Balancing agronomic production, farm economics and water quality with precision conservation

Sustainable farms must balance agronomic production, farm economics and environmental concerns. Nutrient losses from agriculture are known to degrade downstream water quality. Many practices and technologies have been used to minimize the impact agriculture has on water quality, but few studies have been able to demonstrate how precision agriculture can accomplish such benefits. This presentation will demonstrate how precision agriculture was used to improve runoff water quality and farm gate returns through the adoption of precision conservation. At a research farm near Riesel, Texas, USA, ten cropped fields were managed with various levels of conservation adoption. Precision agriculture technologies were adopted for planting, fertilizing, and harvesting equipment in 2017. A baseline of data was captured from 2018-2021 to determine crop yield stability for each field. Starting in crop year 2022, the crop yield stability was used to implement precision conservation on four fields: two fields received reduced inputs to 60-80% of recommended rates in unprofitable zones, while two fields eliminated production in unprofitable zones. Water quality monitoring occurs in six of the ten fields. Preliminary data indicated decreased in soluble P loads of 90% following adoption of precision conservation, due to lower or eliminated P applications. Precision conservation seems to be able to balance production, economics and environmental concerns greater than traditional agriculture.