says Corne Kempenaar
'Precision agriculture is not hot for the farmer'
During a meeting of the Drone Workers collective on Friday 19 January, Corné Kempenaar, lecturer in precision agriculture and senior researcher at Wageningen University (WUR), talks about the National Experimental Garden for Precision Agriculture. "This is a hot item in agriculture, but not for many farmers."
Precision farming is currently a hot item in the agricultural sector. "Everyone is working on it, except the farmer. That's my idea," says Kempenaar. During his presentation to the collective, he uses the KWIN balance calculation for potatoes. "It is difficult to designate an area in the cost calculation where the precision agriculture package fits."
Costs and benefits
"There is a gap of 40% between the theoretical yield of potatoes and practice. One option is to use plant protection products and fertilizers more efficiently, thus increasing the yield. An alternative could be to save on the cost item 'labour'. The price of the product also plays a role in the cultivation yield, although precision agriculture can do little to change this. This is the playing field in which drone companies operate. Money must be saved somewhere in cultivation in order to be able to invest," says Kempenaar.
Field web
WUR works a lot via the Akkerweb platform, where companies can place applications for precision agriculture applications. "An example is the haulm killing module for potatoes. A reduction in resources of 40% is possible here. However, with a 39-metre field sprayer, that reduction goes back to 20%. What we notice when developing the applications is that a good calculation rule is always required. Several lines can be followed for explaining such a rule. The future has yet to show what the best method is," says Kempenaar.
Experimental garden Precision agriculture
The professor is also involved in the National Testing Ground for Precision Agriculture. "It is initiated by the Dutch government and aims to implement precision agriculture to achieve more greening. It does not focus on the group of leaders, but on the followers. Various applications will be investigated in 2018, including variable liming and potatoes planting, applying fertilizers and soil herbicides, foliage killing and site-specific nematode control. The goal is to come up with more validated models that help with this."
Meanwhile, 55 arable farmers have registered to participate in the pilot project, Kempenaar knows. "In the end, 6 will be selected this month. In 2019, the Proeftuin will also focus on grassland management, forage production and perhaps fruit cultivation. The pilot project will run for 4 years."
Niels van der Boom
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