All posts by Dan Bloomer

Dan is the part time Manager of LandWISE Inc and one of the small group that established it in 1999. For the rest of his professional life he runs Page Bloomer Associates, a consultancy focused on sustainable land and water management and community development
Precision Agriculture

Trans-Tasman Rivalry at LandWISE 2016

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Disputes between horticultural interests on either side of the Tasman will be settled once and for all until the next time at the LandWISE Conference Dinner.

Cross “7 Days” with a sub-tropical vegetable and what do you get?

An intense debate between main and dessert courses will pit teams from east and west of Lord Howe Island. Three of the finest growers and agronomists from each camp will line up before adjudicator Ian Layden.

A true Queensland patriot and government agent, Ian is totally unbiased and will ensure a fair fight. “I’ve done this a lot”, he says. “It’s a great deal of fun!” “You won’t see any overarm tactics from our side”, he adds.

Make up of the Kiwi team is a closely guarded secret and will not be announced until immediately before the contest. Rumours indicate this is because the New Zealand camp leader has been away a lot and may not have contacted eligible contestants. This has been denied.

With record numbers registering for LandWISE 2016, there will be plenty of witnesses available to assert their side was the true winner on the night.

Delegates can also look forward to a full array of excellent presenters, a great chance to chat with colleagues and make new contacts and watch an airshow displaying UAVs from 1 kg to 64 kg.

We thank our loyal sponsors for their support for LandWISE 2016

More information here

Thanks to Our Loyal Platinum Sponsors!
Thanks to Our Loyal Platinum Sponsors!
Agronomy, AgTech, Automation, Controlled Traffic Systems, MicroFarm, Planting, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Research, Sensing

Trans-Tasman Grower Day

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Looking for answers - LandWISE 2015
Looking for answers – LandWISE 2015

What’s the Trans-Tasman Day about?

Given there are two dozen top Australian growers, agronomists and researchers joining us for our conference, arranging more time to discuss issues of interest was too good an opportunity to pass up.

The programme for the day is less structured than a normal conference day.  The morning is inside discussion, the afternoon getting out and about. But it does follow two days of conference, so we’ll be well primed.

We will spend time discussing some key crops – onions and potatoes included – and importantly technologies we can use to better understand and manage them.

We aim to identify areas of common interest and possible collaboration. What topics are relevant in both countries? What joint research opportunities are there? Where to from here?

After lunch we travel to a local farm, True Earth Organics, where Scott and Vicki Lawson and staff grow and pack a range of field, vegetable and berry crops. From there we go to a local major vegetable processing factory to view the next stage in the value chain.

Register here>

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Agronomy, AgTech, Automation, Controlled Traffic Systems, LandWISE People, MicroFarm, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Research, Sensing, Soil, Water

Excellent LandWISE 2016 Conference Speakers

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We published the list and short biographies of our invited speakers today. We are again privileged to have an extremely knowledgeable group representing farmers, technologists and researchers from both sides of the Tasman Sea.

Conference keynotes and new LandWISE Australians include Ian Layden and Julie O’Halloran, precision horticulture researchers and extension specialists from the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF).

Ian and Julie are leading a group of two dozen top growers and agronomists for a week of related events built around the LandWISE Conference. Queensland farmer Ben Moore and Tasmanian farmer Robbie Tole will present their own experiences investigating precision horticulture opportunities.

Returning LandWISE Australians are Tristan Perez from Queensland University of Technology and John McPhee from the University of Tasmania. Tristan will update us on progress with weeding robot AgBot II and Harvey the capsicum picker. John will tell us about precision horticulture research underway in Tasmania.

Parallel work is being done in New Zealand. Look for reports from  Plant and Food researchers Sarah Sinton, Paul Johnstone and long serving LandWISE Board member Bruce Searle. Chris Smith from AgriOptics, Jane Adams of OnionsNZ and LandWISE’s Dan Bloomer and Justin Pishief will overlay a series of precision cropping and related topics.  Charles Merfield from the Future Farming Centre will give a review of biostimulants and related technologies – a different aspect of the agritech revolution.

Rounding out Day 1 are agritech accelerator Sprout Entrepreneur in Residence Stu Bradbury and two accelerating companies represented by Tom Rivett and Julian McCurdy.

Day 2 has a focus on value from data and robotics. We hear a lot about “big data” and “value chains”: what are they? Alistair Mowat, James Beech and Megan Cushnahan will tell us how they and others are getting real value, and where there’s still value to be tapped. Roger Williams will outline how Plant and Food is investing in digital horticulture research.

Lincoln Agritech’s Armin Werner has been a regular attendee at LandWISE. This year he takes the stage with a global review of field robotics and weeding technologies in particular. Kit Wong will tell us about Callaghan Innovation development of systems for machine vision to manage onion crops.

