Eastern Ontario Crop Conference 2016

1. Ben Rosser and Ian McDonald
OMAFRA Field Crop Unit
University of Guelph
Guelph, On.

2. 1. Why are you here?
A. I am heavy into PAg and ready to take
the next step.
B. I am interested in PAg and ready to go!
C. I am interested in PAg but still “sitting
on the fence”!
D. Just getting a first look at what it is.
E. Bored and no where else to go!

3. Basics of Precision Ag

4. Precision Ag Defined!
 The definition is elusive!
 PAg can be anything in ag that uses
technology and data, ie milking robots,
precision feeding via data feedback, etc

5. Traditional Cropping
Farming by the average!
 Every acre gets the same input levels

6. What is Precision Ag in a Cropping
Context?
 Precision agriculture is the ability to manage
by the square meter instead of the square
mi/km using gps positioning and guidance
 In some ways its going back to Granpa’s day
when he knew every nuance of his 100 acres.
 Today, PAg uses data and technology to
supply that knowledge on much larger
landscapes and at high resolutions

7. Think of PAg as Overlapping Layers of
Knowledge from which to make the
best decisions.

8. Corn 1995 Corn 1998 Corn 2001
Soybean 1996
Winter Wheat 2000
Soybean 1999 Soybean 2002
Annual Normalized Yield Maps
The Goal of Precision Ag!
 Exploit variation in the field
 Temporal (time)
 Within and between seasons
(yield varies)
 Spatial (space)
 Elevation, distance, slope
Shape, etc

9. Common PAg Technologies
 GPS Guidance (autosteer, lightbars, gps
tagged soil sampling)
 Yield Monitors (GPS enabled)
 Row and boom automated shut off
 Variable rate lime, fertilizer, pesticide
application
 Variable rate seeding
 On-the-go cultivar changes
 Variable tillage

10. Common PAg Technologies are:

11. The Outcomes of Precision Ag!
 Optimized productivity
 Reduce environmental footprint
 Better Record Keeping
 Enhanced decision making
 Improve traceability
 Enhance marketing of farm products
 Improve lease arrangements and relationship with
landlords
 Enhance the inherent quality of farm products (e.g.
protein level in bread-flour wheat)

12. 2. How are you making decisions today?
A. Yield goal
B. Know my fields inside out
C. Advisors advice
D. Data layer available
E. Don’t think about it, just do it!

13. 3. Why do you want to implement
Precision Ag?
A. Save money
B. Better record keeping
C. Optimize production
D. Reduce environmental footprint
E. All of the above, or at least 3 of them

14. Blanket Treatment SS-VRA SS-VRA SS-VRA SS-VRA SS-VRA
Input
Yield
Possible Outcomes of Site Specific
Management (SSM)
Adapted from R. Khosla, Colorado State University

15. Blanket Treatment SS-VRA SS-VRA SS-VRA SS-VRA SS-VRA
Input
Yield
Possible Outcomes of Site Specific
Management (SSM)
Adapted from R. Khosla, Colorado State University

16. Blanket Treatment SS-VRA SS-VRA SS-VRA SS-VRA SS-VRA
Input
Yield
Possible Outcomes of Site Specific
Management (SSM)
Adapted from R. Khosla, Colorado State University
A
B
B

17. Getting Into
Precision Ag

18. Precision Ag: Where Should You
Start?

19. 4. Precision Ag: What’s First?
A. Drainage
B. Compaction
C. Good planter
D. Crop Rotation
E. All of the above and more

20. Precision Ag: What’s First?
 Get the basic whole field agronomic “stuff”
addressed before investing in PAg!
 PAg is the an additional “tool”, not the
“solution”!

21. 5. What is your first target?
A. Commercial fertilizer/lime mgmt
B. Variable Seeding Rate
C. On-the-go cultivar changes
D. Variable rate manure application
E. Still trying to decide

22. What are the Expected Trends in
PAg?

23. http://agribusiness.purdue.edu/files/resources/20
15-crop-life-purdue-precision-dealer-survey.pdf
What are the Constraints to
Increased Participation in PAg?

24. What’s the cost of getting into
PAg?
 Equipment – hard to determine, much of new
equipment comes with PAg stuff included
(combine, planters, tractors with PAg ready
monitors, etc)
 RTK Guidance ~ $18,000
 Boom Shuts offs ~ $3,000 to 7,000
 Rate Controllers ~ $3,000
 Flow Meters ~ $5,000+
 VR Fertilizer Capability ~ $5,000

25. 6. Are you using guidance on your farm?
A. RTK autosteer
B. WAAS corrected autosteer
C. Lightbar
D. No guidance

26. What’s the cost of getting into
PAg?
 Services
 Grid/Directed Sampling ~ $6-8/ac maps, $1
chemistry)
 SIS Complete ~ $50/ac (1x)
 UAV Imagery~ $5-6/ac maps
 EC Type Sensing~$20/ac 1x(?) maps
 Soil Optix ~ $20/ac 1x(?) shape and pdf of 17 maps
 Digital Soil Mapping ~ $35/ac 1x shape file and
descriptions
 Consulting Services ~ $3-5/ac/yr
 Data Management ~ $5-10/ac/yr

27. What’s the cost of getting into
PAg?
 Services
 Data Management, Reporting
 Software
 FarmWorks - $1000+400/yr
 (http://www.farmworks.com/)
 SMS ~ $1000+250/yr
 (http://www.agleader.com/products/sms-software/)
 SST (http://www.sstsoftware.com/)
 Excel (https://products.office.com/en-us/excel)

28. What’s the cost of getting into
PAg?
 Services
 Data Management, Reporting
 John Deere (Ag Mgmt Solutions (AMS))
 CNH (Advanced Farming Systems (AAFS))
 AGCO (Fuse Technologies)
 Monsanto (Field Scripts ???)
 Dupont Pioneer (Encirca)
 Black box solutions???

