Site Specific Farm Management

"Site-specific farming is a different way of thinking about the land. A field boundary is defined by a surveyor and a legal description. Fields are square or rectangular in shape because of the initial surveying conducted many years ago. However, the lands inside these fields are variable- which means they are not the same. Some differences between soils are small, but often the differences are very large. Site-specific farming is used to measure what is different, record the differences at distinct and specific locations, and then direct differences in management or input based on site-specific information. So site-specific farming is managing areas within fields, rather than using the same management on the field based only on legal description boundaries." Dr. Dave Franzen, NDSU Extension Soil Specialist (SF-1176 (1), June 1999)

We are often asked "How does one get started collecting information to begin Site- Specific Farm Management (SSFM)?" The answer is that there is no best starting point. You just start!
Think of SSFM as a wheel with various starting points, depending on existing information available.
Over the 10 years in SSFM we have come to determined that like a wheel, the management system will not work without using all the tools available in the Management system.
Once in the cycle, data collected from grid soil samples, yield monitor, soil surveys, etc. are added to the database. The result is that the decision making process gets better and better with each cycle of the wheel.
The Figure below represents such a wheel with four possible starting points. Click on the one that best represents the existing information.

Benefits of Program

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