Variable Rate Application

As a precision agriculture practice, variable rate application is defined as any application that employs an electronic controller in order to automatically change the rate of a field input based on a pre-defined application prescription. In fertilizer application, variable rate can be further broken down into single-nutrient and multiple nutrient, depending on the abilities of the equipment being used. Varying the rate of crop protection products is not as popular, but has grown in use, in particular in the Cotton Belt.