The document summarizes an innovative new soil opening technology called ISOT. It finds that ISOT is superior to current planting technologies in requiring less fuel, producing lower carbon emissions, and having higher crop yields. ISOT has the potential to significantly reduce atmospheric CO2 levels through large-scale adoption of zero-tillage farming practices. The technology could help reverse soil degradation and pollution caused by conventional agriculture.

1. Innovative Soil Opening
Technologies
Revolutionising farming
© Rob Borland 2009
Rob Borland MScRes, IEng IAgrE

2. Contents
• ISOT vs Current Methods & Technologies
• ISOT’s Benefits to Customers
• Summary
• Atmospheric CO2 Reduction Potential
• Food for Thought
• Definition of Terms
• Information Sources
© Rob Borland 2009 2

3. Conventional Agriculture
285hp @ 2m/s
= 81.4hp/m 280hp @ 2m/s
= 25.9lt/ha (3.5m x 2857m) = 46.6hp/m
=67.9kg CO2/ha = 14.9lt/ha (6m x 1666.6m)
= 38.9kg CO2/ha
Train Mass
11.7t + 2.6t = 14.3t Train Mass
= 4.1t/m 11.7t + 2.9t = 14.6t
= 2.4t/m
200hp @ 2m/s
= 33.3hp/m 765hp
= 10.6lt/ha (6m x 1666.6m) = 161hp/m
= 27.8kg CO2/ha = 51.4lt/ha
= 134.6kg CO2/ha
Train Mass
11.7t + 9.44t = 21.14t Traffic Mass
= 3.5t/m = 10t/m
© Rob Borland 2009 3

4. Minimum Tillage Agriculture
450hp @ 2m/s
450hp @ 2m/s
= 75hp/m
= 24.5hp/m
= 23.9l/ha (6m x 1666.6m)
= 7.8l/ha (18.35m x 545m)
=64.3kg CO2/ha
=20.4kg CO2/ha
Train Mass
Train Mass
43t + 11.8t = 44.8t
43t + 14.8t = 47.8t
= 7.5t/m
= 2.6t/m
900hp
= 99.5hp/m
= 31.7l/ha
=84.8kg CO2/ha
Traffic Mass
10.1t/m
© Rob Borland 2009 4

5. Current Zero-Tillage Agriculture
(Disc Drill)
300hp @ 2m/s
= 50hp/m 300hp
= 15.9l/ha (6m x 1666.6m) = 50hp/m
= 41.7kg CO2/ha = 15.9l/ha
= 41.7kg CO2/ha
Continuous Mass applied
per Opener = 250kg Traffic Mass
Train Mass = 3.4t/m
12.4t + 8.2t = 20.6t
= 3.4t/m
© Rob Borland 2009 5

6. Current Zero-Tillage Agriculture
(Tined Drill)
450hp @ 2m/s
= 24.5hp/m
450hp @ 2m/s
= 7.8l/ha (18.35m x 545m)
= 24.5hp/m
=20.4kg CO2/ha
= 7.8l/ha
=20.4kg CO2/ha
Train Mass
43t + 14.8t = 47.8t
Traffic Mass
= 2.6t/m
= 2.6t/m
© Rob Borland 2009 6

7. Zero-Tillage with ISOT
216hp @ 2m/s
= 18hp/m 216hp
= 5.7lt/ha (12m x 833.3m) = 18hp/m
= 15kg CO2/ha = 5.7lt/ha
= 15kg CO2/ha
Max Mass per Opener
= 20kg Traffic Mass
Train Mass 11.7t + 4t = 15.7t
11.7t + 4t = 15.7t = 1.3t/m
= 1.3t/m
© Rob Borland 2009 7

8. Comparison Table for all Operations to
Establish a Crop
180
160
140
120 Conventional
100 Min-Till
80 Zero-Till (Disc)
Zero-Till (Tine)
60
ISOT
40
20
0
Hp/m lt/ha CO2/ha t/m
@ 2.62kg/lt
8
© Rob Borland 2009

9. Comparison Table on Planting
Operations Only
50
45
40
35
Conventional
30
Min-Till
25
Zero-Till (Disc)
20 Zero-Till (Tine)
15 ISOT
10
5
0
Hp/m lt/ha CO2/ha t/m
© Rob Borland 2009 9

10. Power / Meter Used between
Draught and PTO
90
80
70
60
50
Hp/m
40
Hp/m used by PTO
30
20 Hp/m used by
Draught
10
0
© Rob Borland 2009 10

