Precision agriculture technologies have significantly evolved since the first guidance systems were made available to the public in the 1980s. But what exactly makes a technology a precision agriculture technology? The International Society of Precision Agriculture (ISPA) defines PATs as “a management strategy that gathers, processes and analyzes temporal, spatial and individual plant and animal data and combines it with other information to support management decisions according to estimated variability for improved resource use efficiency, productivity, quality, profitability and sustainability of agricultural production.” 

Another way to look at these technologies is by dividing them into categories. A United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (USDA-ERS) report analyzed the adoption of PATs and the perceived benefits to adopters. The report separated PATs into three general categories. Data collection tools, as the name implies, collect essential data that other technologies can use. Examples of data collection tools include yield monitors, remote sensors, and soil sampling tools. The data collected from these tools are then used by decision support tools, which help visualize data and help a user make informed decisions. Yield monitors, soil maps, weed maps, and many others are examples of a decision support tool. The information from the decision support tools is then used by data-driven equipment and input adjustment tools. Tools such as guidance systems, variable rate technology (VRT), and automatic section control help a user accurately apply inputs and reduce overlap. 

Since the first technologies were made commercially available in the 1990s, researchers have been studying the perceived benefits of PATs. A study by Thompson et al. (2019) surveyed over 800 crop producers to understand the benefits of PATs to their operations. A significant portion of respondents (88%) stated that PATs positively impacted their farm’s financial profitability. Additionally, 29% of respondents believed VRT, particularly for fertilizer application, was more likely to increase yields and reduce input costs, while 30% of respondents believed that guidance and autosteer increased convenience. In addition to the economic benefits that PATs provide, Boehlje & Langemeier (2022) analyzed the benefits to the environment and local communities. PATs can improve the application of inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides by applying them more precisely and reducing overlap. This provides an economic benefit to the producer and minimizes the impact on the environment and local ecosystems. Precision irrigation can offer additional benefits, particularly in areas where water resources are more scarce. 

With all of these benefits of PATs, surely they have been widely adopted by producers across the United States, right? The data on adoption, however, paints a very different picture. The USDA-ERS report mentioned earlier in this post analyzed the adoption of different technologies across six crops: corn, soybeans, winter wheat, cotton, rice, and sorghum. Autosteer and guidance technologies were among some of the first PATs available for commercial use in the 1980s and are among the most widely adopted technologies in the United States. The ERS report found that, in 2019, approximately 60% of corn acres and 55% of soybean acres were planted using these technologies, with sorghum (70%) and cotton (65%) acres having the highest adoption rate. Yield monitors were first introduced in the 1990s, but adoption rates have yet to surpass 50%. The report found that approximately 45% of corn and soybean acres had adopted a yield monitor, with no other crop having a rate above 25%. 

Soil maps provide critical information on the soil characteristics in a given field or location and were first introduced in the 1990s. However, the adoption of these maps remains low across all crops, with approximately 20% of corn acres and 15% of soybean acres using these maps. Rice was the only crop that reported an adoption rate above 10%. Variable rate technologies (VRT) have become more prevalent in recent years as producers use VRT to vary their application of seeds, fertilizers, and other inputs to save costs. Corn acres have the highest adoption rate, with approximately 37% of acres using VRT, with 28% of those acres using VRT for fertilizer application, 25% for seeds, and 9% for pesticides. Around 25% of soybean acres used VRT, with 15% of acres using VRT for seeds, 14% for fertilizers, and 10% for pesticides. Drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have also risen in popularity in recent years, especially for crop scouting and aerial application of inputs. Despite this, very few farms have adopted drones and other satellite imagery. The report found that only 10% of soybean and 7% of corn acres had adopted these technologies. However, given that the data in this report was from 2019, it would be fair to suspect that the adoption of all these technologies has changed since then. 

This blog post is the first in a two-part series discussing precision agriculture technologies (PATs) and how they are used by farmers across the United States. Since they became available in the 1980s and 1990s, these technologies have helped adopters better manage their operations by using inputs more efficiently. This helps the economic bottom line and reduces the environmental impact. Despite these benefits, adoption remains low for many technologies. Part two of this series will introduce the concept of on-farm precision experimentation (OFPE) and how these experiments can further benefit farmers. 

For additional reading, visit the following links:

• PAT Adoption in the U.S. (USDA-ERS): https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details?pubid=105893.
• PAT Definition (ISPA): https://ispag.org/about/definition.
• Farmer Perceptions of PAT Benefits (Thompson et al., 2019): https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-agricultural-and-applied-economics/article/farmer-perceptions-of-precision-agriculture-technology-benefits/55D65D8042131BBFE56B5D827A7E7F37#.
• Payoffs of PATs (Boehlje & Langemeier, 2022): https://higherlogicdownload.s3.amazonaws.com/ASFMRA/aeb240ec-5d8f-447f-80ff-3c90f13db621/UploadedImages/Journal/2022/PrecisionAgriculture_2022Journal.pdf.