Agricultural Innovation 



John Freivalds 



Editorial Director of Agribusiness Worldwide 

 Minneapolis, Minnesota 



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n the same way that many social trends originate in 

 the United States and spread eastward, technical 

 innovation in agriculture seems to be repeating this 

 pattern Western agriculture faces many challenges, 

 notably limited rainfall and distance from markets, and 

 in an effort to minimize costs has developed innova- 

 tive technologies in order to stay competitive. 



MULTIPLE CROPPING 



The longer growing season in many western states 

 has led to innovations in multiple cropping. In Califor- 

 nia some 200 crops are grown, so the possible com- 

 binations dunng any year are almost endless. The 

 multiple cropping systems, however, have to consider 

 the compatibility of crops, farm chemicals and farm 

 machinery This has been done successfully in many 

 areas, allowing farmers to maximize net returns per 

 acre. 



COMPUTERIZED FARM MANAGEMENT 



Western agriculture is heavily capitalized and to 

 gain maximum use of these resources, a growing 

 number of California farms are now using computer 

 programs to design their farming operations. 



Software packages developed for western agricul- 

 ture are now finding their way into other regions of 

 US agriculture Computer programs have been devel- 

 oped to allow more efficient use of machinery, opti- 

 mize irrigation scheduling, develop least-cost animal 

 feed rations, and design multiple cropping systems. 



IRRIGATION 



To many social observers, water may be the 

 national issue in the 1980s that energy was in the 

 1970s Water is in short supply in many western 

 states, and it is well known that agricultural develop- 

 ment in many areas is impossible without modern irri- 

 gation systems. Several systems are now in use in 

 the West: modern surface, hand-move sprinkle, 

 center-pivot sprinkle, and trickle. 



These systems are constantly improved to deliver 

 the most water at the least cost. As a result, modern 

 surface is giving way to sprinkle and drip systems. 

 Drip irrigation is a convenient and efficient means of 

 supplying individual plants, such as trees or vines, with 

 low-tention soil moisture sufficient to meet demands 

 imposed by envirotranspiration. A drip irrigation sys- 

 tem offers special agronomical use of land and water. 

 Attainable field efficiencies range from 90 to 95 

 percent. 



MECHANIZATION 



Technology in the West has produced remarkable 

 machines, from fruit pickers to tomato and pineapple 

 harvesters. Huge power tractors, such as the models 

 manufactured by Steiger in Fargo, North Dakota, and 

 Big Bud in Havre, Montana, have been developed for 

 larger western farms. While the use of this machinery 

 has raised the capitalization of individual farms, it has 

 lowered unit costs. 



To make this new generation of machinery more 

 efficient, enormous progress has been experienced in 



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