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Addressing Variability
Soil characteristics — including the
amount of phosphorus, potassium,
calcium, and magnesium — often vary
significantly from one area of a field to
another. The practice of variable rate takes
this variability into account to reduce
inputs of water, seed, fertilizers, and fuel
as well as to increase yields by dividing
fields into sectors and prescribing rates for
each one. Fertilizer dealers, seed salesmen,
and crop consultants analyze farm
data and advise farmers on these rates.
However, farmers can also create prescription
maps themselves, by uploading soil
type data, historical yield data,
and aerial imagery into
farm management
software on their computers. They
can then upload those maps to their tractors’
guidance systems, which use them to
vary the rates depending on location, with
wireless networks creating a farm-wide
system.
Precision also plays with environmental
impacts, such as reducing water
use or the amount of farm chemicals in
water. “To be more efficient with our
water and to stop flushing out so much
nitrogen through the soil into the water
table,” says Chris Gallo, a Precision
Agriculture Specialist at Simplot, “many
farmers are switching from
flood irrigation to drip irrigation
and micro-sprinklers.”
By managing their fields
based on soil properties and
putting fertilizer where it
needs to go, farmers can
better manage their nutrients.
By setting up “exclusion
zones,” farmers are also able to cut
off the spray of fertilizer automatically
before it reaches a critical distance from
a water supply. “That has saved many
farmers from litigation and fines,” says
Mike Martinez, a market manager at
Trimble Agriculture.
Another benefit of precision agriculture
is that it enables farmers to avoid
gaps and overlaps when planting. “We
are able to geospatially sense where
we have already applied fertilizer and
planted. That way the system cuts the
supply at those points, so that you don’t
waste inputs,” says Martinez.
Standard Equipment
Just as car buyers today expect Bluetooth
integration and XM satellite Sirius
radio, farmers expect new tractors to
come with guidance. Case IH tractors,
sprayers, and combines are sold with a
factory-installed Glonass-enabled GNSS
receiver, a display, and
a controller, which
consists of accelergriculture
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SENSORS DRIVE AGRICULTURAL EFFICIENCY
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