With the cost of machinery and inputs increasing all the time it is important for farmers to make sure they are getting best value out of everything they do in a paddock to produce better pastures or crop yields.
Data collection and applications technologies have been around for a while, but are now becoming increasingly cost-effective. There are now a lot of contractors and advisors who can apply these systems on your farm.
A few examples of data collection and management systems which can help you make better decisions are covered below:
Normalised Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI)
NDVI is a measure of “green-ness” in the crop or pasture. This can tell you how actively the plants are growing and can help in making decisions about pest and disease control, weed control and fertiliser application, to name just a few.
NDVI can be surveyed using a drone-mounted camera, hand-held camera or satellite imagery. Images collected by these devices can be interpreted and analysed with a range of software products that can run on any computer, tablet or smartphone. Many of these software products are cloud-based and easily accessible.
Soils-based sensors
Another useful tool for collecting data and applying precision agronomy are soil-based sensor systems. These systems measure Apparent Electrical Conductivity (ecA) which can tell you a lot about the soil type (is it sand or clay), salinity, soil depth, pH and organic matter content.
This can then help you make decisions about crops and pastures, paddock subdivisions, drainage and long-term management strategies to improve soils health and sustainability.
Following the above “remote sensing” tools, the next step is to physically examine the soil and carry out strategic testing. Information collected from NDVI and ecA can be used to design a soil-sampling program to “ground truth” the data and ensure validity.
Soil samples can be collected with great accuracy using a GPS guidance to relate the samples to the remote sensing images. It is important to remember all of the data that can be collected needs to be “ground truthed”.
Prescription maps
Once the data has been collected you can then move to the next step in precision agronomy of generating a Prescription Map to customise the treatment across the paddock. This can involve using Variable Rate Technology to apply the correct rate of product (fertiliser, lime, gypsum, chemicals etc) each management zone in the paddock. This has the potential to save a lot of money and boost productivity.
Applying precision agronomy on your farm will take a bit of planning and you will need to learn what is suitable and cost-effective.
There are a lot of contractors, consultants and commercial suppliers who can provide advice and equipment. Before engaging any of these, it is a good idea to learn a bit more about the potential benefits and processes involved.
Tocal College runs information field days and training courses in Precision Agronomy which can help you to make good decisions.
- Visit www.tocal.com or call Matt Notley, lecturer in precision agronomy, on 0434 273 888 for details about what Tocal College offers.