INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVES ON PRECISION AGRICULTURE

PRECISION AGRICULTURE (PA) is an approach to crop management where detailed information about a production system is used to target management actions, often at a scale smaller than a conventional block or paddock. In the sugarcane industry PA has been the subject of recent research and extension efforts. A survey of sugarcane industry participants was conducted in August 2014 to solicit the industries experience and views on PA, and to gauge adoption. A link to an online (Survey Monkey) survey was emailed to 1,543 sugarcane farmers and others registered on the SRA e-newsletter contacts list. 327 respondents (302 identifying as sugarcane growers) completed the survey. Here, we report the results from farmers only, stratified by farm size: less than 100 ha (n = 115); between 100 and 200 ha (n = 91); and more than 200 ha (n = 80). There was a strong interest in PA among respondents, with greatest adoption on larger farms. There was a strong belief in this cohort that PA will deliver commercial benefits. Farmers stated they have a good awareness of many of the PA technologies including yield monitoring, yield mapping and variable rate application. Lower percentages were aware of remote sensing, proximal sensing and high resolution soil survey such as EM. Cost and lack of knowledge on how to implement a technology (especially for proximal sensing, remote sensing and high resolution soil survey) were the two main limitations to adoption identified. There are a large number of farmers in the Australian sugarcane industry who plan on implementing some PA technologies over the coming five years, most notably yield monitoring, yield mapping and variable rate application on farms greater than 100 ha in size. Survey results from four previous surveys conducted in 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011 taken at various industry PA workshops, where participants were asked about their perceived benefits of precision agriculture and future research and development needs, were included in this analysis of those issues. The data suggest that PA is starting to become a part of the Australian sugarcane industry. To aid future implementation, this survey identified a number of limitations that need to be overcome, and also identified strong farmer support for further investment to help research and develop PA.