Carl and Janice Mattson

PO Box 382
Chester, MT 59522
ph 406-292-3623 | fax 406-292-3631
geoag@hughes.net

Carl & Janice Mattson farm 15 miles north of Chester MT, just south of the Canadian border. Although hard red spring wheat and barley are their primary crops, alternative cropping systems are in their plans for the future. Carl and Janice returned to the family farm in 1973 after graduating from Montana State University with degrees in Ag Technology and Education respectively. Since 1993, the Mattsons have been pursuing the use and application of GPS and GIS on their farms, foreseeing it as a tool to aid them in implementing a variety of new projects and ideas. They are in search of additional tools such as weather broadcasting, radar and/or satellite imagery that could assist them in their site-specific management decisions, and they currently use Arcview and AgNavigator software to map field boundaries and weed locations.

In 1994 Carl and Janice became involved with Montana State University and the University's Extension Research as cooperators in a variety of trials and experiments. Ongoing studies have included wild oats, sawflies, yield mapping, weather, imagery, and protein mapping. In 1997 they worked closely with Dr. Dan Long, of Northern Agricultural Research Center, Havre, Montana, in an attempt to establish an economical method to determine nitrogen needs and management in cereal crops. Both Carl & Janice are active with the Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium (UMAC) and its attempt to bring satellite imagery and weather information venues to the producer. Their daughter Megan recently graduated from OSU. Their son, Vince, graduated in December 2001 from MSU with a degree in Ag Business with an emphasis on Farm and Ranch Management, and is working on his own farm nearby with his wife Kerry.

"We believe becoming involved with the concept of precision agriculture has made us better overall managers of our operation," the Mattsons remark. "Before applying precision ag techniques on our farm, we knew we needed to know, more precisely, our input costs. This encouraged us to look at other areas of management within our business. We concluded that there may exist portions of any farm's management system that need attention and will benefit a business more than new 'tools'."

Like many other PARA members, the Mattsons would enjoy the opportunity to discuss their experiences with producers who are considering precision agriculture in their own operations.