Scaling up Site-Specific BMP Management for Global Impact.

Site-Specific management systems offer farmers and their advisers the best tools for adapting best management practices to their farming operations. The data underlying the site-specific decision making progress have been made possible through a series of developments in technology combining GIS, sensors, record-keeping, and monitoring of various parameters. To fully realize the value of these data bases whether generated on the farm or obtained from other sources, decision-support tools must be employed. With the combination of tools and data that are a part of precision farming technology, farmers can identify and implement the true best management practices for their operations. The budget squeeze on farming systems under today’s economy requires all farmers to improve their efficiency of production by raising yields and reducing expenses in whatever ways they can, while maintaining the necessary balance needed to protect environmental and production resources. Adopting this approach at the field scale helps contribute to the outcome of providing sustainable cropping systems at state, regional, national, and even global scales. Site-specific management works applied at the local scale throughout the world creates aggregated benefits at the global scale. As more farmers adopt best management practices through site-specific management and decision-making on each field, the larger scale results can be realized for agriculture and society in general. This presentation will outline how such a local/global balance can be developed and some examples of steps being taken to make it a reality.