THE PROPOSED CONFERENCE WILL BRING TOGETHER AN INTERNATIONAL GROUP OF RESEARCHERS, STUDENTS, FARMERS, AND CROP CONSULTANTS FOR TRAINING IN AND DISCUSSIONS ABOUT USING A NEWLY DEVELOPED CYBER-INFRASTRUCTURE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ON-FARM PRECISION EXPERIMENTS (OFPES) AND THE ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTANT DATA. OFPES HAVE BEGUN GENERATING AGRONOMIC FIELD TRIAL DATA OF QUALITIES AND IN QUANTITIES THAT UNTIL RECENTLY WERE UNTHINKABLE, AND ANALYSIS OF THAT DATA MAY GREATLY IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY WITH WHICH FARMERS APPLY INPUTS IN CROP PRODUCTION. THE ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS COULD BE HUGE.THE IMMEDIATE PURPOSE OF THE PROPOSED CONFERENCE IS TO PROVIDE FIRST-TIME TRAINING TO SELECT SCIENTISTS, EXTENSION PERSONNEL, PROFESSIONAL CROP CONSULTANTS, UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT TWO-YEAR AND FOUR-YEAR INSTITUTIONS, AND TECH-SAVVY FARMERS IN THE USE OF THE DATA-INTENSIVE FARM MANAGEMENT PROJECT'S DIFM CYBER-INFRASTRUCTURE, ALLOWING THEM TO PROVE THE SYSTEM'S PRACTICABILITY AND PROFITABILITY, AND SO DEMONSTRATE TO THE WIDER CROP PRODUCTION WORLD THE BENEFITS OF OFPE. THE LONG-RUN OBJECTIVE OF THE CONFERENCE IS TO SPEARHEAD A MOVEMENT THAT WILL ALLOW SUCH PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD TO WORK TOGETHER ON OFPE TO GENERATE FIELD TRIAL DATA OF QUALITIES AND IN QUANTITIES THAT WERE UNTIL RECENTLY UNTHINKABLE, AND WITH THEIR ANALYSIS GENERATE KNOWLEDGE THAT WILL IMPROVE FARM INPUT APPLICATION MANAGEMENT FOREVER.TO MAKE GOOD USE OF USDA FUNDS, THE CONFERENCE WILL FOLLOW IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE YEARLY MEETING OF THE USDA-NCRA NC-1210 MULTISTATE RESEARCH PROJECT FRONTIERS IN ON-FARM EXPERIMENTATION. DOZENS OF MEMBERS OF NC-1210 WILL ALSO ATTEND THE PROPOSED CONFERENCE, AND WILL BE ABLE TO PAY FOR TRAVEL USING FUNDING FROM THEIR STATE EXPERIMENT STATIONS, WHICH WILL FREE UP FUNDS TO BRING IN PARTICIPANTS WHO OTHERWISE COULD NOT ATTEND. CALLING THE NC-1210 MEETING DATE DAY 1, USE OF CONFERENCE FACILITIES IN DAY 1 WILL BE FUNDED THROUGH NC-1210, NOT NIFA. DAY 2 WILL BEGIN THE PROPOSEDNIFA-FUNDED CONFERENCE, AND WILL BE CONVENTIONAL DAY OF ACADEMIC RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS AND DISCUSSIONS. NON-ACADEMIC PARTICIPANTS WILL ARRIVE ON DAY 3 OF THE CONFERENCE, IN WHICH PRESENTATIONS WILL BE MADE BY FARMERS, CROP CONSULTANTS, AND RESEARCHERS WHO HAVE EXPERIENCE CONDUCTING OFPES, AND TRAINING WORKSHOPS WILL BE HELD IN THE AFTERNOON. TRAINING WORKSHOPS WILL ALSO BE HELD DURING THE FIRST SESSION OF DAY 4, AFTER WHICH PARTICIPANTS WILL BE PARTITIONED INTO THREE GROUPS: STUDENTS, AGRICULTURAL PROFESSIONALS (FARMERS AND CROP CONSULTANTS) AND PROFESSIONAL RESEARCHERS, EACH OF WHICH WILL BE DIVIDED INTO 3-4 MEMBER TEAMS, WHO WILL COMPETE AGAINST OTHER TEAMS IN THEIR GROUPS IN A DAY-LONG HACKATHON, IN WHICH THEY GAIN PRACTICE USING THE WHOLE CYBER-INFRASTRUCTURE SYSTEM IN WHICH THEY HAVE JUST BEEN TRAINED.