The Tusconomy Precision Farming Technologies (PFT) has been set up to make it easy for you to maximize your broadacre productivity, using the latest variable rate technology and the best systems to aid in cultivation and marketing.
For thousands of years people have cultivated crops using trial and error. Wisdom has been passed on from generation to generation. Soil testing has been a simple test of how the soil feels when it is rubbed between fingers. In our contemporary world, mechanisation has revolutionised the countryside and machinery has replaced animal and man power.
Farming has now been revolutionised triggered by the adoption of staggering new technologies: satellites, high precision positioning systems, smart sensors and a range of IT applications combined with high-tech engineering.
The latest precision farming technology may be complex but Tusconomy makes it easy for clients to follow up with their plantations. The Tusconomy platform allows gathering of spatial data and processing it into different paddock management zones.
These zones are based on how a crop may potentially perform, this information combined with soil and tissues tests, along with our local knowledge of the area, can help us formulate a pretty accurate assessment. We can thus advise the client on how to manage the different zones to maximize harvest yield. Using cutting-edge software, we make informed recommendations and deliver prescription files to suit our needs.
Precision farming or precision agriculture (PA) is an approach to farm management that uses information technology (IT) to ensure that the crops and soil receive exactly what they need for optimum health and productivity. ... PA is also known as satellite agriculture, as-needed farming and site-specific crop management (SSCM).
Precision farming allows for improved economic analyses. The variability of crop yield in a field allows for the accurate assessment of risk. Precision farming allows the precise tracking and tuning of production. Precision farming makes farm planning both easier and more complex.
Natural resources like soil, weather, vegetation, water – vary greatly from place to place. And all these factors determine crop growth and farming success. Farmers have always been aware of this, but they lacked the tools to measure, map and manage these variations precisely. Thus, Precision Farming can make a difference to food production facing the challenge of a rising world population and can help farmers to achieve.
At Tusconomy , our precision farming experts follow four steps to make it easy for our clients to maximize the productivity of their plantations using the latest precision farming technology.
An expert Tusconomy agronomist will assist you in gathering the relevant data from your paddock. This data will usually be in the form of harvest yield maps but may also be electromagnetic data, satellite or aerial imagery, or elevation data. After we’ve gathered all the data, our PFT agronomists will process it into different management zones, thus enabling easy processing for continuing work.
According to different nutritional requirements such as fertilizer or lime or gypsum paddock zones are created, we carry out soil and/or tissue testing to determine the types and rates of product optimum for each zone.
The data collected is then analysed by the Tusconomy agronomiss and they recommend the best way to optimize the quality and yield from each zone, taking into account local conditions. We use tools such as Nutriwise®, PaddockWise© and Yield Prophet™ to ensure that the most informed recommendations are given to our clients.
The product of the entire procedure of testing and analysis is the information that can be used to improve plantations. We provide you with a prescription file that can be used on your airseeder, spreader or spray unit. The prescription file makes it easy for you to manage paddock zones and vary the inputs and products between zones thus maximizing production.
The key element to successful variable rate applications is the game of accurate paddock map information. Tusconomy helps you to gather paddock information from a number of different paddock mapping sources. Layering this data over one another helps us to define zones within the paddock.
The history of previous harvest yields is the most important information to gather. The data from the yield maps of previous harvests can be layered when defining zones.This can help account for seasonal variability.
Airborne imagery has advantages in being able to reliably gather an image at a pre-designated time. Aerial imagery can give more finite detail than commonly used satellites, with resolution down to 50 centimeters. Airborne imagery will become much more cost-effective in the future, as the price of the technology reduces thus decreasing per hectare rate of images taken.
Crop growth can be greatly affected by factors such as nutrient deficiencies, disease, moisture stress, weed infestation, insect damage and weather damage. Images of the entire cultivation can be taken by Satellites which demarcate the differences between crops affected by the above and those that are healthy. Satellites have the ability to take images of large swaths of land when there are cloud free conditions and give us a picture of which areas require additional fertilizer or pesticide.We have access to a number of satellites that can deliver information in a range of formats. Commonly measuring red and near infrared reflectance, a satellite image can produce a map of Normalised Differential Vegetative Index (NDVI), which can give clear pointers to parts of a crop that are stressed and parts that are healthy. These zones can then be managed on a specific basis with the variable rate application as required.
Factors such as soil moisture content, salt levels and soil texture can affect the ECa and ultimately, the crop yield.Electromagnetic soil surveys measure the apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) of soil. Tusconomy measures the ECa through high-resolution EM 38 surveys that involve attaching an electromagnetic sensor to a vehicle and running it across a paddock. Thus the EM38 soil survey adds important data to aid precision farming.
A topographic map of the paddock can be created using elevation information from yield maps or other digital sources. In certain regions, such as the vast dune-swale system in the South Australian and Victorian mallee, paddock topography is often associated with different soil types. In other areas a topographic map can define areas that are more prone to wind and water erosion.
Topographic maps help delineate areas requiring further study and practice.
There are devices that can be mounted to a vehicle and used to create a Normalized Differential Vegetative Index (NDVI) map of a field, similar to satellite imagery. These active in-crop sensors such as the Crop Circle™ and GreenSeeker™ are used for this purpose. The big advantage of these devices is that they have their own light source and can function day or night, or in overcast conditions. The active in-crop sensors work with other tools to give a clearer picture of the plantation and assist in precision farming.NDVI maps created with units like the GreenSeeker™, are commonly used for variable rate nitrogen application. The Tusconomy Product Development Team has been using GreenSeeker™ technology for a number of years now and has a good understanding of how the technology can be utilised optimally.
Variations can occur in a paddock in a number of ways.
Tusconomy measures variation across paddocks through the use of yield, elevation, biomass and soil characterization surveys and establishes data management zones. Through the use of targeted soil and tissue testing we understand what is driving variability within a paddock. Then by utilizing variable rate technology, Tusconomy manages the variables effectively. This helps us and our clients to make significant gains from the crop.
Precision farming can maximize your returns. It is on record that using variable rate technology could help you gain net benefits of up to USD$300/Acre. This is possible through better risk management. By ensuring long term farm and business sustainability, We can maximize the returns from input investments.
To know more about the Tusconomy Precision Farming Technologies and to receive a free initial consultation, please call us today on