Narc - Precision Agriculture Lab

Research Associate – Precision Agriculture **Havre, MT** The Northern Agricultural Research Center (NARC) Precision Agriculture Program at Montana State University seeks a motivated and skilled Research Associate to support a statewide initiative focused on variable rate fertilizer (VRF) adoption and validation in Montana cereal production systems. The po...

Can spot-spray applications increase soil health? Our team is working to find out.

Over the past week, we travelled across Hingham, Conrad, and Carter to collect data. Here is a quick look at the fieldwork by the numbers:
📍 20 fields covered
🧪 70+ soil samples collected
🧬 Next steps: Soil DNA analysis to reveal the microbial communities present.

Stay tuned for our upcoming results!

Thank you to our partners:
-Local Producers: For opening up your fields and helping us drive agricultural knowledge forward.
-Montana Department of Agriculture: For funding this research.
-Central Ag Research Center, especially Dr. Jed Eberly & Asa Hurd: For your collaboration and help processing the DNA samples.

Our group had a hands on training with our new I-19 Revolution Drones USA spray drone at Northern Ag Research Center. This drone can accurately spray 20 gallons of liquid or spread 26 gallons of solids and can cover up to 600 acres per day.

A big thank you to Sam Thier and TerraplexAg for their support and excellent demonstration. We also thank the Montana Wheat and Barley Committee for funding this research, helping us generate valuable data and practical solutions for Montana producers.

Are you wondering if your fertilizer or seeding rate is really the right fit for your fields?

This past Friday, we had a great time with Doug Weist and Connor Crary installing an on‑farm experiment in a 500‑acre field near Choteau, MT to evaluate which barley seeding rate and phosphorus fertilizer rate delivers the best economic return. Every farm is unique, and optmize input use across different soil types and elevations is the best way to find the practices that truly work for your ground.

Interested in running your own trials? Imagine getting $1,000 to run this kind of test on your farm.

Worried about potential yield losses? we cover any yield loss caused by the trials.

Don’t have the equipment to set up the trial? we can work with your local co‑op and cover the costs.

To good to be true? contact Ricardo Pinto at 406‑994‑6374 or [email protected] to learn more.

We are looking for a Livestock Operations Manager at the Northern Ag Research Center in Havre, Mt. Follow the link for more information and to apply: https://jobs.montana.edu/postings/51479

Over the past few weeks, our research team has been implementing multiple field trials in Havre at the Northern Ag Research Center and in Conrad at the MSU Western Triangle Agriculture Research Center.

We’re testing the effectiveness of Carbon bee green-on-green targeted spray applications (spot spraying) in pulse crops: peas, chickpeas, and lentils.

Stay tuned for results, and join us at the upcoming field days to learn more about how this technology can support farmers across the region.

This is worth checking out! The Montana State Reference Network (MTSRN) is offering FREE access through May 31, giving you a chance to see what high-precision GPS can actually do in your operation.

Reported benefits from using RTK-GPS include:
✔ Reduced overlap
✔ Lower input costs
✔ Improved accuracy across equipment
✔ Getting more done with less waste

Sign up for your free trial today:
https://msl.mt.gov/mtsrn/Trial

Know someone who should try this? Send it their way.