The hi-tech manure applicator is the first of its kind in the nation.
Manure is unpopular stuff, even with farmers.
It does provide valuable nutrients at an affordable price, but the packaging leaves something to be desired. As a result, many farmers have opted to use man-made chemicals instead of manure. Dan Ess, associate professor of agricultural engineering and one of the developers of the precision manure spreader, says that because of a lack of sophisticated equipment, some farmers avoided using manure in their farm operations. Purdue agricultural engineer Bernie Engel says just like smart credit cards, smart kitchen appliances and other modern microprocessing miracles, environmental smart laws would use computers to examine the variables and prescribe solutions - in this case, chemical regulations for specific areas. Instead of just using one number, and saying that that is the proper amount of pesticide to use throughout the state, we're working to create an on-line computer data base and program that would tell pesticide users how much of the chemical they could use on a particular piece of land.