The promise of precision farming

Precision farming is the future of agriculture. However? We all know it and like to tell each other. The higher you are in the tree, the greater the ambition to do 'something' with precision agriculture. However, its use in practice is limited. How did that happen?

Large companies have the budgets to invest in this future, although the revenues from this are often still uncertain. With varying incomes and uncertain harvests, that is different for growers. It is necessary to see the first returns of an investment within 1 year. The fact that there are also long-term benefits to building data is a nice side effect.

Demonstrate added value
Most 'Drone workers' have their roots in agriculture and understand the position of the grower all too well. To show what is possible in practice, I would like to take you to a plot at arable farmer Martijn van Es in Zeewolde (Flevoland). This year we are following a plot of potato chips of 8 hectares. There is quite a bit of variation in the plot. With 140 hectares of potatoes and modern machinery, Martijn is in a good position for precision farming. Yet he has never worked with task cards. A great challenge for us to demonstrate the added value.

Last winter we started mapping the variation in bases. Based on old aerial and satellite images, we have mapped the dominant patterns over the years, in soil and crop. Within the zones that resulted, we chose locations that are representative of the variation and took soil samples here. The map below shows the plot, the zones, the sample locations and the results of soil samples.

(Text continues below the image and table)The plot of 8 hectares is divided into 3 zones.

Location 3 is lighter soil than location 1. Slightly more sand, less clay and 2% less organic matter than location 1. In consultation with Agrifirm's advisor, it was decided to adjust the basic fertilization: CAN, the planting distance and dose of soil herbicide. The CAN dose is increased by 10% in the lighter spots for a more even availability of fertilizers.

Variable planting and spraying
With the help of the Grimme planter, a task card is carried out in which the planting distance varies between 36 and 40 centimetres. It was decided to plant slightly narrower in the heavier zones and slightly wider in the lighter zones, because potatoes develop more stems on lighter soil.

The goal is to have an equal number of stems over the entire plot. The dosage of Challenge soil herbicide is also adjusted to the heaviness of the soil. Challenge adheres to clay and organic matter and therefore has a reduced effect with high organic matter. Therefore, the dosage is reduced on the lighter spots.

During the season we will return to this field to see the progress and to explain some more applications. In order to be able to make a good estimate of the added value of such technologies, this year we are cultivating half of the plot site-specifically and the other half using conventional cultivation techniques.

Bert Rich

Bert Rijk is co-owner of Aurea Imaging. That company has been flying drones since 2010, some of which are designed and built by itself. According to him, drones offer the solution for flexible deployment and better images.

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