In the heart of America’s breadbasket, Nebraska, farmers are increasingly embracing digital agriculture (DA) technologies to enhance productivity, efficiency, and sustainability. The Digital Farming Lab, under the leadership of Dr. Guillermo Balboa, recently conducted a statewide survey to gauge the adoption of these technologies. The findings reveal the top five DA technologies that Nebraska farmers are integrating into their operations: phone apps, GPS, yield monitors and yield maps, soil grid sampling, and auto guidance.
Phone apps have emerged as a popular tool among Nebraska farmers, with over half utilizing weather, market, and commodity price applications. These apps, leveraging GPS, remote sensing, and data analytics, assist in various aspects of farm management, from nutrient management to yield prediction. However, the adoption of more complex apps designed for planting, pest control, and seed selection remains below 20%, indicating significant room for growth in this area.
GPS technology has revolutionized precision agriculture, enabling site-specific management and data-driven decision-making. It facilitates yield mapping, field mapping, variable-rate application, and autosteer guidance, all of which contribute to improved efficiency and reduced input waste. The integration of GPS with farm machinery and sensors has made digital agriculture more data-driven and environmentally sustainable.
Yield monitors and yield maps, which have been around since the mid-1990s, provide a spatial representation of crop yield variability within a field. These tools help farmers identify patterns related to soil properties, nutrient availability, and management practices. Despite the widespread availability of yield monitors, the use of this data to adjust field management remains relatively low, presenting an opportunity for increased adoption.
Soil grid sampling is another crucial technology, allowing for the creation of accurate within-field maps of soil organic matter and nutrient levels. This information is vital for variable rate technology, enabling farmers to tailor their management practices to specific areas of their fields. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) recommends a sampling density of one sample per acre for optimum accuracy.
Auto guidance or autosteer systems use GPS to automatically control the steering of agricultural machinery, enhancing precision and reducing operator fatigue. These systems, often integrated with autonomous farming technologies, improve input efficiency and ensure consistent crop rows, leading to higher productivity and cost savings.
The adoption of these digital agriculture technologies is not only transforming farming practices but also contributing to the broader goals of sustainability and efficiency in agriculture. As Nebraska farmers continue to embrace these tools, they are paving the way for a more data-driven and precise approach to agriculture.
For more resources about digital agriculture in Nebraska, visit the UNL digital agriculture website, digitalag.unl.edu. This platform aims to centralize all UNL efforts in teaching, research, and extension on digital agriculture. Stay tuned for the next article in this series, which will highlight the Dashboard for Agricultural Water and Nutrient Management, a digital tool developed by UNL in collaboration with other research universities. This dashboard allows farmers to make more informed decisions based on accurate three-to-six-month weather forecasts for the Corn Belt.
This research was supported by the Precision Nitrogen Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG — USDA NR203A750013G014). The survey was conducted in cooperation with the UNL Bureau of Sociological Research. This is the fourth article of CropWatch’s digital agriculture series, “How Digital is Agriculture in Nebraska?”