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Precision conservation boosting farmer profits

Some farmers are using precision conservation to improve their profitability. 

Dallas Glazik, an Illinois farmer and precision ag conservation specialist with Pheasants Forever, says modern yield maps can help identify underperforming areas in fields that could be prime for a conservation program.

“It’s not just the government program.”  He says, “You’re looking at where you are losing money, so you’re saving on your inputs. You can gain on a soil rental rate from a program. And by removing those bottom yielding areas, and so that increases your APH.”

He says using precision technology to seed conservation areas is allowing some producers to completely remove troublesome areas from their fields.  

“You can utilize these programs to square up your fields.”  He says, “Most of the farmers I work with end up being about 30 minutes to an hour saved per 100 to 160 acres.”

For example, Glazik tells Brownfield, “An 80 some acre field. The farmer had a four-year average loss of $47.19.”  He says, “So, we took out the acreage around the creeks, squared it up, and he was now going to be a $70 per acre profit.”

Brownfield spoke with Glazik at the Illinois Soybean Association Crop Management Field Day in Decatur.

AUDIO: Dallas Glazik – Pheasants Forever