Elizabeth Wallace, chemistry instructor was recently awarded grant
by the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology
(OCAST) .
Wallace’s proposal “Reducing Input Costs with Variable Rate
Applications” has been approved for funding, providing a 50% match
for program costs totaling $120,000.
This two-year internship-partnership provides two agriculture
students at Western an opportunity to earn as they learn. The
contract provides for intern research/employment at the Southwest
Research and Extension Center (OSU) located south of Altus.
Interns for this program are students Nathan Helms and Julian
Lowell, who will participate in the research and present findings at
state and national conferences.
Wallace will serve as principal investigator along with JC Banks of
SWREC. Shane Osborne will serve as the intern mentor.
This two-phase project uses of variable rate technology to increase
the efficiency of harvest aid applications.
GreenSeeker technology will be utilized to build application
programs for harvest aid application. Producers normally use the
rate of harvest aid material that will work on the most stressed
part of the field, which results in over-application of chemicals on
the rest of the field.
The GreenSeeker technology uses a unit on the sprayer that instantly
evaluates crop vigor, and assigns a vigor index to that value. This
occurs many times a second as the machine is running through the
field. A computer evaluates this vigor index, and adjusts the rate
of chemical applied.
