Nutrient Management Decision Support System

Background

The primary product of this effort will be a personal computer-based decision support system dedicated to record keeping and management decisions related to nutrient management. Our initial objective will be to develop geographic information system (GIS) software capable of writing whole-farm nutrient management plans for use by University Extension, Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), private consultants, and regulatory personnel working with producers. This project is a step towards the Missouri Precision Agriculture Center’s mission to provide effective tools for integrating site specific data into the farm management process.

There has been a revolutionary expansion of digitized geo-referenced data relevant to nutrient management planning. Agencies such as United States Geological Survey (USGS) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in cooperation with state agencies are rapidly developing digitized information available on a county-by-county basis. This digitized information includes soil survey data, digital orthophoto quadrangles (DOQs), and the digitized elevation model (DEM). In Missouri, digitized soil surveys are available in 35 counties and are expected to be available in all counties by the year 2000. Digital orthophoto quadrangles are anticipated to be available for all counties statewide by 2000. There are ongoing efforts to identify agriculturally-relevant data layers from satellite imagery. Additionally, many producers are generating geo-referenced data such as yield maps on their farm.

Geographic information systems are used to transform these raw data layers into knowledge. The GIS system can perform three important functions: organize and store data layers (record keeping), integrate data layers using spatial analysis tools within the GIS, and integrate data layers by linking companion software to the GIS. Geographic information system software has become much more accessible over the past few years. There are now GIS programs that work on personal computers and GIS software that operates from a web site on the internet was released this year.

This commercially available software needs to be customized to perform specific tasks and to have a user-friendly interface. This project will customize the ArcView GIS program (produced by Environmental Systems Research Institute) to provide an accessible interface dedicated to developing nutrient management plans and nutrient record keeping on a whole-farm basis. ArcView will be modified using Visual Basic and ArcView’s programming language, Avenue. Specialized calculation tasks within the nutrient management program will be created in Avenue or by linking an existing program with its programming language to ArcView.

Within the 8-month funding period we will develop software with the following nutrient data management capabilities:

1. User-friendly interface that has the capability to walk the user through each component of developing a nutrient management plan.

2. Locate data layers for specific farm fields from public domain data layers such as digitized orthophoto quadrangles.

3. Integrate and modify any farm-generated, georeferenced sources of information such as field boundaries, soil tests, and yield maps.

4. Interactively add and/or modify farm-specific management information such as cropping history and fertilizer application history, and locations of farm features such as buildings, manure storages, roads, and streams.

In addition, we will make progress on the following capabilities needed for nutrient management planning.

1. Determine land area suitable for manure application based on user specified criteria such as slope category, soil test levels, area outside buffer strips, and soil survey infiltration data.

2. Determine distances between points of interests such as a manure storage and field for manure application or fertilizer storage and field.

Link natural resource conservation recommendations identified by the GIS to the nutrient management plan.

4. Calculate fertilizer needed for a given field based on its size, soil test recommendation, and crop selection.

5. Calculate availability of manure nutrients from a manure source based on manure test results or values generated from animal numbers and manure storage system.

6. Calculate the number of acres required for land application of manure from manure storage given a limiting nutrient (e.g. nitrogen, phosphorus, or potassium).

7. Calculate the amount of manure from a specific manure storage and supplemental fertilizer needed on a field or portion of a field based on calculated availability of manure nutrients, crop selection, and soil test results.

8. Calculate net costs associated with land application of manure, offsetting hauling and spreading costs with fertilizer value for a field receiving manure.

Results will be presented in clearly marked, color-coded maps overlying the orthophoto quadrangle image for visual reference supported by text and tables.

This project will initially cater to a management scale that views the farm as a mosaic of sub-fields, typically 20 or more acres in size, and will seek to enhance the ability to manage at this scale. The smaller scale management typically associated with precision farming is compatible with the framework of this GIS and management tools further interpreting these intensive data layers should be added at a later time.

NOTE: The tool developed for this project was further developed under a follow on project -- Refinement of the Nutrient Management Planner.

Investigators: John A.Lory (Commercial Agriculture, Agronomy Extension ), Chris Fulcher, Jim Meyer, Dave Connett

Funding Amount: $15,000

Funding Source: Missouri Precision Agriculture Center, University Extension Outreach Development Fund

Project Duration: January 1998 - August 1998