Ninth Annual Precision Ag Action Summit
Putting tech to good use BY CHRIS AARHUS, NDFU
John Nowatski, an agricultural machines specialist for North Dakota State University, believes the technology involved in precision agriculture doesn’t matter if it isn’t put to good use. Nowatski was part of a panel titled, “Current and Future Impacts of Precision Agriculture,” at the ninth annual Precision Ag Action Summit Jan. 20-21 at the North Dakota Farmers Union Conference Center in Jamestown. Nowatski said farmers won’t embrace
4 • February 2020 • Union Farmer
precision ag unless they see a clear benefit to their operation. It needs to be about more than just gathering the data, he said. “It’s taking that information and turning it into something valuable, something more valuable than what the farmer himself can figure out,” Nowatski said. “Guidance systems, yield monitor sensors, cameras in airplanes and drones – it’s good technology and they work. But the key is to take all of that tech and bring it into something that can make better decisions than the farmer would, and do it profitably.”
