£0.2m investment for spy-in-the-sky farm technology
£0.2m investment for spy-in-the-sky farm technology
By Charles Abel
AERIAL imaging to aid crop management has so much potential that agchem company Syngenta has invested £200,000 in the on-farm evaluation of a system that could be commercially available to UK farmers next year.
Farmers in France are already reaping the benefits of a similar Cropstar-wheat service this spring, paying k8-9/ha (£5.60-£6.30/ha) for information showing how lodging risk, N status and post-winter crop growth varies across fields.
Developed by European space technology company Astrium with the French government-backed advice service ITCF and the French Space Agency CNES, in conjunction with the countrys four biggest co-ops, the service is being used on 250 arable farms, mainly in the productive Champagne region east of Paris.
Now Syngenta has joined with Astriums UK subsidiary Infoterra, formerly the National Remote Sensing Centre, and management company Velcourt, to develop the concept in the UK. A total of 51 fields will be monitored this year, representing 800ha (2000 acres) of winter wheat.
"We had a look at the technology last year on a number of fields with Velcourt and made more money by varying inputs according to the imaging than not, which certainly covered the costs of doing it," explains Syngentas Tom Robinson. "But we know we need to do more than that, we actually need to help farmers make more money, which is why we are looking at the approach in more detail this year."
As well as identifying the scope for extra profits by using the maps to make better input decisions, the project will also look at the potential for using maps across the whole farm to improve overall farm management. Organising spray schedules so the most time-sensitive applications go on first, is one example.
Four farms near Cambridge and two near Oxford will each use aerial imaging to manage three whole fields and two fields split between aerial imaging and conventional management. A further 200ha on three farms in south Lincs will assess the approach separately.
At Velcourts Vine Farm, near Royston, Herts all 20 fields of first wheat, amounting to 300ha ( 750 acres) will use imaging to aid management. "We think it is the first time a whole farm has been imaged in this way," notes Velcourts Rosie Bryson. It has already shown a different ranking of fields for pgr treatments from what was expected and meant +/-15% adjustments in N rates.
The interpretation of the imaging info will also be evaluated, to check that the eight years of work undertaken in France translates to UK crops. Last years results suggest it does.
The first imaging flight has already been made, with maps used to influence T1 sprays and early nitrogen. Significantly, the farmer decides how to use the information. It is not prescriptive and expensive variable-rate kit is not needed, says Mr Robinson. "In some cases inputs have been varied across whole fields, in others it has been a case of managing patches differently," adds Mrs Bryson.
Syngenta is keen to develop the Cropstar concept as a service to growers, possibly as a joint venture and possibly beyond the UK alone, comments business development manager Quentin Lefaucheux. *
SKYSPYAGRONOMY
• Detailed aerial crop imaging.
• Interpreted maps aid agronomy.
• Commercial service in France.
• 8-9k/ha cost to farmers.
• 800ha evaluation on six UK farms.
• Commercial in UK in 2003?
What the maps show
Modelling developed in France over the past eight years uses the 11 different types of imaging data to map:
• Post-winter crop growth.
• Lodging risk.
• Leaf area index/chlorophyll content.
• Tiller density/biomass.
• N status/final N requirement.
• Crop stress.
• Yield and protein prediction.
The maps show actual figures for any crop, unlike other systems which only show relative differences, says Infoterras Gary Holmes. That is made possible by taking account of the crop type, variety, drilling date, rate and depth, soil type and weather history and forecast.