Farmers across the United States are some of the most advanced in the world when it comes to adopting precision agriculture and agriculture technology. The Farms.com Precision Ag Digital Digest was curious though, which states in particular are leading the charge in precision ag adoption. Luckily, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) provided a summary of the USDA 2023 Technology Use Data outlining just that. Its results were based on responses from approximately 14,000 individuals with a 95 percent confidence level in its results. Can you guess which state they found used the most precision agriculture practices? You may be surprised... Let’s work our way up. Results indicated that 8% of farmers are currently using precision ag practices on their farms in West Virginia. From there, we have farmers in Virginia and Kentucky (11%), Florida (12%), Georgia and Texas (13%), New Mexico and South Carolina (14%), as well as Oklahoma and Wisconsin (18%). Moving up we have: • Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Mississippi (20%) • Alabama (22%) • Missouri, Nevada, and Arizona (23%) • New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, Connecticut, and Rhode Island (24%) • Washington (25%) • New York (26%) • Idaho, Colorado, Arkansas, North Carolina, and New Jersey (27%) • Montana (28%) Into the thirties we go! • Utah, Louisiana, Tennessee, Ohio, Maryland, and Delaware (31%) • Minnesota and Indiana (32%) • Wyoming (33%) • Michigan (36%) California and Kansas farmers were at 40% and 49% respectively. Now we are into the states in the U.S. in which over half of its farmers are using precision agriculture practices. Illinois starts off with 51% followed closely by South Dakota at 53%. Next is Iowa at 54% and Nebraska (55%). Only one remains... have you been paying attention? If you guessed North Dakota at the start, you nailed it. 57% of farmers in North Dakota are practicing precision agriculture. Overall, United States is home to some of the best farmers in the world. It will be interesting to see how these numbers change over the next few years. | pag PHOTO: killykoon – stock.adobe.com 06 PRECISION AG USAGE BY STATE Can you guess who’s leading the charge? RYAN RIDLEY MANAGING EDITOR
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTQyMDk=