Precision Pays

Water use efficiency is vital for agriculture as our global population continues to grow. To help growers minimize water use while maintaining crop yields, Cermetek offers the new AquaMon Wireless Soil Monitoring Network.

AquaMon allows active monitoring of the soil. Knowledge of soil conditions is essential to achieve high crop yield with less water.  Maintaining the optimal level of moisture in the ground permits crops to flourish.  Doing so with the minimum amount of water requires real-time data on soil conditions. An AquaMon sensor node can support up to six sensors of any variety including soil moisture content, soil temperature, air temperature, humidity, pH sensors, and nitrate sensors.

In addition to monitoring soil conditions digitally controlled outputs can activate external equipment such as flow valves or nutrient injection equipment.  Much as electronic fuel injection permits automobile engines to increase power while reducing fuel consumption and emissions; real-time soil monitoring allows water conservation without impacting crop yield.

The data generated by AquaMon can be viewed in two ways, locally or on-line.  Cermetek created Remote Sensor Viewing Platform (RSVP) software to allow the irrigation decision maker to load the field data on his computer and easily view the data patterns.  The data can also be uploaded onto our server and be viewed in the same format using a standard browser.  Storing the data on-line allows the data to be viewed from anywhere with Internet access and even allows multiple authorized users to view the same data.

AquaMon is expected to be available this spring.  The cost of a single sensor node is expected to start at $300 plus the cost of the sensors.  Cermetek is actively recruiting Irrigation dealers to resell the AquaMon product line.

Precision farming has come a long way since the military allowed civilian access to the NAVSTAR GPS constellation in 1995. We’ve gone from initial accuracies of tens of meters down to a couple centimeters. And now we’ve got receivers handling multiple satellite constellations, referred to as GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System).

Topcon Precision Agriculture’s senior VP Albert Zahalka gave a talk recently about how the future of precision ag is here today, and the journey is just beginning. Some of the key points he made:

• Receivers with GNSS technology will have fewer lost signals.
• Today’s precision ag is about three key elements: saving time, reducing costs, and environmental stewardship.
• Future: Massive user interface improvements will make operation simple without the need for a manual.
• Future: Expanded telematics will allow users to remotely monitor critical operating conditions and status of machines whether in a field 5 minutes away or across the globe. You’ll be able to manage your farm from inside your home.
• Future: Autonomous machine operation, already at work in the mining industry, will come to agriculture. Coming safety measures will allow for autonomous driverless machines to work in fields.

In the future, farmers will be increasingly reliant on accurate, dependable statistical information, which will then feed into integrated precision agriculture systems to deliver outstanding productivity and crop yields.

In the not-too-distant future, we’ll have a farmer sitting in his farmhouse, looking at his computer and saying to his wife, “Marge, we are going to do the planting today.”

Then he will press the “planting” button and his tractor (or tractors) will come out of the shed, head off to the fields and begin planting the right seed in the right location, in the right quantities for optimum growth, all with minimal human intervention.

And if there’s a problem or a machine breakdown, the farmer will be instantly alerted.

And as those crops grow and mature, we’ll have sprayers and watering equipment driving along in the farm field. It will see that one plant is not as green or thriving as well as the next, so it will apply a shot of water or nutrient as required.

That vision is still a little way into the future – but it is clearly the direction precision agriculture technology is going.

Read the entire speech.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

In our final installment of looking back at the top stories of 2009, here’s a list of newsworthy stories that featured new or updated products. I list the stories starting with the most current from December, working back to January of 2009. No ranking of importance is included…but feel free to post your comments about these products.

Lindsay Adds Remote Irrigation Pump Control

Trimble Adds Harvest Capabilities to Monitor

Ag Leader Welcomes Dealers To New Facility

Leica Offers Cost-Effective Lightbar Guidance

New RTK Module Receives Tower or Cell Signals

Topcon Launches On-The-Go Crop Nutrient Sensor

Six New Products From Ag Leader Technology

Raven Buys Interest in SST Software

Trimble Adds Modem To Enhance RTK Signal

Take Command of Planting With SureStop

New SMS Software From Ag Leader Technology

Deere Adds New AutoTrac Guidance Products

Trimble Expands Capabilities of FmX Display

Trimble Buys Farm Works Software

Trimble Acquires NTech and Greenseeker Technology

Deere Dealers To Offer Raven Products

Smart Nozzles Aid Precision Application

Raven Adds Planter and Sprayer Control

New GreenSeeker Precision Products To Save Fertilizer

Trimble and Tru Count Increase ROI

Technology Makes 120-Foot Planter Possible

Growers Learn More About APEX Software

RowSense Makes Sense

In general, the past year in the world of precision agriculture has been one of consolidation among industry players. “We’ve really streamlined into 4 or 5 major players in precision ag,” says Matt Darr, Iowa State University Ag Engineer.

