One of the key factors cited as influencing adoption of precision agriculture technologies is the amount of within field variability in cotton yields. Within field variability can be measured in terms of soil parameters, yield variability, or other parameters. This poster uses data from cotton yield monitors on individual cotton fields to calculate observed within field yield variability. Data from individual fields are then compared to farmers' perceptions about how much variability exists within fields. Farmers' perception about yield variability was obtained in a 2005 survey of cotton producers. Their perception was quantified from answers to a question regarding yield levels in high-, average-, and low-yielding areas of a cotton field.

Results of the comparison indicate that farmer's perception of yield variability generally understates the actual amount of variability measured in cotton fields.