Agri Kultuur January/ February 2015 | Page 10
Copyright © 2015 Deere & Company
Precision Crop Management
The system can be combined with geomapping (a map showing soil density,
quality etc.).
This ensures that:
More seeds are planted in soil with
favourable growing conditions
Less seeds are planted in poor soils
The right amounts of water IRRIGATION
In all three areas, precision farming solutions help farmers to produce
more with less.
- SDI provides the most effective management tool delivering water and nutrients directly to the plant roots at the
precise time and in the precise quantity
needed.
Precision Harvesting
The latest precision technologies are
helping farmers to refine the seeding
process even further and achieve a
higher yield with less seed.
Precision Crop Management
During their growth phase plants need:
The right amount of nutrients FERTILISATION
Crop sensors
Automatic wind control
Optimised boundary spreading
For the farmer, harvesting is a critical
point in time. Speed, accuracy, and timing determine whether the harvest will
be successful. Until recently, harvesting
was the most burdensome and laborious activity of the entire growing season. Today, the task is taken over by
some of the most sophisticated farm
machines such as:
- Eliminate the risk of over and underfertilisation (as growth and yield
can fluctuate greatly within a field)
= avoidance of loss of crop production or void areas
The combine harvester (‘combine’): one
of the most important labour-saving inventions of all times.
- Help to produce a uniform growth
rate
It combines 3 separate harvesting operations into one single process: reaping,
threshing and winnowing. The excess straw is either chopped and spread
on the field or - using automated balers
- baled to provide feed and bedding for
livestock. Combines are used to harvest
crops such as wheat, oats, rye, barley,
corn, soybeans and linseed.
Key precision applications include:
For Precision Fertilising
For Precision Spraying
Satellite steering systems (GPS)
Adequate protection from pests and
diseases CROP PROTECTION / SPRAYING
- Help to reduce spraying by avoiding
overlap areas
For Precision Irrigation
Subsurface Drip Irrigation (SDI)
Precision Harvesting