“Rather than a lot of companies that offer a segment of products, we’re getting down to a core set of companies offering full-service solutions—products for every type of ag operation,” he says

For example, Darr cites the recent Ag Leader and AutoFarm partnership. “And Trimble purchased numerous smaller precision ag companies to fill out their portfolio of products (like Farm Works software, NTech GreenSeeker and Tru Count).”

From a technology introduction standpoint, there haven’t been a whole lot of truly new products in 2009, according to Darr. “The largest growth segment of products has probably been in the area of CORS-compatible GPS equipment. Trimble, Topcon, AutoFarm—they all have CORS-based capabilities,” he adds.

Impact of CORS? There’s more and more grower interest. “I always tell growers that CORS isn’t going to provide a better RTK solution, as the accuracy of a single base solution is still governed by the distance to the base station, just like traditional RTK. What it does is bring coverage to every farmer in the state Iowa (and in other states that have CORS network),” Darr says.

It wasn’t but a couple years ago that it cost $50,000 for an RTK system—not even including the cost of auto-steer. Today, you can get a complete CORS auto-steer system in the tractor for $15,000 to $17,000.

Coming in 2010. Darr says we’ll continue to see expanded interest in CORS network products. “Auto-steer will continue its rapid adoption, because the efficiency, the savings and intrinsic benefits of less stress and greater productivity in the cab will drive sales.”

As the price of agricultural fertilizers begins to increase again, he sees an increased interest in nutrient management and variable-rate products. “There continues to be a need for real-time sensing of nutrients. These products—GreenSeeker (Trimble), OptRx (Ag Leader) and Crop Spec (Topcon)—are still very young in their developmental stages. These technologies have huge potential to make an impact on both the economic and environmental aspects of agriculture,” Darr says.

“The perpetual rising price of seed will continue rapid adoption of the DirectCommand AutoSwath-type products that provide pretty immediate payback on seed and chemical savings. A $300 bag of seed equals $120 per acre seed costs. An auto-steer system and planter unit control will save a minimum of 2 percent (not including possible variable-rate seeding savings), which equates to $2,400 per year over 1,000 acres,” he adds.

Hemisphere GPS will now offer aerial imagery in partnership with Third Eye Maps to assist their spraying system technology.

Through the collaboration of multiple technologies, Hemisphere GPS now offers imagery solutions to its agriculture and land management customers. Third Eye Maps uses infrared camera systems to generate aerial imagery and maps with a variety of useful information. For agriculture, this information is used to determine vegetation growth indices as well as nutrient and irrigation irregularities that are essential for the improvement of farm yield efficiencies. For land management, imagery aids in the recognition of invasive species and other vegetation identification that enables targeted management. The captured imagery data is post-processed and formatted into digital files which are compatible with most GPS assisted spray systems including the Hemisphere GPS Air IntelliFlow and IntelliGate liquid and dry flow control systems, respectively.

“This combination of technologies provides our customers with valuable data that can be used in conjunction with automated spray applications; whether they are simply turning a spray on and off, or using it with full variable rate treatment in aerial or ground applicators” says Kip Pendleton, Vice-president and General Manager of Agriculture. “Growers, pilots and landowners can now spot spray areas as small as one-tenth of an acre in a more precise and cost effective manner.”

Third Eye Maps brings more than 20 years of vegetation mapping and land management experience to Hemisphere GPS. The combination of Hemisphere GPS’ advanced guidance and flow control systems and Third Eye Maps’ aerial mapping technology and services offers Hemisphere GPS’ customers a more complete solution for imagery usage, data management and spray efficiency.

Cotton farmers, working with Clemson University, are achieving 30 to 50 percent nitrogen savings by side-dressing–without losing any yield, according to a recent report in Southeast Farm Press.

For the past three years Clemson researchers at the Edisto Research and Education Center in Blackville, S.C., have been testing three different options for variable rate application of side-dress nitrogen on cotton. In 2007 and 2008 they reduced total nitrogen use by 30 percent with no yield loss. In 2009, they upped the ante to saving 50 percent on nitrogen use.

The proof of the 50 percent reduction will come after cotton is harvested and yield and quality numbers are in, but so far tests on the research station and with cooperating farmers look good.

“If you look at cotton prices, they are about the same as in 2003. However, if you look at the price of nitrogen, despite a drop in price this year, it is still near record highs. The recession has kept prices low, but we don’t know where nitrogen prices will go next year,” says Clemson Researcher Wes Porter.

