Brussels Briefing 45: Louisa Parker: "Connecting your farm: the future of Precision Agriculture in Africa"

Editor's Notes

• #7 Planning – optimising field resource, for example looking at yield maps and decide how much fertliser you will need. Tillage and planting – headland management, guidance, rate control to get the best from each part of the field. Headland management, top and lift implements, turn to right spot, reposition and re start – headland management functionality simplifies process – press a button. Planting – optimal placement of seed, (guidance/rate and section control). +/- 2 cm accuracy. Rate control is seed placement and depth, section control is avoiding overlap. (save seed) Crop care - fertiliser and other treatments – depending on soil conditions/weather etc. Storage –monitor and adjust dryer functions. Monitor from phone/pc.
• #8 Critical in Africa (availability of parts, distance between farmer and the dealer). the right technology, parts, service and support to optimize operations, maximise uptime through preventative maintenance, machine condition monitoring, year round consulting. Moving from focussing on upfront machine costs to total cost of ownership and cost per hectare. Dealer can help plan ahead for things like routine maintenance. Pre planting, harvesting insepctions etc (eg discover belt nearly worn out before start the job). Review operation, recommend operator training, reduction of speed to manage fuel consumption etc Alerts from tanks when things like fertiliser is running low. Operator use and idle time. Why stopped? Fuel levels – can send a truck to the field.
• #9 Play Fuse video
• #10 Brings together precision farming and precision machine services connecting the entire crop cycle from enterprise planning to planting, crop care, harvesting and grain storage.
• #11 Fuse On- and Off-Board technology products support operations throughout the crop cycle.
• #13 2020 – 70% of all human beings own a smartphone
• #14 Creating the right conditions and investing in technology adoption
• #18 Plots received same agronomic package Planting conditions favourable this year – average hand planted was 2.1t/h Average yield hand planting with fertliser placement by hand. 3.6 tonnes per hectare Mechanical planting – fert placement by hand 4.9 36% Mechanical planting and mech fert placement -5.2 44% 6%
• #20 Finding the tipping point. Technologies – compatible and partnerships with all major tech providers, works across mixed fleets – Conscious of data sensitivity – your efficiency is your commercial advantage. Ambition is to achieve high yields with lower costs with less environmental impact Management issues – no amount of technology can compensate for other inefficiencies in the business. Getting the business fundamentals right in the first place. (Owner/farm manager/section managers/field manager/drivers) EG Fuel theft EG Gaining buy in from management structure to your objectives (poor implementation)
• #22 If all else fails – The Martian - there has been discussion about the MARS product for future of food production. Don’t mean the red planet. Mobile agricultural robot swarms – mobile, cloud controlled, field robots, high accuracy, large number of small units, prevents failure/impact of one, light weight minimise soil compaction,
• #23 If all else fails – there has been discussion about the MARS product for future of food production. Don’t mean the red planet. ANTS – series. Lightweight, versatile etc. Mobile agricultural robot swarms – mobile, cloud controlled, field robots, high accuracy, large number of small units, prevents failure/impact of one, light weight minimise soil compaction, MF Future Combine – agile and loaded with technology MF Robots – scamp seeder, micro tillage and individual seed planting, scamp scout – sensers, scamp weeder and scamp harvester for selective harvesting