| Precision Farming
Precision Soil Mapping: Reducing the cost of
precision farming set up
The benefits of precision farming (PF) – reduced input costs, more efficient
seed and fertiliser use and higher yields – when compared to conventional
farming are now well known. However, the perceived high cost of entry into
PF has long been a barrier to entry for some farmers.
PF are partners in a project that
aims to make financial entry
into PF more affordable whilst
not compromising on the high
resolution data required to
produce meaningful soil
management zones.
This large-scale collaborative project aims to
integrate IPF’s satellite data with the UK’s most
comprehensive soil datasets, held by Cranfield
University and the James Hutton Institute, to
produce Great Britain’s first ‘precision soil
map’. The resultant map will present an
economically viable alternative to the current
labour intensive methodology of soil surveying
and represents a very exciting opportunity for
arable and vegetable farming to embrace
precision farming. Growers will be able to
increase yields with lower input costs and
reduced environmental impact.
IPF have played a key role in the project
since it began in September 2016. IPF’s first
task was to provide the project with detailed
soil survey data on at least 20 farms covering
England, Wales and Scotland. Some existing
soil data has been utilised and we have
I
conducted surveys for the project to ensure
that farms cover a good geological and
geographical spread. This data is being used
by scientists from Cranfield University’s Soils
and Agrifood Institute, who are leading the
modelling element. Cranfield are working
together with the soils team in the James
Hutton Institute in Scotland.
Max Dafforn, IPF UK’s General Manager,
said: “When soil brightness technology arrived
five years ago it represented a real
breakthrough in terms of farmers joining the
precision farming revolution. Approximately
40% of our current customer base has now
been zoned using soil brightness, and it is
becoming an increasingly popular choice as
farmers look for lower cost entry into precision
farming. We were keen to be a part of this
project as we believe the combination of new
satellite technology with traditional soil survey
data offers the best approach for farmers
looking for an affordable way to zone their
fields ”
The project recently featured on BBC Radio
4’s Farming Today programme and has
attracted considerable attention via several
published articles.
Turn over to see the new digital terrain model
created as part of Stage 1 of the project. This
model, created using OS data will be used
alongside soil brightness to produce more
accurate zones.
Once zones are created using a combination
of soil brightness and topography information
as shown above IPF will be able to interrogate
Cranfield’s ‘Wall of Soil’ model. This is the
second stage of the project which is currently in
progress. The Wall of Soil contains
characteristics such as texture, depth to rock,
available water, organic matter and many more.
The model will work by automatically
populating the new zones with this soil
information. We expect that there will be a trial
version of the model available in October.
PrecisionHawk and Leonardo launch Absolute
Nitrogen Content App for drones
PrecisionHawk, a leading aerial
data company, and Leonardo, a
multinational high-tech security
company, have collaborated to
deliver to customers a new
algorithm that automatically
detects wheat nitrogen levels from
drone-collected imagery. The
Absolute Nitrogen Content app is
available to the public in
PrecisionHawk’s Algorithm
Marketplace.
s supply expectations shift
during the season due to
planted acreage, weather, and
growing conditions, drone
technology can give growers a
precise assessment of what a
field actually needs, impacting the bottom line,”
said Patrick Lohman, PrecisionHawk VP of
partnerships. “By partnering with indus try
leaders, like Leonardo, PrecisionHawk is
continuing to push the boundaries of how
drone data can be utilized across commercial
applications and made available to growers
around the world.”
“Leonardo is making use of our years of
experience in taking big data and turning it into
useful, actionable intelligence for our security
customers.” said Stewart Miller, SVP of Support
A
16 | Farming Monthly | July 2017
and Service Solutions UK at Leonardo. “We’re
excited to be exploiting our know-how in the
form of Absolute Nitrogen Content, allowing
farmers to be more efficient and in turn
improving the world’s food security.”
The Absolute Nitrogen Content app is
designed to support variable rate prescription
applications in wheat fields and uses imagery
collected by multispectral sensors. Wheat
growers and producers will be able to upload
field imagery and select the app to
automatically view nitrogen levels in their crop.
Nitrogen fertilizer is a high expense for farmers,
and this has resulted in increasing demand for
tools that curb costs.
Drones are being adopted by farmers as a
tool in precision agriculture to provide insights
that are difficult, if not impossible, to achieve
with current technologies. The additional field
data can be used to conserve resources and
increase efficiencies.
www.farmingmonthly.co.uk