On-Farm Cotton Trials Using Precision Ag in Northeast Louisiana

The increasing availability of yield monitors and precision application equipment on producers' farms have made it feasible for researchers to extend the results from small-scale experiment station trials and apply them at field scale.  Treatments are applied in field-length strips, by prescription, embedded plots or in combination.  Fields are divided into zones for analyzing parameters including yield.  Zones may include soil type, soil electrical conductivity, or other criteria.  Treatments are analyzed spatially across zones and as whole strips.  This process elucidates the extent to which treatments/methods perform in different parts of producers' fields.  The process of applying treatments and collecting the resulting data is a technical process which requires planning and attention to detail to achieve a viable experiment or demonstration. This methodology produces a large, field scale experiment that allows researchers to continue evaluating products and methods, while educating producers in the use of precision agricultural equipment.