Cass Howell
Research Paper
Human Geography
12/4/17
GIS in Agriculture
How can farming become even more efficient today, even with the growing efficiency in the past thirty years? Over the past thirty years, there has been an explosion of efficiency in agriculture and farm management. From fuel efficient equipment, to a better understanding of crop rotation and soil management, new agricultural organization systems have brought farmers out of the archaic ways of agriculture into the modern-day version. Through the close examination of these new technologies, various sources support the advancement in agricultural practices.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is precisely what a farmer may need to understand weathers effect on crops and help for a better yield, assist farmers to make executive decisions to adjust their fields, and provides a hands-on experience that is user and farm friendly. Geographic Information Systems is defined as a computer system that stores, organizes, analyzes, and displays geographic data. GIS allows a farmer to generate and synthesize new information quickly, interpret and analyze data streams visually, provide diagnostics for error and/or accuracy in equipment, and prepares maps for a specific need. A system that allows a farmer to predict and understand weather fluctuations and soil nutrient changes may yield a better crop output is highly beneficial. However, there is one major issue: How can GIS get into hands of every farmer? When farmers have a better understanding of changing fields, it allows them to make better and more profitable decisions. The United States Department of Agriculture has adopted GIS and is using it to catch farmers claiming fraudulent crop devastation when a field is struck by primarily flooding or drought. A great investment with GIS implemented is a device called CanPlug. Install a CanPlug into every piece equipment, and it brings data across all equipment into one application called FarmCommand. The data sent from CanPlug can produce crop yield maps and other mapping schemes. The introduction of GIS into agriculture has proven to be beneficial and is an essential tool for management of precision agriculture. Agricultural Science is constantly looking for better ways to improve farm efficiency. GIS does not just benefit the farmer, it can help the economy as a whole by benefiting from better profit margins. There are many uses for GIS, however, the use of it in agriculture is very beneficial regarding crop and soil management.
The introduction of GIS in agriculture has proven vital to farmers who have adopted its functions. There are many strategic advantages for potential future agriculture practice and policy and the industry is only just starting to notice them. (Environmental Science 2017) Farmers are using GIS as a mean of interpreting, combining, and analyzing large data streams. With the ability to interpret, combine, and analyze the data stream visually, it is much more simplified and allows for the average farmer, at the average age of 58, to understand and possibly control it on their own without the aid of a GIS specialist. Having the average age of an American farmer at fifty-eight, farmers are most likely to not adopt such a technology and maintain their current way of production of crops and cattle. Should this or any new technology be adopted? The cost of any new technology must be weighed against it benefits, which may come in several forms. (Kay, Edwards, Duffy 2016) Although the belief and trust in such a new technology may not be there, it is quickly becoming widespread across America, but there is only one issue. Most farmers who have thus far adopted the technology of GIS, do not function it on their own, they tend to hire a GIS specialist to interpret, combine, and analyze the data streams. Since GIS is proven very beneficial in the agriculture industry, the United Sates Department of Agriculture wants to get this technology into the hands of every farmer without large investments. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has created a website called ArcGIS, which is a complete, cloud-based mapping platform intended for farmers who are not necessarily GIS confident. USDA is increasingly porting subsets of its data to Web applications using tools such as ArcGIS online. (GCN 2013) With the use of GIS, farmers have the ability to make changes to their fields, in accordance with the information provided. An example of this are the adjustments made in a field in a flood plain. With the data that is received, James Hipple, remote sensing and GIS advisor for RMA said, "If there is a flood that occurs, our lines are really accurate in terms of being able to determine areas that flood versus areas that don’t. Going back twenty years it was just an eyeball in a couple of pencils.". (GCN 2013) While GIS is helping the farmer be more efficient and give a better crop yield, there is still advances to be made regarding this recent technology. With the permeation of technology in the global culture today, it is possible that in a few years GIS could be available to rural farmers the developing world. (GIS Lounge 2014)
Agricultural Science is constantly looking for ways to improve efficiency and best ways to manage crops and soil. For much of human history, agriculture has much been a system of guesswork. The recent technology of GIS provides farmers with something to handle problems effecting the farmland for years. Farmers in severe-weather prone areas would be able to predict what this weather could do to crops, … and how to irrigate based on local water resources and weather patterns. (GIS Lounge 2014) Floods and droughts have plagued farming for years and more recently climate change, however, this effect on farmland may be prevented with the use of GIS. With the functions of GIS, a farmer has the capability to make adjustments on the farm that they have not been able to do otherwise. With the ability to analyze and interpret data streams provided by GIS, a farmer had the potential to map and project current and future fluctuations in precipitation, temperature, crop output, and more. (GIS Lounge 2014) In regard to flooding issues, improper drainage in a field can drastically change the soil composition of nutrients just within a few feet, which, in turn effects the fields output. Global warming is also taking an effect on crops. While global warming may be beneficial to some areas in the world and some crops (such as grapes), for most crops there will be negative results. Global warming may also indirectly affect the economy. With global warming having a negative result on most crops, that would lead to a lower average yield per field. Based on environmental changes, crop prices could skew the overall bulk prices. The food market will change, may not necessarily become unstable, but in some areas core crops that are an essential part of the economy may become economically nonviable (Environmental Science 2017). With the use of GIS, a farmer is able to predict what weather can do to their crops, and change the irrigation patterns on a given field. When weather seriously effects a field, sometimes farmers will make a fraudulent claim for an insurance payout. However, the USDA is working with GIS to stop the fraudulent claims. In the United States, GIS systems are used by the USDA to protect crops, solve crop issues, and investigate fraudulent claims of crop damage as well as give farmers an easy way to access information about their crops season by season (GIS Lounge 2014). Farmers are gaining an upper hand on weather and soil changes for the first time in history. Which is great for the economy because, with today's tight margins and many farmers struggling to make a profit, GIS provides farmers with the power to maximize their crop output and profit margins.
