4.0   Introduction

Kentucky has diverse topographic features from the mountains in the Eastern Coal Fields, through the karstic features of the Pennyroyal region, and stretching to the upper Mississippi River delta in the Jackson Purchase area.  Of 26 million total acres of land in the Commonwealth, 6.4 million acres are intensively cropped, and another 7.5 million acres are pastured.  In the Outer Bluegrass Region of Central Kentucky it is quite common to see the ridge tops and eroded hillsides planted to grain crops using no-till practices.  The more fertile and low-lying areas along the Ohio River in western Kentucky exhibit productivity levels that rival the deep prairie soils of the corn-belt. The historical management of Kentucky's land resources such as land application of animal wastes, intensive cultivation of tobacco, conventional tillage practices that promoted soil erosion, and aggregation of smaller fields into large production units, have all combined to introduce additional variability to Kentucky's soils.  Variations in agronomic factors that affect management decisions include fertility, erosion potential, compaction, drainage classification, and water holding capacity.  The problem facing most Kentucky producers is the lack of appropriate and cost effective strategies to manage this variability.  The advent of GIS and GPS provides these same producers with new tools to manage this variability.  Therefore the goal of this project is to develop methodologies and guidelines for producers who intend to adopt and utilize precision agricultural practices in their operations.  Paramount to this effort is demonstration of the potential economic and environmental benefits associated with the use of precision agriculture practices, that will accrue to Kentucky producers and society at large.

The specific objectives to be addressed under Phase IV funding of this project are: 

1) development of criteria, sensing technologies, decision tools, and educational programs to help farmers manage the variability that exists within production units and to assess the economic viability of these practices;

2) development of standards and protocols for the collection, analysis and utilization of spatial and temporal data to enhance crop production; and

3) development and evaluation of spatial production technologies to enhance environmental quality.