Porter is a graduate student working with Ahmad Khalilian, a Clemson University Professor of Agricultural & Biological Engineering and guru of precision agriculture for a number of years.

For the past three years Khalilian, Clemson Extension Precision Ag Specialist Will Henderson and a group of dedicated graduate students have tested variable rate technology for use in applying nitrogen and other fertilizers on cotton.

Porter says there are three routes a farmer can go to apply variable rates of nitrogen to cotton. The first is the simplest and least costly: A nitrogen ramp calibration strip (N-RCS) can serve as a simple guide to nitrogen use.

Read more here.

Topcon introduces their version of a crop sensing system called CropSpec, but instead of reading the crop from sensors mounted on a boom (like GreenSeeker and OptRX), it features top-of-cab mounted sensors that read larger areas on both the right and left sides from the tractor/sprayer.

Working with Topcon’s core competency in optics and in cooperation with Yara International (the world leading manufacturer of nitrogen-based fertilizers), Topcon engineers designed CropSpec as a powerful crop canopy sensor. The Topcon system utilizes a two-sensor system (left and right side of the cabin) that allows a farm operator to monitor plant conditions and apply fertilizer and other inputs only as needed.

“This system will help revolutionize and simplify variable rate applications,” said Michael Gomes, director of agriculture business development. CropSpec sensors measure spectral reflectance using light from pulsing laser diodes focused on the plants. The reading can be correlated to measure chlorophyll content, which is closely linked to nitrogen in the plants. Scanning the crop creates a map to indicate relative canopy vigour.

The information can then be analyzed to determine crop areas that need treatment, construct prescription maps for later application, or immediately provide variable rate application enabling variable rate application in real time.

CropSpec, Gomes said, “allows farmers to perform real-time analysis of crop needs and meet those deficiencies immediately as they are traveling through the field. In other words, variable rate fertilizer applications are performed at the same time actual nitrogen readings are taken, based upon crop need.”

Used with Topcon’s X20 console (System 200), CropSpec links to Topcon’s Maplink program, the industry’s leading variable rate control (VRC) program for liquid sprayers or granular spreaders. The sensors measure nitrogen levels and Topcon’s X20 controller executes that prescription immediately, controlling the output of fertilizer in one pass.

“This provides the benefits of variable rate application,” Gomes said, “in a simple one-step process, reducing the complications typically associated with VR and can reduce both cost and waste associated with blanket fertilizer application.

“The return on investment of CropSpec is extraordinary,” Gomes said. “It is possible to pay for the technology in a single growing season from the savings in fertilizer costs, coupled with the benefits of providing the correct amounts of fertilizer where it is needed most.

USDA crop analysts add another tool to their crop monitoring capability by approving DMCii as a remote sensing solutions provider.

DMCii was invited to supply satellite imagery to the Office of Global Analysis, USDA, Foreign Agricultural Service (OGA USDA FAS) because it provides a unique combination of technical advantages for agricultural monitoring. Firstly, its satellites provide 22m and 32m Ground Sample Distance (GSD) multi-spectral imagery with a large 650km swath width that is capable of monitoring large areas rapidly. Secondly, the company is able to acquire daily images of a given location by coordinating the multi-satellite DMC constellation. Finally, multispectral image data is ideal for monitoring crop growth and is delivered in a highly calibrated Landsat-compatible format for immediate use in crop monitoring applications. DMC data has long been in regular use by precision agriculture services in Europe, where the speed of acquisition, accuracy and very large image size are exactly what is needed for successful monitoring of critical crop growth stages across entire countries.

Bob Tetrault, USDA Satellite Imagery Archive Manager, commented, “The use of DMC satellite data allows the crop analysts to receive broad area, multi-temporal monitoring coverage which is critical in our operational global food security analysis.”

Dave Hodgson, Managing Director DMCii, added, “Our multi-satellite imaging service is ideal for frequent coverage and crop monitoring as the data is collected as large images and delivered in a highly calibrated Landsat-compatible format so applications don’t need to be reinvented.”

DMCii delivers highly calibrated ortho-rectified imagery that can be imported directly into GIS applications. It has delivered 32metre GSD multispectral imagery since the first DMC satellite launched in 2002. The recent launch of two new 22metre GSD satellites, UK-DMC2 and Deimos-1 has greatly increased the imaging capacity of the constellation and has also doubled the number of image pixels per hectare to boost the effectiveness of the system for monitoring agriculture.

