An Economic Assessment of Precision Conservation with On-farm Precision Experiment Data

Using a novel dataset that includes within field variation in productivity, we find that partial field retirement for a prairie strip can not only provide conservation benefits, but can also be economically beneficial. We note that these results are for a single field with one year of data, and that additional years of production and fields are essential to determine how much these results can be generalized. We also note that precision systems can be costly, and a comparison of outcomes with and without this information is essential to determine if investing in such systems is profitable. However, variable rate system adoption is not rare, with 32% to 45% of farms (excluding small family farms with farm income less than $350,000) already adopting variable rate technogies (USDA, 2023). Thus, this analysis, using data and technologies that often already exist on a farm, shows that partial field land retirement can be both economically and environmentally beneficial, and that using the data from precision systems can improve the performance and placement of precision conservation.