David Herries of Interpine will take us to a different sector and explain how UAVs are giving value in forest research and management.  And rounding it all up, Simon Morris of ALtus UAS will make sure we understand the regulations governing our use of this still new but very powerful technology.

So come to LandWISE 2016: the value of smart farming. Have you mind expanded, your knowledge updated and your excitement kindled. Mix and mingle with leaders in farming, agronomy and agtech!

Conference programme here>

Speaker biographies here>

Conference registration here>

 

AgTech, Automation, LandWISE People, Precision Agriculture, Research

A visit to Climate Corporation

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LandWISE’s Dan Bloomer joined a large group of New Zealand ag-tech organisations for a week getting to know the Silicon Valley venture capital and tech start-up scene.

The first visit was to Climate Corporation, recently acquired by Monsanto. How can you not be impressed by a three metre 3D projection screen? One you can control from a tablet, make it spin like the earth, view the globe from any angle, and project any theme you like.

ClimateCorpGlobe
Climate Corp Chief Technology Office, Mark Young, demonstrates the globe.

Climate Corporation seeks to understand the world and its climate, map it in real time and make useful information available to the world’s farmers. We saw time lapse of global cloud cover, near real time views of sea surface temperature and as shown above, global ground cover allocated to food for animals and food for people.

But their interest is wider than the weather. The Climate Corporation aims to build a digitized world where every farmer is able to optimize and flawlessly execute every decision on the farm.

They are investing heavily in agronomy and creating growth models to help predict crop development.   To achieve greater seed placement accuracy they developed SpeedTube, a precision elevator to replace drop tubes. This is said to allow more precise seed spacing at twice the normal planting speed. Same quality at twice the rate? Sounds attractive!

This visit was organised by Wharf42, NZTE, Callaghan Innovation and the Silicon Valley Forum.

LandWISE People, Research

One Minute Questionnaire #2

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Responses to the first one minute question covered a wide range of things for which people sought relief!

While self washing and folding clothing is of interest to all, it’s not perhaps one we are well placed to resolve, at least not rapidly. Other requests included getting wide machinery to fit through standard gates, reducing time spent on repetitive tasks such as spraying and weed control, and simplifying compliance.

A number of people identified recording information as their key bugbear. So that’s one we follow up with Question Two.

Data

Question of the Week:

What sort of information is recorded manually, then collected and entered into a computer so it can be used?

Email your reply -click here

Or use the form below

Fields marked with an * are required

Thanks for sharing your problems; believe it or not, we really want to know!

Agronomy, AgTech, MicroFarm, Plant Health, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Research, Sensing, Soil

Onion variability Year 1

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Enhancing the profitability and value of New Zealand onions

The purpose of this OnionsNZ MPI Sustainable Farming Fund research project is to provide the industry with tools to monitor and manage low yields and variability in onion yield and bulb quality.

In this collaboration with Plant & Food Research, LandWISE is providing precision agriculture paddock scale measurement and interpretation.

We have base maps from topography and surface ponding analysis completed by Page Bloomer Associates, and from AgriOptics Dual EM soil mapping. We also have some previous crop data including true colour, false colour and NDVI images of winter cover crops between successive onion crops in these paddocks. More details here>

We tracked crop development with a range of sensor technologies including AltusUAS MicaSense from UAV, Agricultural Software GroundCover app and some satellite imagery.

The collaboration with Plant & Food Research was to help us develop protocols to monitor crop development and yield variation (spatially and temporally). Linking these with crop modelling and agronomy helps determine why variation is occurring.

Crops were traced from paddock through harvest and storage so that post-harvest quality issues can be related to factors during growth. Linking paddock production to packhouse performance and back again may be key in unlocking value potential.

Grower led focus groups are involved in the project and analysis of results. They have a vital role in the development of practical tools they can use to monitor and quantify variability, to identify the causes of loss of yield and quality and share best practice to improve sustainability and grower returns.

 

Agronomy, Controlled Traffic Systems, Irrigation, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Soil, Tillage, Water

Intensive cropping: Dealing with reality

We have a group in Hawke’s Bay focused on best management for field cropping.  We want to know how far we can push production without degrading the soil, our base resource.

We have drafted a five year cropping programme, based around process crops, but with other crops in the mix. This is typical in the region where process crops are mixed with onions, squash, some cereals, occasional potatoes and often winter grass.

In our programme we have tried to eliminate animals and pasture, looking instead at maximising vegetable production. Given the different seasons, season lengths and the realities of planting dates that must fit factory schedules, this gets a bit tricky.

