Here on Precision.AgWired.com we are starting a new series highlighting farmers from across the country who are utilizing precision agriculture. We found our first feature farmer, Steve Maddox, at the National Associations of Farm Broadcasting Convention. Checkout how Steve has increased profitability and sustainability on his California dairy farm.

“We have a 9,000 acre farm surrounding our dairy. We have 3,000 acres in wine grapes, 1,500 acres of almonds and we have the rest in feed crops. Seven years ago we started going to GPS trying to reduce paces. What we found was we were turning the fields 9 to 10 times. We knew we had to stop that. We went to a bigger implement 18 foot wide. We were able to cut our passes in half. In fact, we turned our fields in four days this year. Our fuel was cut in half and labor by two-thirds. On the dairy side of it we went to RFI ID tags for the cows and we are doing program breeding using our breeding tools. This increased our conception rates by 10%.”

Listen to my interview with Steve here: [wpaudio url=”/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/precision-farmer-steve-maddox.mp3″ text=”Steve Maddox – California Dairyman”]

2012 NAFB Convention Photo Album