SOCAP10: Art Lange, Trimble

Opportunities in Precision Agriculture Arthur Lange, Ph. D. Trimble Navigation, Ltd. SOCAP 2010

What is Precision Agriculture?
Official definition: “Information-based input management techniques for maximizing yield and profit”
Emerging new definition: “Applying the right input at the right location to result in the most yield & profit and least environmental impact”

What’s the need?
Inherent variability in agriculture – Mother Nature!
Infinite, diverse species
Pests and disease
Soil conditions
Weather
Moisture
Water scarcity
Rise in input costs: labor, fuel, nutrients
Need to minimize chemicals & toxins for public health + environmental sustainability
Population growth

Solution: Precision Agriculture
More accurate Sensors of:
Moisture in soil
Nutrients in soil
Disease
More accurate Applications of:
Water
Fertilizers
Preventative medicine
More accurate Planting & Harvesting:
Right species in appropriate soil
“ Multi-crop mono-crop”
Efficient candy-picking for readiness
Reduced labor costs:
Less labor needed w/ automated machinery
Less skilled labor needed w/ sophisticated guidance tools

How is this done? Common Technologies in PA
GPS
Automated machinery & mechanisms
Remote & wireless sensors
Aerial sensors
Centralized field servers
Companion software analysis tools
Granular applicators
MIX & MATCH!

A few examples: Soil Sensors Soil Moisture Sensor Load Pins

Lightbar Guidance Steering Aids with GPS

Manual steering

Automatic steering

Pesticide Applications & Selective Spraying
Controlled rate & airflow of spraying
Reduced spray on beneficial insects
Health effects
Long-term environmental effects
Discharging spray droplets only on young flush

Incentives to Adopt PA
Smaller farms
Compete with larger farms with economies of scale
Larger farms
Greatly reduce environmental impact
All farms
Reduce input costs
Optimize use of natural resources
Get quick ROI
Technology costs coming down
Easily track:
All commodities
Pesticide & fertilizer use
Environmental compliance
All farming activities

Fundamental Constraints
Slow growth of support services, especially data analysis
High opportunity cost in farmers’ mind: “I didn’t get into farming to sit at a computer”
Information-intensive PA can be slow to adopt (vs embedded knowledge PA)

Some new innovations…
Small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
Remote controlled small ‘plane’ w/ camera sensors
Disease detection before human eye is able
Accurate identification of harvest-ready plants
~ $2-3k, affordable!
Developed by Univ. of Florida, Ag & Bio Engineering
Soil & topology information (STI)
Electromagnetic radar with automatic sampling
Precise 4’ deep physical and chemical makeup of soil
One-time cost affordable to all size farms
Developed by STI, LLC

More breatkthroughs coming…
More capable Sensors
Soil Organic matter (for VR seeding)
Essential nutrient measurement
Disease scouting
Easy data transfer (Network Communications)
Lower cost
A lot of opportunity in Precision Agriculture for both small and large farms!

Thank you!
Art Lange, Ph.D.
Trimble Navigation, Ltd.
[email_address]

SOCAP10: Art Lange, Trimble

by sfmelanie on Nov 01, 2010

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