The use of GIS on a farm is not just an independent tool, it is now being used integrated onto every piece of equipment daily. The president and head electrical engineer of Communication Systems and Solutions (CSS) in Lincoln, Nebraska, Perry Howell, has particularly worked with a company called FarmersEdge. FarmersEdge, as a company, has many aspects of business, one of which is the use of GIS. FarmersEdge, alongside CSS of Lincoln, has developed a tool, called CanPlug, that is installed in each piece of equipment owned. Howell said, "CanPlug is a connection to the implement (Tractor or Combine, J1939 diagnostic and data bus called CanBus) from that it can capture things like: Engine speed, temperature, and anything that might need to be used to determine the health of the equipment" (Howell, 2017). Canplug's function is to capture implement (Tractor or Combine) information and stream it to the cloud via cell modem. CanPlug is specially designed to work in accordance with other CanPlugs on other pieces of equipment, and bring data into one place, an application called FarmCommand. FarmCommand is an all-in-one management platform where it can manage assets, equipment, weather and others by field-centric data, which is precise data that is gathered and analyzed directly from private fields. Additionally, it gets GPS position data and correlates that information with that taken from the CanPlug. So, in the end, any information about spraying, planting, or harvesting is correlated with GPS position and sent to the cloud servers to be used in various data analytics. That information may be crop yield maps or other mapping schemes. For farmers, having the ability to visualize raw data in one location is very beneficial and user friendly.
A new technology is entering the agricultural business and it is helping tremendously. However, farmers may want to continue with traditional ways of production and may not trust new technology. Geographic Information Systems is precisely what a farmer may need to understand weathers effect on crops and help for a better yield, assist farmers to make executive decisions to adjust their fields, and provides a hands-on experience that is user and farm friendly. Geographic Information System is defined as a computer system that stores, organizes, analyzes, and displays geographic data. GIS has the ability to portray data streams visually for easier analyzation and interpretation. GIS allows a farmer to generate and synthesize new information quickly, interpret and analyze data streams visually, provide diagnostics for error and/or accuracy in equipment, and prepares maps for a specific need. A farmer has the ability to predict and understand weathers fluctuations and effects on crops and soil. With the ability to predict and understand weathers changes, a farmer has the potential to make adjustments on his field, such as crop rotation, and irrigation changes. With the use of a device called CanPlug, a farmer can use the data gathered by the CanPlug, which is attached to every piece of equipment, which may provide crop yield maps and other mapping schemes. The introduction of GIS in agriculture has proven vital to famers who have adopted its functions. Agricultural Science is constantly looking for ways to improve efficiency and the best way to manage crops and soil. The use of GIS can be implemented into tools to gather further data and send that data to a single application for management. There remains only one issue with this technology: Getting GIS into the hands of every farmer and the ability for the farmer be able to use it independently without the aid of a GIS specialist. GIS does not just benefit personally, if used properly, it would help the economy as a whole.
While there are various functions that GIS is used for in today's world, the use of it in the agricultural world has proven to be a vital part in the efficiency of farming management and crop margins. With various sources of research and background information, it seems apparent that the agricultural climate would greatly benefit from a promotion of GIS into more areas of the United States. Through the successful implementation of GIS into the agricultural field, farmers would be able to personally grow in their abilities with ease, benefit society from the increased production, and propel the agricultural field into the modernized world of farming.
Mason, Matthew. “Agricultural Science and GIS.†EnvironmentalScience.org, Environmental Science, 2017, www.environmentalscience.org/agriculture-science-gis.
Marshall, Patrick. “GIS Becomes Indispensable for Managing Agriculture.†GCN, GCN, 18 Oct.2013, gcn.com/Articles/2013/10/18/USDA-GIS.aspx?Page=4.
Borneman, Elizabeth. “Use of GIS in Agriculture ~ GIS Lounge.†GIS Lounge, GIS Lounge, 10 Mar. 2014, www.gislounge.com/use-gis-agriculture/.
Howell, Perry. 2017. President and Head Electrical Engineer, City of Lincoln, Nebraska, Communication Systems and Solutions. Personal Interview, December 4, 2017.
Kay, Ronald D., Edwards, William M., Duffy, Patricia A., 2016. Farm Management, Eighth Edition. New York. McGraw – Hill Education