Press release - Cereals 2016 Website
Agrovista’s new web-based data management system MapIT Pro Advanced that helps growers cope with the vast amounts of digital information created on their farms will be officially released at Cereals 2016.
Some significant enhancements have been made since MapIT Pro made its public debut at last year’s Cereals event, says head of precision technology Lewis McKerrow.
“We’ve added new functionality and made improvements based on customer feedback. A key goal has been the ability to import precision data from several sources to allow the user to make variable rate application plans in as few steps as possible.
“We have added a number of new import options so that users can import data from other suppliers. This is the first time a mapping system has offered this on a fully mobile and shareable web-based (cloud) system.”
Agrovista has been working closely with Claas, giving agronomic support to their Crop Sensor Isaria. MapIT Pro can now take in this sensor data along with Claas XML yield data. Another key import function is the boundary import tool, which allows users to download field margins from machines and also RPA maps to save time on set up and ensure the correct boundaries are used. Further imminent developments will enable features such as buffer strips, woodland and ponds to be imported. Users will also be able to highlight the position of watercourses and hedges, which will allow much better record keeping when making spray recommendations.
“Several tutorial videos are available to help people get the most out of the system,” says Mr McKerrow. “We have found that this works much better than a user manual as the user can watch the video and copy what is being done.”
Getting the measure of organic matter
Much has been made over the last number of year about the declining organic matter levels in UK soils, to the point where scientists have predicted that with current cropping practice we only have 100 harvests left in our soils. To help growers reverse this decline, Agrovista is introducing a new concept at Cereals 2016, a machine from Veris Technologies in the USA called the MSP3. This machine measures several soil parameters on the go, including pH, electro-conductivity (EC), and organic matter. “These three components give a massive insight into the yield drivers within a field and indeed across a farm,” says Mr McKerrow.
“But getting an an average field level of OM isn’t good enough as it can vary significantly in the field, something that has been impossible to pick up until now without unpractical levels of lab analysis.”
The Veris collects all this data quickly – it can be hitched onto a tractor and towed at speeds of up to 16kph in 12m bouts. The data can then be assessed and used in conjunction with variable rate applications or management decisions about where to target inputs such as organic manures. This includes growing cover crops to improve organic matter levels, something Agrovista has been examining for the past three years. The Veris MSP3 is available as a service from the Plantsystems technology arm of Agrovista (www.plantsystems.co.uk). The machine will also be on display at Cereals on the Keith Mount Liming stand.
Aerial data capture
For those growers who like the concept of tractor-mounted remote sensors such as the Isaria but struggle to justify the investment, Agrovista has been working with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to deliver reliable, high-quality biomass maps on a pay-as-you-go basis. The advantage of using UAVs is that growers don’t have to make a big investment up front. And flight data can be run through a number of tools to give establishment, weed and establishment maps to name but a few. The focus in 2015 has been capturing and validating data, and delivering this through the Axis MapIT Pro platform to allow growers to make variable rate decisions and applications from the data.
“This has been key to ensure that we aren’t just producing more pretty maps,” says Mr McKerrow. “The focus has been to take multiple layers of data and starting to leverage full benefit from them.”
Some products such as vegetation sensing to determine variable nitrogen applications are ready to go, others such as weed mapping and establishment maps need some more validation work, he adds.
UAVs can detect down to a couple of centimetres. Although application equipment is generally only capable of applying to areas of 24m or more, technology will catch up. When it does Agrovista will have amassed a large data bank. Using a simple data-processing platform such as Axis the farmer and agronomist can upload this data, process it, interpret it, and ultimately make decisions from it.
“We have made a significant investment in the Axis MapIT Pro platform and continue to bring innovations to the Precision Farming market,” says Mr McKerrow.
“This investment shows we take the data management area seriously helping clients link all of their data types together to provide the next level of agronomy decision-making for their businesses.”