Information-based production (precision agriculture) technologies have seen rapid growth in the U.S., according to a May 2 article on Amber Waves, an on-line publication of the Economic Research Service (ERS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The advancing technologies allow farmers to more closely monitor farm-production management decisions and possible cost savings. The four most commonly used precision agriculture technologies are: yield mapping, soil mapping, auto-guidance machinery steering, and variable rate technologies (VRT).