By coordinating the constellation of satellites, DMCii covers vast areas within a very short space of time so that data shows the state of vegetation for a very specific period. For example, DMCii coordinated the imaging of 38 countries in Europe within tight time windows specified by each country. DMCii will provide a rapid delivery of data to OGA USDA FAS so that it can be used for rapid decision making during growth seasons.

Cross compatibility is another important consideration when using different satellite imagery. The multi-spectral imagers used on the DMC satellites provide exactly the same spectral bands as the Landsat bands 2, 3 and 4 (R, G, NIR). They are also specially designed to provide highly calibrated imagery, with negligible differences in radiometry between DMC satellites so that data can be combined seamlessly. The large size of DMC images saves considerable time and expense for end users, because they cover huge areas and reduce the need to process large numbers of datasets.

Farmers Edge Precision Consulting based in Winnipeg, Manitoba has become a fast-growing business helping farmers cut fertilizer costs and increase profits. The two agronomy experts who started the company just received an entrepreneur award, according to a report in The Gov Monitor.

Farmers were so impressed with an innovative crop fertilization service developed by Curtis MacKinnon and Wade Barnes that they urged them to take it to market, giving them the push they needed to strike out on their own. Since that initial start four years ago, Farmers Edge Precision Consulting has become a fast-growing business that is helping farmers across the Prairies and as far away as Russia improve their practices and profits. For this success, Wade, 34, and Curtis, 33, have won BDC’s Young Entrepreneur Award for Manitoba.

Farmers Edge helps take the guesswork out of farming. It combines remote sensing equipment and technology to redefine how farmers apply fertilizer to their fields to increase crop yields. The business is helping grain and oilseed farmers increase their profits by $15 to $100 per acre, while contributing to a 15 to 25% decrease in fertilizer application. Now covering 750,000 acres across the Prairies, Farmers Edge has grown to 10 management partners, 34 full-time and 11 seasonal employees, along with 17 consulting partners who are re-sellers of the services. Farmers Edge has just opened its own soil-testing laboratory, has taken its concept to large corporate farms in Russia and is constantly exploring new ideas.

“Before we got started, I was working in the fertilizer business, where research had been done on variable rate technology, but no one had found a way to make it viable,” explains Wade. “Then I started working with Curtis, who is gifted in technology, and together we decided to reinvent the wheel.” Wade hit on the idea of using remote sensing to map out the varying fertilizer needs throughout a field, and Curtis found a way to make fertilizer machines vary their output according to that map. When farmers saw what Farmers Edge could do, the service sold itself.

The two agronomy experts attribute the fast growth of Farmers Edge to the talented team and the unique ownership model they have put in place. That includes a design whereby territory managers take equity in the company. “We have been fortunate to find key people who share our drive,” says Curtis. “That has allowed us to keep growing and expanding.”

Curtis and Wade see expansion as a way of reducing risk. “Agriculture is so influenced by weather that if you are regionalized, one weather disaster could virtually wipe you out,” explains Wade. “Expanding into other regions reduces that risk.” They’re also always on the lookout for possible new ventures. “We’re very quick to seize opportunities. If we have an idea, we chase it.” That led them to Russia in 2006. Since then, Farmers Edge has been developing business in Russia and the Ukraine, tapping into the large corporate farm market.

Satellite photo by RapidEye - Illinois

German-based RapidEye, who uses a constellation of five satellites to photograph earth for numerous industries, partnered with Canadian companies GeoFarm and Agri-Trend to supply growing season images to farmers across Canada.

In a collaborative effort, GeoFarm, Agri-Trend, and RapidEye began working together at the beginning of 2009 to offer enhanced satellite imagery solutions to Canadian clients by offering “near real-time” satellite imagery for agriculture use backed by superior agronomics. The RapidEye satellite system was designed to meet the needs of precision agriculture, as it is the only commercial satellite system that acquires data in the red-edge spectral band. This band provides specific information about the chlorophyll content, and therefore nitrogen status of the crops.

“RapidEye provided high quality imagery products of different types on a ‘field order by field order’ basis to our Canadian customers over a wide range of crop types and conditions. This led to a variety of precision agriculture decisions and applications. With Agri-Trend Agri-Coaches™ providing groundtruthing and agronomic insight, the value of these informative images was understood from a practical agronomy standpoint for the ultimate benefit of our growers,” says Warren Bills, President of GeoFarm Solutions Inc.

Customers benefited from multiple captures of 5 meter resolution, multi-spectral imagery (red, green, blue, near infrared and red edge) of their fields throughout this year’s season. Products such as bare ground, chlorophyll and ground cover maps were delivered via the Internet to farmers, ag-retailers and agronomic consultants.