field is certainly the most unique of the verification fields. "It goes from a Hebert silt loam to a concrete-clay mixture to Perry clay," says the farmer.

The concrete-clay mixture, which he calls "Portland clay," is a remnant of World War II. The field, which is near Jerome, was once part of a relocation camp for Japanese-Americans. The field also has gravel from what was once a parking lot and a smokestack that was part of the camp's physical plant.

Ellington says, "The guy who bought the land from the government after the war moved the buildings out and left the concrete slabs. In the late 70s, my uncle got a bulldozer, dug a hole and pushed in the slabs."

Ellington and the SRVP team began their precision ag project in 1997. Dwayne Beaty, a U of A agronomist and SRVP coordinator, says, "We took soil samples on a 2.5-acre grid. We also looked at plant populations, measured soil moisture and collected tissue samples and nematode samples on the grid. At harvest, we recorded plant heights on the grid."

Beaty says, "Kim is ahead of the game in precision ag. He uses the data and does his own maps."

Ellington says, "The main thing I do with grid sampling is fertilizing. I have a hand-held computer that generates a map. I don't have a variable rate controller on my fertilizer buggy, but with the map and GPS on the tractor, I can set the rate and put out fertilizer where it's needed.

"We use the 2.5-acre grid on the research verification field, but I usually use a 5-acre grid. I do grid sampling across my entire farm."

He says his precision ag equipment has saved enough on fertilizer to pay for itself.

Ellington has been using a yield monitor on his combine since 1996. While he harvests, he also marks the location of "certain weeds that tend to be in the same part of the field year after year. I make a map. Then when I plant that crop again, I use the map and only spray that part of the field."

He says the SRVP team keeps him informed about what other farmers are doing. Like border irrigation. In 2000, Ellington's precision ag verification field was border irrigated using polypipe and closable gates. The U of A's irrigation scheduling computer program was also used.

Carl Hayden, Chicot County agent for the U of A Cooperative Extension Service, says the Soybean Research Verification Program is a proving ground for precision ag practices.

"Right now," says Hayden, "we're evaluating whether farmers should be putting their resources into precision ag work such as grid sampling and yield monitoring. Or should they be putting their money into something else?

I think precision ag has its place, but it's not for every farmer right now."

Soybeans Today January 2001
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