Predicting the ideal harvest moment with Agrility

Limagrain is developing tools to make predictions about maize ripeness and yield in order to determine the optimal harvest time. After all, chopping too early or too late can have major consequences, it results in a loss of the usable feed value that maize can provide, and growers will notice this immediately in their feed costs and yield.

In addition to the trusted LG LAB and the Maismanager app for up-to-date ds determination, Limagrain introduces satellite monitoring with the advanced Agrility platform. By combining satellite images with data from the field (such as sowing date, number of seeds sown per hectare, soil type, whether or not to irrigate, etc) but also with weather conditions, the system is able to quickly make accurate predictions for each entered plot. These vary from the course of the dry matter content (ripening) to the optimal harvest moment and the actual yield. During the growing season, Agrility also shows very well the development in leaf mass and the soil influence in colorful plot cards.

Better predictability
These further steps in precision technology fit in with roughage cultivation, the outcomes of which are increasingly predictable in advance, so that the business operations can be adjusted accordingly where necessary.

The Roughage Tour is the first, in the pilot various plots are monitored with Agrility. All this to gain plenty of experience with this promising tool. This article discusses the plot in Zuidbroek, below is an example of the Agrility dashboard.

With the help of Agrility it is possible to provide a forecast well before the harvest when it is possible to harvest. The dry matter content in the silage maize on the plot in Zuidbroek can be seen per day in the image below. It can be deduced from this that the plot in Zuidbroek is ready for harvest at the beginning of October with a dry matter percentage of 36%