Masters Theses

Date of Award

5-2006

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Agricultural Economics

Major Professor

Roland K. Roberts

Committee Members

James Larson, Burton English

Abstract

Understanding the factors that influence cotton farmers; perceptions about the importance of precision farming (PF) technologies in improving the efficiency of phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and nitrogen (N) fertilization is important because PF technologies have the potential to reduce costs, increase profit, and reduce negative environmental impacts. In the Southeastern United States, crops are generally produced in fields that have a high degree of variability in the availability of soil nutrients. The fertility level and amount removed by a crop at the end of the growing cycle are usually not uniform over an entire field. Because of high variability of nutrient levels in most agricultural fields, uniform applications of P, K, and N are likely to lead to excessive fertilization in some areas and inadequate fertilization in others.

Farmers in this study were already adopters of at least one PF technology, which allowed the analysis of the factors that influenced farmers’ perceptions of the importance of those PF technologies they had adopted in using P, K, and N more efficiently. The objectives of this research were; 1) to determine the factors that influence PF technology adopters’ perceptions about the importance of PF technologies in achieving more efficient P and K use and 2) to determine the factors that influence PF technology adopters’ perceptions about the importance of PF technologies in achieving more efficient N use. To accomplish these objectives an ordered logit model was used to determine the factors influencing adopters’ perceptions of PF technologies in using P, K, and N more efficiently. Marginal effects were also calculated for each variable.

The results indicate that, of the information gathering technologies, farmers who used remote sensing and mapping topography, slope, soil depth, etc. did not find the information provided by these technologies useful in reducing P and K use. The results did show that farmers found management zone soil sampling, grid soil sampling, and on-the-go sensing more important in using P and K more efficiently. Of the farm and farmer characteristics, the results indicated that adopters over the age of 50 were more likely to have positive perceptions of PF technologies in using P and K more efficiently. Adopters who were using computer for farm management were more likely to have positive perceptions of PF technologies in using P and K more efficiently. Adopters who rented a larger proportion of the land they farmed were more likely to have positive perceptions of PF technologies in more efficient P and K fertilization.

The results of the N equation indicate that, of the information gathering technologies, adopters who used mapping topography, slope, soil depth, etc. did not find the information provided by this technology to be useful in more efficient N fertilization. The results did show that farmers who used grid soil sampling, management zone soil sampling, yield monitoring without GPS, and on-the-go sensing found these technologies to be important in using N more efficiently. Farm and farmer characteristics show that adopters over the age of 50 using at least one PF technology were more likely to have positive perceptions of those PF technologies in using N more efficiently. Adopters in Georgia and Mississippi were more likely to have positive perceptions of the importance of PF technologies in increasing N efficiency than farmers located in Tennessee. Information from this study will be useful for farmers who are interested in using P, K, and N more efficiently to increase profits and/or reduce negative impacts to the environment.

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