How modern row-crop agriculture is quickly evolving from a precision-based to a decision-based farming model and how producers can extract the most advantage from these changes will be the topics of a series of workshops scheduled for February in three locations throughout Alabama and Georgia. The workshops will be held Tuesday, Feb. 25 at the NESPAL Seminar Room at the University of Georgia’s Tifton campus in Tifton, Ga.; Thursday, Feb. 27 at the Wiregrass Research and Extension Center Auditorium in Headland, Ala.; and Friday, Feb. 28 at the E.V. Smith Research Center Conference Facility in Shorter, Ala.
Following the welcome and introductions, George Vellidis, a professor in the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, will discuss what he perceives as the next big challenge in precision agriculture: precision irrigation.
Following Velldis’ remarks, Franceso Morari, an associate professor in the Department of Agronomy, Foods, Natural Resources and the Environment at the University of Padova in Italy, will discuss how crop sensors and weather forecasting can be combined to improve the variable-rate applications of nitrogen in durum wheat. Brenda Ortiz, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System specialist and assistant professor in the Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences at Auburn University, will follow Morari’s remarks with a presentation on optimizing variable-rate nitrogen management in corn and cotton. Later in the morning, Theofanis Gemtos, professor and head of Laboratory of Farm Mechanization at the University of Thessaly in Greece, will discuss the art and science of soil sampling for precision agriculture. Rounding out the morning, Markus Gandorfer, an agricultural economist with the Technical University of Munich, will discuss the economics of precision agricultural technology at the farm level.
Following lunch, participants can participate in a series of hands-on precision farming-related exercises and demonstrations, which will include precision planting in row crops; converting yield maps to profit maps; using crop sensors for input management in row crops; and creating management zones.
The workshops are free, but registration is required. Continuing Education Units (CEUs) will be available. Register online at http://vellidis.org/tapac-registration/.
To register via e-mail for the Georgia workshop, contact yiorgos@uga.edu. To register via e-mail for one of the Alabama workshops, contact bortiz@auburn.edu.