Seeing Green (University of Missouri)

PORTAGEVILLE, Mo. When fertilizer was cheap, it made sense for farmers to be generous with nitrogen. With todays prices, producers are looking for ways to keep fertilizer costs down without reducing yield.

For the past several years, University of Missouri scientists have played a key role in developing technology that takes the guesswork out of deciding just how much nitrogen to apply to crops.



With on-the-go sensing, optical sensors mounted in front of a tractor measure the color and size of plants and send that data to a computer, which uses this information to control the amount of fertilizer released as the tractor moves across a field.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• University of Missouri
• Delta Research Center
• Portageville
• MU Extension
• David Dunn
• Gene Stevens
• Charles Lange
• farmers
• cotton
• field lab
• on-the-go sensor
• technology