Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
This research has two major objectives: (1) to estimate the rate of
adoption for GPS guidance and autosteering systems among agricultural
producers of the Upper Midwest region of the USA and (2) to estimate the
energy savings attributable to the adoption of these two precision agricul-
ture technologies in crop production in the Upper Midwest region.
TABLE 1:
Farm statistics of North Dakota in 2007
Items
Number
Number of farms
31,970
Land in farms
16,055,735 ha (39,674,586 ac)
Average size of farm
502 ha (1,241 ac)
Machinery and equipment value
US$174,683 per farm
Land and buildings value
US$957,053 per farm
(Adapted from NASS/USDA in 2007 [7])
8.2 METHODS
8.2.1 STUDY AREA
Upper Midwest region of the USA is comprised of rural states and the
economy of the region mainly depends on agriculture. The state of North
Dakota is a part of this region and situated in the latitude of 45° 56′N to
49° 00′N and longitude 96° 33′W to 104° 03′W. North Dakota experiences
harsh, long winters, which usually begin in late November and continue
through late March [6]. As a result, the crop cultivation period in North
Dakota very short. But the farmers of the state have large capital resources
with high land holding. Table 1 displays the farm statistics of North Da-
kota [7]. The average farm size is 502 ha (1,241 ac), and tremendous time
and energy is spent in land preparation, planting, spraying, and harvest-
ing using machines. Precision agricultural technologies like GPS guid-
ance and autosteering systems help reduce overlapping of equipment and
