Julie Elfving
NPS Program Manager
EPA Region 7/WPD
726 Minnesota Ave
Kansas City, KS 66101
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>>> Peggy Petrzelka <x1peggy@exnet.iastate.edu> 08/30/95 08:52am
>>>
Hi Julie;
I am pretty sure we have met, perhaps at several meetings. I work with
Steve
Padgitt in Extension Sociology at Iowa State, and have done a lot of work
on projects with Jerry Miller and Susan Brown. I have been reading with
interest your questions/comments about precision ag. I recently returned
from DC, where I attended the Rural Sociology meetings, and presented a
paper there entitled: "Teaching old dogs survival tricks: A case Study of
Iowa's Model Farms Demonstration Project to Promote Intensive
Management." The beginning of the paper discusses precision ag, and
integrated crop management (icm), and we argue that the benefits of
precision ag, while not as specific, can be provided through icm or
adoption of components of icm.
We go on to say that icm provides this 'precision ag' through the use of
more appropriate technology, and is much less expensive than the high
tech methods (eg. GPS), thus, making it a more favorable method of
integrated/intensive management for farmers. The question still remains,
though, how do you get farmers to adopt this. This is where we begin
analysis of the Model Farms project, which was promoting volunatry
adoption of icm practices. We examine the project through several
means, a case study of a cooperator and former cooperator, changes made
over the life of the project, and evaluation of the project by those who
stayed in and those who chose to leave.
Anyway, I can go on about this, but if you are interested, I can send you
a copy of the paper. This may not even address any of the questions
you were posing. I am getting the paper in shape to send into Journal of
Agriculture
Production. I think there are not only some very interesting findings, but
also an interesting discussion (course, I suppose I better think this, as I
am the first author).
I will be interested in seeing the discussion of precision ag continue over
sanet.
Peggy P.