GIS Applications in Agriculture

218 Pages·2007·6.59 MB·English

by  Francis J. Pierce

GIS
Applications
Agriculture
in

GIS
Applications
Agriculture
in
Edited by
Francis J. Pierce
David Clay
GIS APPLICATIONS IN AGRICULTURE SERIES
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pierce, F. J. (Francis J.)
GIS applications in agriculture / Francis J. Pierce and David Clay.
p. cm. -- (GIS applications for agriculture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8493-7526-2 (alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8493-7526-6 (alk. paper)
1. Geographic information systems. 2. Agricultural mapping. 3.
Agriculture--Data processing. 4. Agriculture--Remote sensing. I. Clay, David
(David E.) II. Title. III. Series.
G70.212.P54 2007
630.2085--dc22 2006025884
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Preface
Agriculture is a business sector ideally suited for the application of Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) because it is natural resource based, requires the move-
ment, distribution, and/or utilization of large quantities of products, goods, and
services, and is increasingly required to record details of its business operations
from the field to the marketplace. Nearly all agricultural data has some form of
spatial component, and a GIS allows you to visualize information that might other-
wise be difficult to interpret. The value of GIS to agriculture continually increases
as advances in technology accelerate the need and opportunities for the acquisition,
management, and analysis of spatial data on the farm and throughout the agriculture
value chain.
As a technology, GIS has greatly advanced from its initial use in the 1960s by
cartographers who wanted to adopt computer techniques in map-making to the
versatile toolkit it is today. The GIS toolkit available today has evolved largely by
innovations created in one application of GIS being shared and built upon in sub-
sequent applications. Thus, GIS users, by sharing their innovations and applications
formally and informally, were very important to the development of the GIS tools
available today. Sharing applications and innovations among users remains an impor-
tant aspect of GIS both within and across disciplines and business sectors.
Those who use GIS in agriculture recognize that the potential application of GIS
in agriculture is large. However, the GIS user community in production agriculture
is rather small compared to other business sectors. There is a lack of formal oppor-
tunities to share applications and innovations of GIS specifically focused on agri-
culture. To support and advance the use of GIS in agriculture, our intent was to
develop a book series to provide a venue for users to share their applications and
innovations of GIS in agriculture. The book series is titled GIS Applications for
Agriculture and will be published and distributed by CRC Press. Books in this series
will be published periodically as need and resources allow. The primary audience
for this book series is current users of GIS in an agricultural context including
researchers, educators, government agencies, private firms, consultants, and growers.
The intent is for the infusion of these agricultural applications into standard GIS
publications and formal and informal education programs within and external to
agriculture.
This book is the first in a proposed series of books focusing on relevant appli-
cations of GIS for agriculture that will address a range of topics and audiences. It
includes 10 chapters with an accompanying CD that provide examples of GIS
applications primarily associated with precision agriculture, with one (Chapter 1)
dealing with a regional water quality problem. Most chapters provide data and
software programs that enable readers to recreate the specific application as part of
a formal or informal learning experience in GIS. Ideas for future volumes in the
GIS Applications for Agriculture series are welcome. Proposals for new volumes
can be submitted either to Dr. Pierce or directly to CRC Press.
As editors, we would like to thank those who contributed to the idea of this
book series, particularly Max Crandall, and for those who helped organize this first
volume, Pierre Robert, Harold Reetz, Jr., and Matthew Yen. We thank all reviewers,
particularly Cheryl Reese and Pedro Andrade-Sanchez, whose assistance was invalu-
able. We thank John Sulzycki of CRC Press for his efforts in gaining approval for
this book series.
The Editors
Francis J. Pierce, Ph.D., has served since 2000 as director of the Center for
Precision Agricultural Systems (CPAS) at Washington State University (WSU)
located at the Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center in Prosser, Wash-
ington. He holds a joint appointment as professor in the Departments of Crop and
Soil Sciences and Biological Systems Engineering at WSU. Before that he was
professor of soil science in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at Michigan
State University, East Lansing, Michigan, from 1984 to 2000. He has M.S. and Ph.D.
degrees in soil science from the University of Minnesota and a B.S. in geology from
the State University of New York at Brockport. His major fields of interest have
included soil management particularly as it relates to conservation tillage and soil
and water quality and has been extensively involved in many aspects of precision
agriculture since 1991. His current research at CPAS is focused on the development
of wireless sensor networks and remote, real-time monitoring and control systems
for production agriculture as well as the assessment and management of spatial
variability in agricultural systems. Books he co-edited include Soil Management for
Sustainability published by the Soil and Water Conservation Society; Advances in
Soil and Water Conservation published by Sleeping Bear Press, Inc.; and The State
of Site-Specific Management published by the American Society of Agronomy. He
also co-authored the CRC Press book Contemporary Statistical Models for the Plant
and Soil Sciences with Oliver Schabenberger. Dr. Pierce is a recipient of the USDA
Distinguished Service Award, is founding member of the North Central Regional
Research Committee on Site-Specific Management, and has served on a number of
national committees and review panels. He is a member of the American Society of
Agronomy, Soil Science Society of America, the Soil and Water Conservation
Society, and the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.
David E. Clay, Ph.D., is a professor of soil science at South Dakota State University
where he has teaching and research responsibilities. He received his B.S. degree
from the University of Wisconsin in 1976, a M.S. degree in soil fertility from the
University of Idaho in 1984, and a Ph.D. in soil biochemistry from the University
of Minnesota in 1988. Dr. Clay has published over 100 scientific articles and has
served on the editorial boards for the Agronomy Journal and the Site-Specific Man-
agement Guidelines. Dr. Clay is an active member of the honorary societies Sigma
Xi and Gamma Sigma Delta, and he has served as chairman of the Agricultural
Systems division in the American Society of Agronomy.

Contributors
Viacheslav I. Adamchuk Sharon A. Clay
Biological System Engineering Plant Science Department
Department South Dakota State University
University of Nebraska Brookings, South Dakota
Lincoln, Nebraska
David W. Franzen
James Alfonso North Dakota State University
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Fargo, North Dakota
Devils Lake, North Dakota
N. Kitchen
Pedro Andrade-Sanchez USDA-ARS
Center for Precision Agricultural University of Missouri
Systems Columbia, Missouri
Washington State University
Prosser, Washington Jonathan Kleinjan
Plant Science Department
R. Bobbitt South Dakota State University
GeoSpatial Experts Brookings, South Dakota
Thornton, Colorado
T.G. Mueller
C. Gregg Carlson Department of Plant and Soil Sciences
South Dakota State University University of Kentucky
Brookings, South Dakota Lexington, Kentucky
Florence Cassel S. T.S. Murrell
Center for Irrigation Technology Potash & Phosphate Institute (PPI)
California State University Fresno Woodbury, Minnesota
Fresno, California
H.F. Reetz, Jr.
Jiyul Chang Foundation for Agronomic Research
Geographic Information Science Center Monticello, Illinois
of Excellence
South Dakota State University Q.B. Rund
Brookings, South Dakota PAQ Interactive, Inc.
Monticello, Illinois
David E. Clay
Plant Science Department Bruce Seelig
South Dakota State University Western Plains Consulting
Brookings, South Dakota Bismarck, North Dakota