Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture
Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

A newsletter for faculty, staff and students

July-August 2005 • Vol. 31, No. 4

Student builds new tool for precision agriculture education

By Fred Miller

A variable rate sprayer that can be carried in a pickup truck provides a valuable new tool for teaching precision agriculture.

The sprayer was designed and built by University of Arkansas graduate student Aaron Dickinson of Decatur for his master’s thesis project in agricultural and extension education.

Graduate student Aaron Dickinson of Decatur programs a compact variable rate sprayer for a field test at the Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Fayetteville. Dickinson designed and built the sprayer as a training tool for teaching precision agriculture in Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas and for Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service training and demonstrations.

“We saw a need for the university and the Cooperative Extension Service to have a model to use for teaching precision agriculture,” Dickinson said. “For teaching technology like this, it’s common to use models for demonstration, but there wasn’t any such equipment for teaching variable rate technology.”

Dr. Don Johnson, professor of agricultural and extension education in Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences and Dickinson’s graduate advisor, said the model sprayer built by his student is a valuable tool in his courses.

“We teach precision agriculture to students who are preparing to become agricultural teachers or technical representative for agricultural companies,” Johnson said. “Having a working model that the students can get their hands on and operate just like the real thing is a major advantage to their education and experience.”

Variable rate technology includes a number of different applications, including spraying liquids, applying dry fertilizers and planting seed, Dickinson said.

Precision agriculture is a system of micromanaging agricultural fields by monitoring inputs — fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides and other applications — to get the best crop yields without wasting resources or money. The system also helps protect the environment by reducing excess chemicals that may otherwise run off fields in rainwater and by using buffer zones that act as filters to catch excess nutrients in runoff water.

Dickinson used off-the-shelf components, the same ones used in full-scale variable sprayer rigs, so the device would function exactly like the equipment farmers might use in their fields. He modified them only as necessary to fit a more compact and portable configuration.

The result is a self-contained trailer that fits in a pickup truck and can be towed by any vehicle available at a demonstration site. Only water is used in the spray tank to avoid the precautions necessary when using agricultural chemicals.

“Students or farmers can examine or touch any part of it without restrictions,” Dickinson said.