Variable Rate Planting

Basics

• Variable rate seeding may be used with crops such as cotton, soybeans and corn. To begin variable rate seeding, a farmer must purchase equipment such as a computer with GPS mounted in the vehicle and software that maps where the seeds are to be planted at which rates, according to the North Dakota State University Extension Service. The farmer also will need compatible fertilizing equipment .

Effectiveness

• Jess Lowenberg-DeBoer, an extension economist with Purdue University, studied the economics of variable rate planting for corn. He notes that previous research has shown that in the Corn Belt, the optimum seeding rates did not vary widely, so the practice was not very useful. He concluded that the practice may be profitable on farms where there are soils with various yield potentials, but farms with both medium and high potential land would benefit more from uniform rate seeding.

Costs

• In his paper, Lowenberg-DeBoer writes that the necessary technology costs $3,500 to $4,000. Another researcher, Steven G. Brosch of Texas Tech University, notes in his paper "The Effects of Variable-Rate Seeding on Dryland Cotton Yield in West Texas" that farmers could afford to make the investment, considering the increase in yield and decrease in the number of seeds that must be planted.