Precision agriculture
The acre is no longer the smallest unit of farming
Why managing by the row, not the field, is changing how growers plan a season.
From fields to zones
For most of farming’s history the field was the unit of decision. One rate, one date, one plan. Yield maps changed that quietly: they showed that the best and worst parts of a single field can differ more than two neighbouring farms.
Managing by zone means treating those parts as what they are. Seed, nutrition and protection are planned for each, and the plan is loaded straight to the machine.
What it takes
Three things: a few seasons of data, zones that stay stable from year to year, and equipment that can vary its rate. Most farms already have two of the three.