Perceived improvements in nitrogen fertilizer efficiency from cotton precision farming

Site-specific information technologies help cotton farmers make decisions to improve nitrogen (N) fertilizer efficiency. Various information technologies, as well as farm and farmer characteristics, could affect fertilizer decisions differently. Knowing these differences could assist the targeting of specific groups of farmers for the adoption of various site-specific information technologies to improve N fertilizer efficiency and reduce negative environmental impacts. Ordered logit analysis was used to identify the information technologies and farm and farmer characteristics that influence the importance farmers place on precision farming (PF) technologies in improving the efficiency of N fertilization of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). Data were obtained from a 2001 mail survey of cotton farmers in six southeastern states in the United States of America. Results indicated that yield monitoring, management zone and grid soil sampling, and on-the-go sensing increased farmers’ perceptions of the importance of PF in improving N fertilizer efficiency. Farmers who used geospatial mapping were more likely than other farmers to find PF unimportant. Older cotton farmers who rented a larger portion of the land they farmed were more likely to place greater importance on PF for improving N efficiency.