An Agriculture Subcommittee hearing on Conservation and Forestry Tuesday, focused on expanding the financial and conservation benefits of precision agriculture technology. The Subcommittee heard testimony from farmers about how farmers can use precision ag tools to achieve tangible conservation benefits.
Dustin Madison, a farmer and crop consultant from Virginia discussed the challenges that prevent growers from maximizing the potential benefits of these technologies. “Precision and conservation in agriculture really go hand in hand,” Madison said, “One of the best parts about the precision ag, and the conservation in ag, is if you combine the two we can really make ourselves a lot more profitable, and we can verify that. The precision ag allows us to look at our information after year’s over and say hey, we did a better job and we can see it in the bank account.”
Democratic Representative Abigail Spanberger, Chair the Subcommittee also spoke in the meeting about the importance of precision agriculture, “Through exciting technologies like satellite mapping, in-field data sharing, and remote management, producers stand to see continued success. These innovations not only allow growers to boost their yields and to save time in the fields—but they also give farmers the ability to think ahead about the best long-term, sustainable practices for the future of their operations.”
The hearing was to build on efforts to examine how farmers can balance conservation programs with the practices they need to grow their businesses.
