The market outlook from the European Commission points to an industry recovering from a period of turbulence, as high commodity prices provide farmers with a much-needed income boost, but it is one that will likely only soften the blow of continued high input costs.[1] The report also describes farmers switching to less water-intensive crops following the drop in water availability caused by the ‘La Niña’ climatic cycle and highlights more uncertainty in the year on the horizon as we experience more extreme weather patterns.
Precision agriculture technology is how many farmers are responding, using advanced systems to work more efficiently, but adoption is certainly not widescale. This is no surprise in itself, as existing pressures mean few are in a position to invest in a complete digital transformation. However, modular technology adoption removes the need to overhaul all operations at once, instead enabling farmers to incrementally embrace precision technology, and the advantages that it presents, in a timeframe that works for them.
A gamechanger (or three) There are a range of technological solutions that cover every stage of the crop cycle, combining farmers’ generations of experience with hard data to work at peak productivity. It’s not just a case of finding a little breathing room; these solutions can be pillars of a sustainable future for many farmers.
At a time when margins are thin and input prices are damagingly high, technology that enables more accurate and specific application of fertilizer is invaluable, and the latest solutions are powerful and intelligent companions for spreading. Section control systems, for example, regulate and adjust the application rate according to the shape of field, ensuring overlapping is kept to a minimum. Crop sensing technology, such as the Topcon CropSpec system, is even more advanced – optical sensors measure just how much fertilizer is needed for each plant and change the rate of application in real time. It’s an opportunity to apply exactly the right amount – no more, no less. The ability to make real-time maps showing exactly what different parts of the field need can drive a targeted fertilizer procurement strategy.
When it’s time to harvest, yield monitoring technology means farmers can know everything there is to know about their crop, collecting data from tractors, harvesters and even drones. Georeferenced data can be used to highlight the most fruitful areas of the field, and be directly mapped to individual measurements, such as grain yield, moisture levels and soil properties.
As agriculture professionals gear up for another year of extreme weather, and handle the fallout from record-breaking droughts in 2022, many of them are looking at their yields to inform their strategy for the upcoming year. Yield monitoring technology unlocks countless new insights that can contribute to these decisions, putting them in the best position to succeed.
None of these systems alone is the one solution that will relieve the pressure on the farming industry. But they are pieces of the same puzzle and are designed to work together, supported by digital workflow platforms that compile and display data in a way that is easy to understand and put to work.
One step at a time While the advantages of precision agriculture are clear, what isn’t so clear is how farmers already under pressure will find the budget and the time to implement an entirely new digital workflow. The answer is that they can start small and work their way up. Modular systems are designed to work independently and then be built upon. Farmers should start by prioritizing a system that can help solve their most pressing problem, then add new solutions as and when the time is right. Each technology implemented will act as a stepping stone to the next one.
For example, having implemented a guidance system to make sure all available field is covered, a farmer could wait to see the benefits before investing in a larger-scale crop sensing solution to achieve even greater efficiency. The upfront cost of technology acts as a barrier to entry for many in the market, but the modular approach is a sensible one enabling farmers to stagger the investment in a flexible manner to suit the individual requirementsof each farm, and the changing conditions of a rapidlyevolving industry.
There’s also no need to worry about compatibility; modular solutions use the ISOBUS protocol, which allows them to communicate and exchange information between machinery from all major manufacturers. This is the glue that holds modular systems together, ensuring they’re all pulling in the same direction.
Reaping the rewards The overriding verdict from the European Commission is one of uncertainty. It’s not yet clear the effect that political unrest will have on food supply networks, how successful central banks will be in bringing down inflation, and what the climate has in store for the coming years. For farmers without a crystal ball, the safest option is to embrace technology that will allow them to deliver higher yields on tighter budgets using less fertilizer, and modular solutions mean the cost of taking that first step isn’t inhibitive.
But it’s not just about finding a port in a storm. These systems are built to help farmers scale up their operations sustainably, putting the savings they make back into further development. The increased efficiency and comprehensive insights offered by modular technology can be the foundations of a more secure future for many farmers, putting them in a better place to predict and adapt to challenges to come. ●
Topcon Positioning Group, is a designer, manufacturer and distributor of precision measurement and workflow solutions for the global construction, geospatial and agriculture markets, headquartered in Livermore, California, U.S. with a European head office in Zoetermeer, the Netherlands.
None of these systems alone is the one solution that will relieve the pressure on the farming industry.
A team from U.S.-based Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute (RI) has developed an autonomous robotto control the spread of spotted lanternflies.
TartanPest uses an all-electric tractor, a robotic arm and computer vision to traverse fields and forests while it detects and destroys spotted lanternfly egg masses. The egg masses — which contain 30-50 eggs and are often found on trees, rocks, outdoor furniture and rusty metal surfaces — are laid in the fall and hatch in the spring, birthing a new generation of the pests each year.
"Currently, spotted lanternflies are concentrated in the eastern portion of the nation, but they are predicted to spread to the whole country," said Carolyn Alex, an undergraduate researcher on the TartanPest team. “By investing in this issue now, we will be saving higher costs inthe future.”
The team created TartanPest by mounting a robotic arm to the base of an all-electric Amiga microtractor created by California-based robotics company Farm-ng. TartanPest uses a deep learning model refined on an augmented image data set created from 700 images of spotted lanternfly egg masses from iNaturalist to identify them and scrape them off surfaces.
Lanternflies feed on a wide range of plants and produce, including grapes, apples, hops, walnuts and many different hardwoods. In Pennsylvania alone, they have the potential to drain USD$300 million from the economy annually. ●
TartanPest pairs computervision with a robotic arm attached to an electric tractor to detect and destroy spotted lanternfly egg masses.
