Tools for delivering wide-area Integrated Crop Management (ICM) on small New Jersey farms

摘要

Over the past two years, Rutgers Cooperative Extension has begun to test whether site-specific precision agriculture tools work accurately and economically on the small farms and fields common to New Jersey growers. Recently purchased, relatively low cost/high technology tools include 1) a Trimble AgGPS~(TM) Model 122 differential GPS unit for field mapping, site-specific sampling, and navigation, 2) an agricultural digital camera (DYCAM, Inc., Chatsworth, CA) for analysis of crop stress, 3) a 35mm camera for identifying crop stress, 4) a video mapping system (VMS 200) compatible with the AgGPS~(TM) 122 unit for monitoring land management and crop stress over large areas. This paper examines the use of these technologies on a variety of crop and nutrient management projects. Preliminary results indicate that use of these technologies may lead not only to improved crop health and economic savings for growers, but also to an enhanced knowledge base, leading to improvements in on-farm decision-making.