Airbus plunges into precision farming

At the Sima show, the name Airbus is a bit strange compared to other more famous names in the sector. Nevertheless, the company has a long history with agriculture. The company has now been active with its own satellites for 30 years. It also offers agricultural advice via the Farmstar platform.

Airbus has its own satellites with different sensors or the company hires them. The differences are mainly in the resolution of the images. By applying satellite technology, the company can provide images and task maps at a very low cost. Through Farmstar, Airbus, like other manufacturers, focuses on varying the nitrogen dose. 

Cooperation with French government
In France, Airbus cooperates with the French government and farmers' cooperative Arvalis - Institut du Vegetal to present the images. The enormous capacity makes the system cheap. The farmer pays approximately 12,50 to 15 euros per hectare.

Then he has a task card to spray or sprinkle site-specific nitrogen. The resolution is 1,5 meters. That sounds like a lot, but you sprinkle or spray over a width between 24 and 50 meters. The resolution therefore fits perfectly with the working width used. Incidentally, it can provide more accurate images. Up to a resolution of 50x50 centimeters. This is especially true for special applications. If necessary, it also deploys drones to collect additional images. This is possible, for example, with a lot of clouds.

Airbus determines in advance when images will be taken, depending on when the nitrogen supply is coming. This differs per country and per crop. For now, it only scans wheat, barley, rapeseed and triticale.

Increased wheat yield
Since December 2014, the Arvalis cooperative has been using the satellite images. In total, it has 18.000 growers who use the images. Good for approximately 800.000 hectares. The wheat yield of the growers rose by an average of 10 to 15 percent due to site-specific fertilization, compared to the average yields in the region. The protein content was 0,8 point higher compared to the average at the cooperative. Arable farmers saved an average of 10 percent in nitrogen with wheat and 17 percent with rapeseed. Those are the numbers that Airbus and Arvalis communicate.

Grassland monitoring program
A new service that Airbus will expand from this year is a grassland monitoring program. The so-called 'Fodder Production Index'. The company has been doing this since last year, in collaboration with the French government and insurers. In season, satellites scan the grassland. That growth is then assessed. If it is lower, for example due to drought or too much precipitation, the farmer will receive compensation from his insurer. Airbus uses historical data to make a comparison in crop growth.

In the future, the company also wants to be able to provide other types of images via the Farmstar portal, in order to generate different task maps for a wider range of crops.

Airbus in the Netherlands
Airbus also provides satellite data in the Netherlands available† Airbus does this in collaboration with the Dutch space agency, NSO. They make the images available for free. You can find them at satelliteimage.nl.

On March 14, outgoing State Secretary Martijn van Dam made another known to extend the agreements. He is allocating 1,4 million euros for the purchase of the satellite images.

Raw satellite images hardly used
However, the raw satellite images are used sporadically, including Alterra and Akkerweb maker. That has been the case for about five years now. However, it is not possible to get such projects off the ground on a large scale. The largest customer is the government itself. They use the data to measure, for example, whether the desired green manure has been sown and whether it is not being plowed under too early. In the United Kingdom, the business community is more active with the data. It is already offered there as a service for arable farmers. For example, to provide task cards for site-specific wheat sowing.

Niels van der Boom

Niels van der Boom is a senior market specialist for arable crops at DCA Market Intelligence. He mainly makes analyses and market updates about the potato market. In columns he shares his sharp view on the arable sector and technology.

n.vanderboom@boerenbusiness. Nl

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