A story on Science Daily points to a study conducted by China Agricultural University, the Precision Agriculture Center of University of Minnesota and Mosaic Crop Nutrition that shows the value of precision agriculture.

The study was conducted on two commercial corn fields in eastern Illinois in 2001 and 2003 involving two corn hybrids and five different N fertilizer application rates across the landscape. Nitrogen response of corn yield and quality were fitted at different within-field locations, and the potential impacts of different N management strategies were evaluated against a uniform rate of N application that is a common farmer’s practice in the region.

The results indicated that one hybrid was found to have higher yield, quality and distribution to suppliers than the other hybrid under either a uniform or varied nitrogen application. Results also showed that varying nitrogen applied to localized within-field conditions and hybrid differences could either increase corn yield with similar or higher nitrogen rates or maintain yield with less nitrogen application, without any significant improvement of grain quality. The study was funded by Cargill Crop Nutrition (now Mosaic Company), Cargill Dry Corn Ingredients and Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc.

You’ll need to be a subscriber to download the results from the study which are published in the September-October 2007 issue of the Soil Science Society of America Journal.