In 1997, a long term project was established at three locations in the High Plains of Texas, involving over 50 researchers from Texas A&M University. The goal of this project was to increase the knowledge of how to manage site-specific inputs to increase the profitability of crop and cattle production in Texas. Precision agriculture is probably best known for variable rate application of fertilizers and geo-referenced yield monitors, which are used to determine the performance of different areas of a field. However, the goal of precision agriculture is the integrated of each of the management components of a cropping system, including its pests, water, and nutrient inputs.

The High Plains of Texas represents the largest production of cotton in the US. Cotton is an economically viable crop in the High Plains of Texas, but it is subject to several production constraints (drought and pests). Although dryland cotton growers can not control the availability of water, from a precision farming perspective opportunity exists to optimize cultural, agronomic, and pest management to maximize the site specific productivity of cotton. The boll weevil is the most serious pest of cotton in the High Plains. This scenario will change if the High Plains Diapause Control Program successfully reduces densities to the level of an occasional pest.

However, as boll weevil control activities are reduced, the need to control the cotton bollworm and tobacco budworm will increase, and the sporadic but intense injury by aphids will continue. To include insect pests in a cotton precision agriculture system, we need to estimate the combined effect of insect injury, water, and nutrient stresses. We need to know how to manage these components to maximize profitability.

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