Outlook On Precision Technology In 2008
February 23, 2009 Let’s face it. Making cotton, or maybe more accurately, making profitable cotton, is a growing challenge. Input costs are going up, labor is short, competition to supply the global markets is getting more and more global – where can a grower find relief?
Part of the answer could lie in use of technology, and in agronomic practices that harness the power of some of the latest products available to cotton growers.
A Future On The Go
Dr. Ed Barnes, director of agricultural research at Cotton Incorporated, says that the big precision ag research focus for the organization in 2008 will be on-the-go sensor technology.
The equipment, first built by Greenseeker and now also manufactured by CropCircle, is attached to field equipment or carried as a hand-held unit and provides information about the relative vigor of a plant. Unlike aerial imagery, it provides instantaneous data, while using the same type of data output – NDVI, or Normalized Difference Vegetation Index – as aerial images.
Why now? Barnes says that several of Cotton Incorporated’s State Support Programs (a grower lead program to set research priorities specific to their state) have expressed a high level of interest in the technology through research on a local level, and Cotton Incorporated has done a lot of work on sensor technology from its core program. Finally, Barnes says that “the technology now is getting pretty mature in that we have a good interface between some of the sensors and the controllers. So from a practical standpoint you can just go and collect data.” But, what exactly to do with the data is the big question.
The low-hanging fruit for on the go sensors is applications of PGRs and defoliants, Barnes explains. “We had some preliminary on-farm trials that showed good promise to use the sensor data for real-time variable-rate PGR and applications.”
Like aerial imagery the sensors measure vegetation, so the PGR algorithm is pretty easy to understand – spray that which is excessively green, turn off the spray when it’s not. “And at the end of the season, you are trying to manage green areas where the plant needs more defoliant, so again it’s not a complicated formula, it’s really a one to one relationship between sensor output and product output,” says Barnes.
He says that on the go sensors could be applied in the field immediately if a grower wanted to do it, but Cotton Incorporated is aiming to improve the economic benefit of adopting the technology by getting after a bigger issue: variable rate nitrogen.
The big stumbling block is that the consequences for getting nitrogen wrong in cotton are dire – too much creates a big plant that calls out to insect pests, and too little is a yield robber.
To get at the issue, studies are taking place in several states including Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Beyond economics, Barnes says the cotton industry’s increasing focus on sustainability is another reason to look at managing nitrogen more effectively.
“When we look at the energy footprint to produce cotton, if we are in a production system that uses nitrogen from a synthetic source, then that is the biggest energy use,” he says. “We need to be ready with the tools to manage the input as effectively as possible.”
Controlling The Seed
No one has to tell a cotton grower about the hefty price tag on a bag of seed these days. With so much money and power residing with the seed, it’s no surprise that ensuring every unit is counted and accounted for has been a technology of high interest to growers.
“While we continue to see interest in yield monitoring, application and planting are the big items,” says Dave King, marketing manager at Ag Leader Technology. “We have sold a lot of our DirectCommand systems for application into the cotton market, and more growers are starting to adopt SeedCommand for clutch control.”
Tying the planter clutches into the GPS system allows the grower to turn sections of a planter on and off based on an electronic map of the field. When a planter with this level of control comes to a section of the field that is already planted, the clutch shuts off, reducing the occurrence of overlapping seeding.
This relatively new technology has taken OEMs by storm, and most equipment manufacturers are now offering the technology as an option on new planters, including Deere for the 2008 season.
“We now have a system, integrated with the GreenStar 2 rate controller, GS2 display and StarFire iTC receiver to turn sections of the planter on and off based on GPS coverage,” says Mike Park, marketing manager, John Deere Ag Management Solutions. “Growers will truly appreciate the ability to minimize double planting in headland areas.”
Swath Control Pro is compatible with the existing half- or third-width disconnects found on most John Deere planters, notes Park It is also compatible with aftermarket row unit controls. “Swath Control Pro for planters has performed impressively in the field, and early tests are showing seed reductions of at least 3%,” says Park.
Guidance Galore
From low end to high end, cotton growers have a wide range of products, accuracies, capabilities, and price points for guidance technology. “Once considered a luxury or just an extra, GPS guidance tools are playing roles with ROI for the grower,” says Jeff Farrar, ground ag marketing manager for Hemisphere GPS.
“It’s safe to say that the cotton grower faces many of the same issues as other row crop producers,” he says. “Input costs are skyrocketing, which puts a great deal of focus on such practices as strip-till (nutrient placement) along with the practice of “hippin,” or building beds for cotton planting for irrigation purposes.”
In-cab technology is getting more and more sophisticated to make the most of the power of GPS. For example, Topcon’s X20 in-cab unit now delivers a wide range of features, including most recently added features such as a mobile weather station capability for weather tracking and logging, the AgCam X20 peripheral camera for monitoring hidden or obscure areas of equipment, and boom leveling control.
On the more basic end, manufacturers are filling out lines to accommodate a grower at any level of accuracy. Recent additions to lines include Raven’s Cruizer, Ag Leader’s GPS 1500, and Topcon’s PCS-100, designed to provide serviceable guidance at an entry level price.
GPS Steering Growth
What was a new technology only about seven years ago is hitting a level of maturity today, as the cost of both satellite-based and RTK-based steering systems have come down significantly in the last two years.
On the RTK side, Rob Lindores, director of marketing for Trimble Agriculture Division, says that two agronomic practices are being employed by their customers.
The first is for fall tillage only, without chemicals or fertilizer. “Trimble customers say this practice helps them retain soil moisture, reduce soil erosion from rainfall and wind action, reduce compaction by controlling traffic and reduce trips over field, saving fuel, labor and machinery wear and tear,” says Lindores.
The second is tillage plus a fall application of anhydrous or liquid N. This saves time in the spring,” notes Lindores. “Concentrating fertilizer in next year’s root zone can save up to 30% on fertilizer costs. Most available data are anecdotal, albeit from growers who tend to be good managers and record keepers. But a realistic range of fertilizer savings probably runs from 10 to 30%, with 10% to15% or more savings in diesel fuel from this practice.
Another big trend Trimble notes is in implement steering, a relatively new but rapidly growing technology.
“Many growers who farm highly variable soils, especially on sloping terrain, are finding they need to complete their RTK package by adding implement steering,” says Lindores.
Captions:
Cotton Incorporated’s precision research will focus on best practices for using on-the-go sensors.
GPS is becoming more accessible to more growers in powerful yet economical packages. Clockwise starting at left, Ag Leader’s GPS 1500, Raven’s Cruizer, and Topcon’s PCS-100.
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