29. 7. What PAg Services do you have
Available?
 GPS Enabled Grid/Directed Sampling
A. In house
B. Consultant or retailer
C. Not Available

30. 8. What PAg Services do you have
Available?
 GPS Enabled Elevation Data Collection
A. Owned RTK Guidance
B. Consultant or retailer
C. Not Available

31. 9. What PAg Services do you have
Available?
 GPS Enabled Yield Monitor Equipped
Combine
A. Owned Combine
B. Custom Combine willingly gives data
C. Custom Combine reluctantly gives data
D. Not Available

32. 10. What PAg Services do you have
Available?
Variable Rate Fertilizer Application
Equipment
A. Owned Equipment
B. Custom Equipment
C. Not Available

33. 11. What PAg Services do you have
Available?
Variable Seeding Rate Planting
Equipment
A. Owned
B. Custom Available
C. Not Available

34. 12. What PAg Services do you have
Available?
Multiple Cultivar Planting Equipment
A. Owned
B. Custom Available
C. Not Available

35. 13. What PAg Services do you have
Available?
Data Mgmt, Map Creation, Prescription
Services
A. In-House
B. Retailer or Consultant
C. Not Available

36. The Basic Steps of
PAg and
Management Zones

39. Components of PAg Management Zone
Mapping
Hydrologic Slope
Value
High : 1.0 peak or ridge, dry
Low : 0.0 stream channel or pit (wet)
Yield Elevation
Soil
Sept 4, 2013Soybeans
Remote Sensing

40. PAg Step 1: Collect Data (The key to our
future success)
Few years of yield data
+
Elevation data off guidance system
or a PDSM from a UAV flight
+
Soil sampling

41. Yield

42. Making Yield Maps
Yield Data Table: X, Y, Z…..
Data → Points → Swath Map
Grid (Raster) → Polygons (Vector)

43. Corn 1995 Corn 1998 Corn 2001
Soybean 1996
Winter Wheat 1997 Winter Wheat 2000 Winter Wheat 2003
Corn
Winter Wheat
SoybeanSoybean 1999 Soybean 2002
Yield Index – All CropsAnnual Normalized Yield
Maps
Crop Yield Index Maps

44. Elevation

45. Elevation
 RTK (gathers x,y,z(elevation) coordinates)
 Swath Width
 Narrower with more topography

46. Figure 7: (a) diagram indicating convex v.s. concave curvature
positions connected to (b) field segmented into convex areas (blue)
and concave areas (red) derived from the profile and planform
curvatures.
Convex
Concave
7(a)
7b)
Elevation Mapping from RTK
Guidance Swaths

47. Profile curvature affects the acceleration
and deceleration of the flow of water
down the slope and therefore influences
the erosion and deposition of soil and
water.
Look at these edges
to determine shape A
is convex. B is
concave, c is planar or
straight
Across Slope (Planform): A is diverging, B is converging,
and C is planar or straight
Figure 6a) curvature examples for: concave v.s convex v.s. planar (flat & straight down) and
8b) slope as: diverging v.s. converging v.s planar (straight) – all of which affect the way
water and soil due to tillage practices have moved across the field over time.
Look at these edges to
determine shape
Downslope (Profile): A is convex, B is
concave, and C is planar or straight
Planform curvature relates to the
convergence (accumulation) or
divergence (loss) of flow across a
surface.
6a)
6b)
Types of Field Elevation

48. Soils
 Soil texture and properties (1x)
 Soil chemistry (~ 3yrs)

49. Technology = Accuracy
& Efficiency

50. Topography, soil and where to
sample?

51. Predicted Soil Properties
pH

52. Digital Soil Map Creation Inputs
Soybean September 2013 Relative Hydrological Slope Position
Terrain Classification Index Inspection Points

53. Predicted Digital Soil Type Map

54. PAg Step 2: Integrate Data to make
management zones
Yield + Elevation + Soil Sampling
Integrated Analysis
Management Zones
Evolutionary
Build…

55. Soil Type and Yield Index
Combined = Management
Zones
MZ’s from Soil Type & Yield Index
Summary of 2015 Soil Test Results
%OM CEC P K Mg pH K:Mg
Avg 3.4 12.6 37 184 268 7.4 .7
Std .5 1.5 12.2 56 64 .3 .2
%CV 15 12 33 30 24 3.5 29
min 1.9 9.1 15 79 123 6.5 .3
max 4.6 17.6 70 352 393 7.9 1.2

56. Simplify the # zones means loss of opportunity – recognize that you must wrestle
with what the equipment can do realistically
Each zone
defined
by multiple
attributes or
factors:
- CEC
- Yield
- pH
4 Zones 7 Zones
MZ Maps Resolution Level

57. PAg Step 3: Grower
Knowledge
Management Zone Map
Review with your agronomist
Crop Input Recommendations
Prescription Map for Product Application
Revisions

58. Automated Learning
Plots
Validation of Mgmt Zones and
Prescriptions

59. 14. Did the past 50 minutes:
Ian McDonald
Field Crop Unit,
Ag Development Branch
OMAFRA
Rm 407 Crop Sci.
University of Guelph
GUELPH, ON., N1G 2W1
519.824.4120 x56707
Ian.mcdonald@ontario.ca
http://bit.ly/iansdropbox
www.fieldcropnews.com
Ben Rosser
Field Crop Unit,
Ag Development Branch
OMAFRA
Rm 215 Crop Sci.
University of Guelph
GUELPH, ON., N1G 2W1
519.824.4120 x54865
Ben.rosser@ontario.ca
www.fieldcropnews.com
A. Help
B. Hinder
C. Confuse
D. Numb
E. All of
the above