Farmer Case Studies on the Economics of PA Technologies

Author: Dr Matt McCallum

There has been a rapid adoption of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) guidance and autosteer in South Australia (SA) in the last 5 years. It is estimated that 30% of broadacre crops in SA are now sown and/or sprayed using GPS technology. However, other Precision Agriculture (PA) technologies such as yield mapping and variable rate is less common with <1% of adoption across cropping regions in SA. One of the major reasons for this is the lack of evidence that the investment in variable rate technology (VRT) can provide sound financial returns to farmers. The aim of this study was to quantify the economic benefits of PA on six farms across SA. The PA technology evaluated included yield mapping and VRT, as well as GPS guidance and autosteer. It is hoped this information will provide farmers and advisors valuable background information in deciding whether an investment in PA will improve individual farm profitability.

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