Quite likely, as recently as three or four years ago most of you reading this had never heard of the term precision agriculture. Most of you didn't know that the American military was in the process of putting satellites into orbit that would allow you to pinpoint your position anywhere on the face of the earth using a small receiver that costs under two hundred dollars and fits in the palm of your hand. Some of you might have heard of yield monitors, but they were not readily available in Canada. And many of you hadn't even seriously considered buying yourself a computer for use on the farm.
The fact is that precision agriculture--or site specific farming, or GPS or Target Farming, or whatever else you may call it--seems to have crept up on us while we weren't looking. Suddenly, everywhere you turn you see a magazine article or a television program or a conference that is featuring precision ag. Now, the fact that you are part of this conference immediately sets you apart from a large percentage of farmers because your interest and involvement in the SSCA indicates that you are open to new ideas. You're not one to jump in without checking it out but you are willing to consider the possibilities.
The purpose of this presentation is to just introduce those ideas, to provide a 'jumping off' point as you start to research another new possibility in agriculture
Target Farming is a made-in-Canada name for the concept of making effective farm management decisions based on accurate information, sound agronomic knowledge and experience. The idea is to increase profitability through more efficient and effective management at all levels of your operation. You'll notice that this definition doesn't even mention the technology itself. Technology is merely a tool which may or may not assist you in obtaining the information you need. In fact, many experts feel that the technologies related to Target Farming are further advanced than the understanding of agronomics needed to make them useful. But that's another issue for another presentation. The fact is that several new technologies have recently been developed with provide us with the potential to focus more precisely on crop production. The potential is easily seen. Our ability to convert the potential into profits may take time, research and some diligence, but I believe it will come.
I will break the enabling technologies down into four main areas: On-line measurements, remote sensing, positioning and data processing/communications.
On-line measurements in agriculture have been under development for several years. Yield monitors, moisture testers, protein analyzers and on-the-go soil analysis are a few of the systems currently available or under development. These measurement allow us to obtain relatively accurate quantitative and qualitative information about our operations. Remote sensing technologies appear to still be something of an enigma. While aerial photos and satellite images provide a wealth of information much work is still needed to determine what it means. Even so, it promises much in the future. The American global positioning system is the pivotal development upon which precision agriculture turns. The ability to couple (geo-reference) other measurement data with accurate positioning data provides a powerful tool for analysis of the complex relationships between variety, soil fertility, topography, soil moisture and a host of other factors. Possibly the most significant technology over the long term will be the power of the personal computer and appropriate decision support software to assist producers in making the rest of the technologies work for them. Much work is still required in the software development side. Some experts forecast that successful, widespread adoption of precision ag will be determined by the availability of this type of software.
For the purposes of this presentation I will focus mainly on the application of these technologies to the optimization of efficiency in the crop production cycle. In other words, the use of various data gathering techniques to increasing yield while decreasing costs. If time permits I will mention some of the other applications of technology.
The first step in crop production optimization is usually yield mapping but this emerging technique could be described as a three step process. Data collection, Data analysis and Implementation.
Data collection actually involves the collection of a variety of types of information, usually geo-referenced, for the purposes of analysis. Yield mapping is the process of acquiring accurate geo-referenced yield information. Other types of data may include geo-referenced grid or benchmark soil test data, topographical data showing hilltops, mid and lower slopes and low areas, geo-referenced weed and pest infestations and other pertinent data. Ideally, several years' data is helpful in obtaining the clearest picture of the factors influencing yield.
The hardware involved in yield mapping is a significant point of contact between the producer and the technology. He must often deal with the difficulties of installation, configuration, calibration and operation if he is to obtain useful data. This can be both rewarding and frustrating. Yield mapping systems centre around a field computer which accepts data from the yield, moisture and other sensors, a global positioning receiver and a user interface. It provides real-time information to the operator via the interface and stores the geo-referenced yield/moisture data on some type of removable memory device. This allows the data to be easily transportable to a desktop computer for analysis.
There are several types of yield sensor, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. At this time no type is clearly superior to the others. It is likely that we will see new products developed in this area with improved features and ease of configuration/operation. The global positioning receiver (GPS) receives signals from several satellites at once to provide real-time position information. The key issue relating to GPS is its accuracy. For agricultural applications differential GPS must be used. This requires a source of correction data which may or may not require yearly licensing fees. Differential correction data can be obtained from a local FM radio carrier (over short distances), from a 300 kHz AM beacon signal (over longer distances) or from satellite sources (practically anywhere in North America). The accuracy of the positioning depends on many factors including the quality of the receivers, the quality of the correction source, the distance from the correction source, weather conditions, obstacles and other factors.
Once the yield data has been stored in portable memory it can be downloaded into a personal computer. Appropriate software is needed to display and manipulate the data in useful ways. Less expensive systems allow data to be shown in tabular form and in simple yield maps. For more sophisticated functions geographic information system (GIS) software is required. This software is relatively expensive and difficult to use. The data analysis stage can be further broken down into at least two steps. Data manipulation involves displaying the data to minimize errors or insignificant data and to display it in ways that are meaningful. The actual analysis stage involves the application of agronomic knowledge and experience to make management decisions. One way this can be implemented is in the development of a prescription map based on yield goals associated with management units identified in the analysis. A map is developed in which seed, fertilizer and other input application rates are assigned to each management unit.
Variable rate application is usually accomplished using an air seeder in which application rates can be continuously variety from an electronic controller. A field computer, which contains the prescription map data, is also connected to a GPS. The computer identifies the predetermined application rates for each location and sends the information to the variable rate controller which adjusts the application. Assuming that the analysis was done correctly, and that no other uncontrollable factors intervene, the resulting crop should yield at the optimum level with the minimum input costs.
One application of GPS that is expected to provide significant cost benefits is in navigation. High accuracy GPS, coupled with the appropriate hardware and software, can allow the input applicator to navigate the field at relatively high speeds, even a night without significant overlap or skip. Other tools based on new technologies are expected to make an impact on agriculture. For example, on-line protein analyzers may allow producers to separate high protein wheat into a separate grain tank for sale at a premium.
There is no doubt that precision ag is not yet a mature concept. The technologies, impressive as they are, still require some development. More development is required in the areas of agronomic application of the vast amounts of data obtained. In the future more research will be required to obtain the full benefits of the technology. More training will be required as well, to enable us to use the technology. Unfortunately, we can expect to make some mistakes along the way. Nothing that promises as much as precision ag will come easily, but eventually we can expect it to provide us with the one benefit which justifies its use--profits. Hopefully they will emerge sooner, rather than later.