Case Study on the Economic and Environmental Impact of the Introduction of the Variable-Rate Distribution of Fertilizer in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Cultivation

Abstract

Fertilization plays a strategic role in the cultivation of wheat, contributing to harvest yield, both in quantitative and qualitative terms. However, similarly to all farm inputs, it has both economic and environmental impacts due to fertilizer dispersion into the environment during its distribution, as well as any excess fertilizer not used by the crop. Precision agriculture, which introduces the possibility of distributing fertilizer following prescription maps, has an immediate effect on dosage compliance according to the request and potential for use by each homogeneous area of the crop. An experimental field (about 15 hectares) at the Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA) of Treviglio (BG) in Northern Italy was fertilized using a centrifugal fertilizer spreader combined with a tractor, equipped with a satellite system to distribute urea led by prescription maps. The purposes of this research were to verify (i) the effect of fertilization, performed with precision agriculture (PA) criteria at a variable rate; (ii) the comparison of the economic impact of the quantities of fertilizer required by precision agriculture compared to the distribution required in previous years (fertilizers administered according to conventional agriculture). The treated areas showed a significant yield improvement (almost 14%) when fertilization was performed according to the prescription map. With a negligible margin of error of less than 0.001, the total amount of fertilizer used was the same in both years.