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Does Precision Agriculture Help or Hurt USA’s Small Farmers?

Does Precision Agriculture Help or Hurt USA’s Small Farmers?. Ryan Jones. Overview & Definitions. Hobby Farms $1,000-$9,999 from ag products sold Medium Farms $10,000-$99,999 Larger Farms >$100,000 - NASS/USDA.

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Does Precision Agriculture Help or Hurt USA’s Small Farmers?

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  1. Does Precision Agriculture Help or Hurt USA’s Small Farmers? Ryan Jones

  2. Overview & Definitions • Hobby Farms $1,000-$9,999 from ag products sold • Medium Farms $10,000-$99,999 • Larger Farms >$100,000 -NASS/USDA

  3. Overview & Definition (cont.) • $10,000-$99,999 economic class Farms decreased 1.2% 2000-2001 • All Farms # Farms decreased 1.99% since 1993 Ave. Farm size ~435 acres past 5 years -NASS/USDA 2002

  4. Todays Farmers • Oklahoma average age is 55 • Little to no college • Pretty well set in ways

  5. Land Grant Colleges • Developed to help our farmers • Now leaning toward research and not instructing • Some farmers just don’t have the resources to adopt new technologies

  6. Economics • Some costs fixed Equipment, software, maps, etc. • Some costs variable Fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, etc.

  7. Economics (cont.) • Fixed costs not used in decision process • Fixed costs spread over farm on a per acre basis • Larger farms can justify more expensive fixed costs (Economies of Size) • Results in smaller farmers getting shafted

  8. Economics (cont.) • Variable costs used in decision process because by definition, they affect output • Very important because most farmers working with such small profit margin • Small increases or decreases have dramatic affects

  9. Some Equipment

  10. Cost Analysis

  11. Questions We Need To Ask • Is this going to be beneficial • Short Run • Long Run • Who will benefit • Should we even worry about small farmers

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