11. ISOT’s Benefits
It’s Seriously Green
• Reduces fuel usage
• Small Carbon Footprint
• Promotes C02 sequestration into the soil
• Less material in manufacturing
• Long working life
• End of life recycling
© Rob Borland 2009 11

12. It’s Economic
• Up to 80% reduced fuel usage
• Higher crop yields
• Adaptable to different crops, climate &
soils
• Usage in ploughed & zero-tillage fields
• Easy maintenance
© Rob Borland 2009 12

13. It’s High Performance
• It out performs all current planters & drills
• Accurate seed placement
• 5 – 30 km/hr planting speed
• Plants into fields with heavy vegetative
covers
© Rob Borland 2009 13

14. It’s a Revolution in Soil Opening
Technology
• Will change the way crops are planted
• Upgradeable & updateable for years to
come
• Can be used in commercial & subsistence
agriculture
• Low draught requirement thus soil
compaction can be significantly reduced,
possibly to negligible levels
© Rob Borland 2009 14

15. Summary
• The ISOT is far superior to all directly competing, current
planters in both conventional and conservation
agriculture.
• ISOT is a disruptive technology and has the potential to
make a sizeable, positive impact in the Agricultural
Industry.
• ISOT is also suitable for subsistence agriculture where
animal and human draught power is used.
© Rob Borland 2009 15

16. Atmospheric CO2 Reduction Potential
• There are 1.365 billion hectares of land under
agricultural food production.
• CO2 Mitigation rate with zero-tillage is between 0.07 &
1.27tonnes C / ha / year.
• If half the world’s land were converted to zero-tillage
between 48 million & 866 million tonnes / year of Carbon
could be sequestered into the soil.
• This is equivalent to 175.68 million tonnes to 3.167
billion tonnes of CO2 / year.
© Rob Borland 2009 16

17. Atmospheric CO2 Reduction Potential
• Conventional Agriculture emits 134.6kg CO2/ha
• Zero-tillage with ISOT emits 15kg CO2/ha
• Difference is 119.6kg CO2/ha
• Net CO2 emission reduction, from planting operations alone, if half the world
converted to zero-tillage = 81.63 million tonnes per year at only one planting
per year. Many countries in the tropics have two plantings per year.
• Ploughing also increases CO2 emissions from the soil, zero-tillage reverses
this.
• Ploughing requires high levels of artificial fertilisers to be applied to crops,
zero-tillage in many cases does not require any extra fertilisers or otherwise
considerably less due to the healthier soils.
• Zero-tillage eliminates run off in the field, thus any fertilisers or chemicals
applied stay in the field and do not end up in the local watercourses where
they cause major pollution and environmental disruption.
© Rob Borland 2009 17

18. Food for Thought
• From a comprehensive study done by the
International Soil Reference and Information
Centre in 1991, “mankind has degraded more
than 7.5million square miles (1.943 billion ha) of
land. An area the size of the United States and
Canada combined.”
• Zero-tillage or Conservation Agriculture can help
to reverse this process.
© Rob Borland 2009 18

19. Definition of Terms
• Hp – Horsepower. The amount of power produced by an engine measured
at the flywheel which is power available to do work. It is also used to define
the minimum amount of power required to operate an implement.
• M/s – Metres per second. Ground speed of the tractor and implement
train.
• Hp/m – Horsepower per metre. Total tractor power required to operate
implements divided by the working width of the implement. This figure
accurately indicates how much power is consumed per metre of soil being
tilled, in total and by each type of operation.
• lt/ha – Litres per hectare. The amount of fuel that the tractors will burn in
each field operation and in total per hectare of land worked in order to
establish a sown field.
• CO2/ha – Carbon dioxide per hectare. The amount of CO2 emitted by the
tractor engines burning diesel. For every litre of diesel burnt 2.62kg of CO2
is emitted.
• t/m – tonnes per metre. The total weight of the tractor and implements
divided by the working width of the implement. This figure gives a basic idea
as to how much traffic a field has to endure in order that a crop can be
sown. The more traffic mass per metre there is the more likely hood of there
being compaction problems, although it is not quite as simple as this.
© Rob Borland 2009 19

20. Information Sources
• CO2 sequestration figures – Paper written by
Thomas Gaiser et al, University of Bonn;
Modelling carbon sequestration under zero-
tillage at the regional scale. 1. The effect of soil
erosion.
• CO2 emission figures – manufactures product
details and farming data sources
• Soil degradation – ISRIC via National
Geographic Magazine September 2008 issue.
© Rob Borland 2009 20