Nov/Dec 2000
Volume 2, Issue 5
Missouri Precision
Agriculture Center
257 Agricultural Engineering Building
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211
Phone: (573) 882-1138
Fax: (573) 882-1138
E-mail: mpac@missouri.edu
Internet: http://www.fse.missouri.edu/mpac
MPAC is a partnership
of:
MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources
University Outreach and Extension
USDA Agricultural Research Service
-- Cropping Systems and Water Research Unit
MPAC is supported in part by Outreach Development Funds, University Outreach and Extension
In This Issue
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Fifth Annual Missouri Precision Agriculture Conference
The Fifth Annual Missouri Precision Agriculture Conference, sponsored by the Missouri Precision Agriculture Center, will be held on February 5, 2001. The theme for this year’s conference is "New Opportunities in the New Millennium" and will highlight precision agriculture experiences and outcomes in Missouri. The focus is on practical ways that information can be turned into sound management decisions.
The conference will be held at the Holiday Inn Select in Columbia. Exhibits open at 8 a.m. General sessions run from 9 a.m. through 4:30 p.m. and registration is $35 per person. For more details, contact Kent Shannon, at (573) 882-1138 or by email at shannond@missouri.edu.
Highlights:
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Ted Macy will deliver the keynote address. As a leader in the industry, he will offer his perspective on precision agriculture opportunities in the new millennium.
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Glenn Davis, Co-Director of MPAC will discuss the Precision Agriculture Master Program, an on-farm research program led by MPAC.
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One-on-one discussions with MPAC’s research and extension leaders on a variety of applied-research projects.
Sponsored by the Missouri Precision Agriculture Center (MPAC).
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Web Site Update
Looking for precision agriculture on the web? Try the new "Links" page on the MPAC web site.
The "Links" page groups precision agriculture resources on the internet into categories including commercial sites by technology, educational programs and centers, and popular press sites. If there are other categories related to precision agriculture that you think would be useful or a web site you would like to share, contact Liz Sterling at 882-9491 or by email at mpac@missouri.edu.
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Using Remote Sensing to Predict Sudden Death Syndrome
Initial results from a project sponsored by the North Central Soybean Research Program (NCSRP) show that remote sensing may help predict sudden death syndrome (SDS) in soybean fields. Harlan Palm recently presented a preliminary report on a study entitled "Using Soil Properties and Remote Sensing to Develop Management Zones" at the annual Ag Crop Management Conference. The overall objective of this research is to map crop stresses using remotely sensed data. According to Palm this information will then be used to, "diagnose stress presence in the field, develop directed scouting procedures and evaluate stress contribution to yield variation."
Sudden death syndrome is still a mystery to plant pathologists. It has been theorized that the soilborne fungus Fusarium solani that causes SDS likely exists in the soil throughout a field but only manifests as SDS under the right conditions. The areas most likely to be associated with SDS are compacted, high-clay content soils and areas that remain moist for extended periods following rainfall. The soilborne disease phytophthora rot flourishes under similar conditions.
The fields used in this study have a rich history of dense spatial data collection for soil and landscape characteristics as well as crop yield. Palm states in his paper, "The next big step will be to correlate field landscape and soil characteristics, biotic variances in the crop, and yield variations to the classifiable differences recorded by remote sensing. If relationships can be identified, they can be used in predicting crop growth variances."
In 2000, ASEQ Field 1 was planted to soybean. Remotely- sensed hyperspectral imagery of the field was collected by Spectral Visions, an affiliate of NASA, over several months. In late August, SDS was discovered during field scouting. Hyperspectral imagery of the field was collected on the same day and revealed 23 areas of SDS. These areas of SDS were also visible in aerial photographs taken a week later. By deriving statistical correlations between the geo-referenced SDS areas and landscape and soil features, Palm hopes to be able to predict SDS outbreaks in the Gvillo field which will be planted to soybean in 2001.
Aerial photo of ASEQ Field 1 using
false-colored NIR imagery
Aerial photo of ASEQ Field 1
One interesting kink in this year’s project was that lightning strikes in ASEQ Field 1 looked a lot like SDS areas when remotely-sensed. Ground-truthing has been the only way thus far to sort out the lightning strikes from true SDS.
Geo-referenced areas of sudden death
syndrome
and lightening strikes.
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Missouri and Illinois Sponsor Precision Agriculture Conference
The Missouri/Illinois Precision Agriculture Conference is scheduled for February 21 and 22 in Quincy, Illinois. The conference, sponsored by University of Illinois Extension and University of Missouri Outreach and Extension, will feature nationally known speakers, industry representatives, and University researchers speaking on issues of producer adoption of technologies, uses of new technologies, and future developments of interest to producers.
The conference will include keynote addresses on major issues and breakout sessions on specific issues. One of the general sessions will feature a panel of producers who will share their experiences with different equipment and management systems. Other session topics include using yield and soil data for management decisions, record keeping as a management tool, engineering/equipment aspects, remote sensing systems, and environmental aspects of precision agriculture.
The conference will also have a trade show as part of both days of the conference. Representatives from equipment manufactures / dealers, software distributors, farm mapping and planning service companies, and other service companies are invited to have display during the trade show.
Contact the Adam/Brown unit at (217) 223-8380 to register for this conference. For more information about the conference, contact Kent Shannon at the Missouri Precision Agriculture Center (573) 882-1138.
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Dr. Harlan Palm, MU Research Assistant Professor in Agronomy, recently received the 2000 Service Award for distinguished achievement in weed science from the North Central Weed Science Society. MPAC congratulates Dr. Palm on his outstanding achievement.
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MPAC is sponsoring a brown bag lunch series on precision agriculture. The goal of the series is to create a forum for faculty, students, and researchers across the University to discuss precision agriculture. Dr. Hong He, a new professor in the Forestry Department, spoke about GIS mapping.
The brown bag lunch series is a monthly event coordinated by Dr. Pat Donald.
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