Transcending Management Zones

"You say management zones, you have to also say manage what. If you don't say manage what, then it's just a concept that doesn't have any direction." - Dr. Newell Kitchen

Dr. Newell Kitchen, soil scientist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service's Cropping Systems and Water Quality Research unit in Columbia, MO, joins the FarmBits podcast for this episode to talk all things management zones - and beyond. As part of the team that developed the Management Zone Analyst software offered publicly by the USDA beginning in the early 2000s, Newell has substantial experience in management zone theory and creation. In this episode, Newell describes everything from the layers that go into management zones, how to properly select layers for management zones, how producers are involved in the management zone creation process, and what place management zones might - or might not - have in the future of precision agriculture.

"The more the data we get in the future helps us to… quantify soil as this continuum, then management zones are actually not going to have a place." - Dr. Newell Kitchen