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Precision ag has benefits, but flexibility is needed

Flexibility is needed as lawmakers consider policy on conservation and precision agriculture, according to the vice president and general manager of TerraNova Ranch in California.

Don Cameron, TerraNova Ranch, California, Farm, Agriculture, Precision Agriculture, Technology

Don Cameron testified during a house ag subcommittee hearing Tuesday.

“The adoption of processes can be extremely costly and time consuming,” he says. “…It’s critical that they’re readily available, scientifically trialed, and affordable to the operation and the crops being grown.

He says he has seen the benefits of conservation efforts on the operation.

“When we adopted sub-surface drip irrigation on our farm with precise application of nutrients, we actually found our water use decrease by 30 percent and our yield increase on processing tomatoes,” he says.   

Cameron says it also allowed them to purchase new equipment with cleaner engines.

“Once we got started down that track it gave us additional income that we could spend to improve other operations on the farm, so we found that some of these precision techniques have been really beneficial to us,” he says.

The House Ag Conservation and Forestry Subcommittee Ranking Member Doug LaMalfa says ideally farmers and ranchers would be able to use precision agriculture to improve both conservation efforts and farm productivity.