AgGIS: Grow Your Potential with GIS

Mary Buffington, GISP

mebuffington@salisbury.edu

Eastern Shore Regional GIS Cooperative

• Established in 2004 as a self-sustaining collaboration between the MSRC, the TCCLESM, and SU

• Multi-pronged service mission• Enable state-of-the-art GIS capacity for governments, non-profits, and

businesses on Maryland’s Eastern Shore

• Expand GIS capacity for fellow MD state agencies

• Empower partners through technology transfer

• Educate the next generation of the GIS workforce

• Embody the SU commitment to community service

ESRGC – All About the Partnerships…

• We don’t have clients – we have partners• Federal Government

• State Government

• Local counties and municipalities

• Non-profit organizations

• Local businesses

• Some of these partnerships are long-running but most we try to leave self-sustaining

What is GIS?

• Geographic Information Science

• Set of tools for displaying, understanding, interpreting, and analyzing spatial data

• Helps answer questions and solve problems by looking at data in a way that is quickly understood and easily shared – on a map!

• “Go-to technology for making better decisions about location”

Hardware

Software

DataMethods

People

Precision Agriculture

• Provides more accurate farming techniques for planning and growing crops• Used to improve the agronomic, environmental, and economical

management of crop production in accordance with in-field variability• Precision soil sampling, variable rate nutrient application, and record

keeping/yield monitoring using GPS/GIS software are implemented by agricultural operations to ensure the most efficient production is achieved.

Agriculture on Maryland’s Eastern Shore

• Family farms are increasingly technology driven

• UMD Agriculture Extension offers little mapping and GIS support to farmers – not their goal

• How do farmers access, manage, and maintain crop data?

AgGIS: Agriculture GIS Extension

• Funded by the Rural Maryland Prosperity Investment Fund• Mid-Shore Regional Council

• Tri-County Council for the Lower Eastern Shore

• Working in cooperation with UM’s College for Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension

• Serving Mid-Shore and Lower Shore Counties

RMPIF MSRC TCCLESUMD Ag

ExtensionAgGIS

AgGIS Goals

• Develop custom mapping and spatial analysis projects driven by small farm needs

• Leverage existing datasets

• Require little effort from farmers• meet, discuss issues, provide solutions, save the day!

Discussions with Farmers

Farmers: What can you do?

ESRGC: What do

you need?

Discussions with Agriculture Leaders

• Agriculture Extension contacts• Soil Scientists

• Nutrient Application Advisors

• Extension Educators

• Maryland Department of Agriculture

• USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

•What are common issues with farmers?1. Ditches for drainage modeling2. Access to existing GIS data

Tax Ditches

Tax + Ag Ditches – Updated data

Ag Ditch Uses

• Extension offices – developing nutrient plans

• MDA• Best Management Practices

• Chesapeake Bay Restoration efforts

• AgGIS web map

Existing data – how to access?

• Soils

• Flooding

• Property boundaries

• Protected lands

• Municipalities

• Zoning

Access to Existing Datasets

• Maryland iMap-• Municipal Boundaries

• Stream Buffer – 100 ft

• Protected Lands

• Effective FEMA Floodplain

• SSURGO Soils

• Maryland Property View Parcels

• County Zoning

• LiDAR products

AgGIS: Grow Your Potential with GIS

ArcGIS Online Web Map…So, what?

• Easy to share and ideal for non-GIS users• Control layer view & transparency

• Quick set up and updates

• Printing capabilities

• Provides visual and product of what we can do!

AgGIS Potential Products

• Crop Yield Mapping and Management• Compare yearly crop yield data• Analyze nutrient application response• Create yield goals for management zones

• Soil and Elevation Comparisons to Yield• Determine crop nutrients by soil type• Identify drainage needs

• Irrigated & Non-Irrigated Crop Assessment• Compare irrigation methods by yield

• Data management and record keeping

AgGIS Next Steps

• Continue to meet with regional agriculture leaders and present at meetings in the region• UMD Agriculture Extension

• Soil Conservation Districts

• Meet with regional farmers

• Spread the AgGIS word – how can we help more farmers?

Questions?Mary Buffington, GISP

mebuffington@salisbury.edu