Open AccessWithin‐Field Profitability Analysis Informs Agronomic Management Decisions in the Mid‐Atlantic USA
Author(s) -
Kinoshita Rintaro,
Es Harold,
Dantinne John,
Twining Mike
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
agricultural and environmental letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.681
H-Index - 12
ISSN - 2471-9625
DOI - 10.2134/ael2016.09.0034
Subject(s) - profitability index , yield (engineering) , constraint (computer aided design) , precision agriculture , agricultural engineering , field (mathematics) , environmental science , computer science , business , agriculture , mathematics , engineering , ecology , finance , biology , materials science , geometry , pure mathematics , metallurgy
Core Ideas Site‐specific profitability and yield constraint information can inform future management. Removing consistently unprofitable areas can increase overall field profitability. Temporally variable profitability areas may benefit from site‐specific in‐season management.Yields vary spatially and temporally at the field scale, and recent adoption of yield monitoring has accumulated large amounts of yield data. We assessed within‐field spatial patterns of profitability using grower‐collected yield data and input cost information for fields in the Mid‐Atlantic United States. Three types of profitability pattern categories were identified: economically sensitive, clear profitable–unprofitable zones, and all‐profitable. For fields with areas of permanent yield constraints, we demonstrated that the removal of unprofitable areas can increase overall field profitability. The combination of site‐ and time‐specific profitability and yield constraint information can inform future management optimization, including removing field areas from crop production and improving site‐specific in‐season management strategies.