Matt Lee, LSU vice president for agriculture and dean of the LSU College of Agriculture and Klein Kirby, CEO of A. Wilbert's Sons, LLC talk during a visit to the University of Wisconsin. Lee and Klein were part of an LSU delegation that visited several universities to learn about their agricultural programs.

A. Wilbert’s Sons has invested in new technology such as drones, high-tech sensors and refractometers so they can better understand the dynamics of a field or even a subplot within a field.

As a tractor passes through a field, it isn’t just putting down fertilizer or cutting a crop anymore. It is gathering thousands of data points. This is information farmers can harness to improve their production practices.

Precision agriculture techniques are paving the way for the future of agriculture, and A. Wilbert’s Sons LLC is partnering with the LSU AgCenter to create an innovative precision agriculture program. The land management company has pledged half a million dollars to establish the A. Wilbert’s Sons Precision Agriculture Graduate Scholars Program.

Klein Kirby, A. Wilbert’s Sons CEO, said the aim behind the program is to attract world-class researchers to the AgCenter to help oversee the precision agriculture program, which would benefit farmers across the state. With the donation, a precision ag scientist will work with the graduate students who will assist with research and be trained in this complex field of study.

“This is natural fit for us,” Kirby said of the company supporting this endeavor. “We see tremendous value in LSU, and we believe in this research for the agriculture community.”

Kirby became enthusiastic about the opportunity to build a precision agriculture program while traveling with LSU President William F. Tate IV and LSU Vice President for Agriculture Matt Lee to several universities to learn about their agricultural programs. Kirby was part of an LSU delegation that visited the University of Georgia, the University of Kentucky, North Carolina State University and the University of Wisconsin.

“This was my first introduction to LSU’s Scholarship First Agenda and my first recollection of LSU putting agriculture as a major component of its mission,” Kirby said.

The trips were an eye opener for Kirby, and he said through his travels, he saw the benefit of collaboration.

“Precision ag doesn’t just touch one department. It touches all of ag.”

A. Wilbert’s Sons, which was started in 1887 by Kirby’s family, also reaches into different agricultural interests including timber, sugarcane, sweet potatoes, grain crops and wildlife management.

“We would not have seen the successes we have, especially in sugarcane, without the effort of LSU and programs like the sugarcane breeding program,” he said.

A. Wilbert’s Sons has invested in new technology such as drones, high-tech sensors and refractometers so they can better understand the dynamics of a field or even a subplot within a field. Kirby said with modems and sensors on tractors, they can create a geofence around an area to collect data on that specific piece of land.

With this information, Kirby said they can see things that are far too complex or discreet to notice without it.

“The highest yielding field may not be the most profitable, so this can help us better understand inputs and outputs,” Kirby said, with the goal of making adjustments to maximize profits.”

With precision agriculture, companies like A. Wilbert’s Sons can collect and synthesize data that would have been extremely difficult and time-consuming to collect five years ago and would have been impossible just 10 years ago.

“LSU and this precision ag program can help bring it all together,” Kirby said. “The sky is the limit.”

Klein Kirby, at left, was part of the LSU delegation visiting an agricultural facility at the University of Wisconsin. Photos by Jennifer Finley, Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry