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BOZEMAN Many new public and privately owned satellites with camera-like remote sensing devices will launch over the next decade.

Montana farm and ranch learning groups are in a position to evaluate these devices for agricultural applications. Montana farm and ranch learning groups are forming to study soil, climate and biological differences that occur across farm and ranch landscapes to enable them to respond to short- and long-term changes in their land and industry.

A learning group is any group of people, such as producers, researchers, industry representatives or others, who work together to exchange ideas and information on an issue. One such learning group, made up of farm and ranch managers, university students, faculty and industry representatives, has grown out of Montanas Precision Agriculture Research Association.

This precision agriculture learning group meets several times a year to exchange information about how to use aerospace technology in agriculture. Some of the meetings are technical training sessions, some are over the Internet and others are field-day settings.

Precision agriculture technology recognizes and maps soil, climate, crops and weed variations occurring around the globe, across Montana or within a single field. Global Positioning System satellite data and field navigation tools, sensors and cameras on satellites, aircraft and field implements and geographic information system technologies allow producers to create and analyze maps and images of soil, crop, weed and rangeland variations.

Farmers and ranchers using these technologies conduct site-specific experiments across whole fields or grazing sites, whereas, in the past, most research was done on small experimental plots. Farmers can map crop yield and quality, while ranchers can use the information to monitor seasonal and yearly changes in rangeland vegetation that affect grazing.

The Montana precision agriculture learning group is conducting research that involves recording a field-by-field history of soil/crop/weed performance. These site-specific records are then used to create detailed computer-generated maps that are used for better field management practices. Over time, these records allow producers to match their management practices with their field environments.

In a sense, each farm and ranch becomes a field-scale research center where theoretical advances from laboratories and small plot experiments are tested, expanded, adapted and applied to a real-field situation.

The precision agriculture learning group is currently examining the following agricultural applications of aerospace technologies:

1) Field scouting. Can images from satellite or aircraft help producers identify areas that warrant investigation and treatment?

2) Management zone delineation. Can maps and images of soils, terrain, weeds and yields provide a basis for low-cost management of similar management zones?

3) Weed management. Can aerospace technologies map weeds accurately?

4) Nitrogen/protein management. Can sensors in satellites, aircraft and field implements tell farmers and ranchers about crop and range forage protein status?

5) Soil water prediction. Can aerospace technologies and soil maps be used to predict stored soil water, growing season rainfall, evaporation losses, crop yields, plant nutrient needs and weed control strategies?

6) Terrain mapping/modeling. Can new computer models of terrain predict how water, nutrients, sunlight, vegetation and yield potentials are distributed across fields and rangelands?

7) Crop and range yield prediction. Can satellite data improve predictions?

8) Environmental services marketing. Can farmers and ranchers visually document and receive compensation for environmental services provided by management systems that improve soil and water quality and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere?

9) Management trade-off evaluation. Can precision agriculture and aerospace technologies provide economic and environmental benefits and greater profits for Montana farms and ranches? What are the trade-offs?

10) Product identity preservation. Can GPS tracking and visualization tools be used to let consumers know where and how their food was produced?

The precision agriculture learning group have extended networks beyond the borders of Montana. Group participants have drawn millions of dollars in research and development funds to Montana from public (NASA, USDA) and private sources. In 1989, Montana State University Montana Agricultural Experiment Station received the first USDA grant ever awarded for research on GPS applications in precision agriculture. Subsequently, participants helped form the NASA-funded Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium (UMAC) with North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Idaho. UMAC explores applications of aerospace technologies for agriculture, natural resources and education.

Recently, Montana participants joined with others in Minnesota, Georgia and South Dakota in the USDA-funded Consortium for Site-Specific Resource Management. Raytheon Corporation funding has also allowed satellite images to be rapidly delivered to personal computers on Montana farms and ranches.

The Montana group shares its experiences at regional and national conferences of producers, academics, government and corporate representatives. Presentations by farmers and ranchers in the group have received high ratings at these conferences. Learning group members from the Montana Agriculture Experiment Station have hosted several conferences in Montana and last year led the USDAs National Precision Agriculture Research Committee.

Learning group participants in the five-state UMAC developed a geographical information system called Prairie to Mountain Explorer that uses ArcView software. This is introducing GIS, GPS and remote sensing to more than 200 teachers who are now bringing these technologies to thousands of rural students in the region.

Montana State University College of Agriculture enthusiastically supports the learning group concept for research and education. Although many practical applications of aerospace technologies for precision agriculture are still undeveloped, the concept has linked farmers and ranchers with each other, with students of science and with new technologies.

The hope is for sustainable production systems that use water efficiently, reduce risk, improve profits and yield products distinguished for their quality and origin in Montana. Furthermore, new employment opportunities will arise in rural Montana as aerospace technologies are introduced and adopted to add value to our agricultural products.

Learning groups so far have mainly focused on dryland agriculture.Producers who are interested in forming new learning groups that focus on range management, irrigation agriculture, or alternative agricultural systems should contact Chris Erlien (cerlien@montana.edu, 406-994-6034).