Central to our plan are vining peas and green beans, two crops with specialist harvest equipment. Viners are very heavy. The bean harvester weighs in at about 18 tonnes plus 4 tonnes of crop when full. The pea viners are around 22 tonnes, plus a couple more of crop when full.

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These machines have large wheel or track footprints, so impact a wide path. And pea viners typically travel across the lie of the crop, not up and down rows, so can track anywhere. How does that fit our plans to adopt controlled traffic!

Gary Cutts of Tasman Harvester Contractors is at the centre of the action. The company currently has nine harvesting machines with a price tag of around $1million each. From December, the machines earn their keep, harvesting 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Peas are a very delicate crop and only have a premium harvesting window of 24 hours. Before that they’re too young, and after that they’re too old. It’s an exact science to determine when to pick.

For a successful harvest Gary’s team must respond to demand from the factory and deliver on time. Delays that affect factory processing are costly.  

The new harvesters, especially those on tracks, can get on to the ground even in very poor weather. But what is their impact on the soil? They are very heavy, they have big feet, and the soil may be weakened by wetness.

Gary contacted Marc Dresser at Landcare Research after hearing him at a LandWISE Conference. Marc is a specialist in soils and mechanical engineering whose knowledge is unrivalled. He worked with Gary on tyre selection and tyre pressures to optimise performance.

Together they reduced harvester tyre pressures from around 30psi to 20psi. They reversed the direction of jockey bin tyres too. Gary says the difference is immediately noticeable in the field. Coupled with a change to tracks, the soil load has been greatly reduced.

Gary still wants to know what the impact on the soil is. Are harvesters doing damage? If they are causing compaction, what is best practice remediation? When should it be done? How does it impact following crops?

We want to know too. And we want to know what a farmer can do to best prepare their soils before the harvesters arrive. Before the crop is even planted.

We can control traffic in pretty much all operations with the equipment in use now – except for the viners. We’ve looked at a number of scenarios, which suggest that the 30” row is the factor that sets the standard. Smaller tractors might straddle two rows, bigger machines can straddle four. If equipment is sized accordingly, we can get the trafficked area down to about 17% of the ground. Except for the viners.

Most paddocks only see peas about once in five years, so that leaves 4 years and 11 months of controlled traffic. But in our super-intensive farm, we might see peas almost every year and green beans too. We really do need to know how to manage this aspect of some of our important regional crops.

Agronomy, Controlled Traffic Systems, Precision Agriculture, Tillage

Where on Earth are we?

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2106-1 DSC_1332webTractors steer themselves. Self-positioning implements place seed, nutrients and cultivators exactly where they are wanted. Wheels stay on defined tracks leaving most of the paddock in optimum condition for plants to grow.

Detailed maps show soil varying within paddocks. Yield maps show different production in different parts of a paddock. Application maps record and prove where inputs were applied.

Animals are tracked and their movement patterns alert farmers to new births. Your stolen four-wheeler is recovered, the thieves tracked and location displayed on GoogleMaps.

Geo-location is the identification of the real-world geographic location of an object. Guided by GPS, we know where on earth we are. We become “spatially aware” and that is the basis of a revolution in agriculture.

Smart farmers depend on the precision of GPS and smart software, and are constantly find new ways to benefit. It leads to changed practice that captures efficiencies and optimises efforts. In the end, it makes things easier.

Self-steering tractors are far more accurate than any driver. They run exactly the same lines every time and free the operator to focus on more important tasks. “The money is made at the back of the tractor, so why spend all day looking out the front?”

As well as providing physical guidance, spatial awareness allows smart farmers to understand their farm in a new way, thinking about points not paddocks, aware of the differences. It lets farmers see how different things relate to one another. Where crop yields are above and below average and how that relates to soil variation. They can tune management to fit.

How accurate can we be, and what accuracy do we need? That depends on what you are trying to do.

Being a few metres out may be okay for some jobs: recording where you take soil nutrient samples, where a water trough is, a rough farm boundary. But for many farm applications, it isn’t good enough.

A good hand held GPS unit will get you within a few metres or so. This simple test demonstrates this:

· Put the GPS unit on a strainer post and record its position or way point

· Use the GPS to steer you back to the same way point later in the day or tomorrow

· See how close you are to the strainer post

You may a few metres out. And if you try again the next day, you’ll possibly be put somewhere different again.

For mechanical weeding, getting close to, but not into, a plant row is important. This requires GPS which reliably gets within centimetres. That entails a very good GPS receiver, and a correction signal using either RTK or CORS to fine-tune the accuracy of the position while the machine is moving.

This level of accuracy is only possible with automatic guidance. Most drivers using GPS for guidance steer within about one foot either side of the line. They can’t make use of a more accurate system because it is actually too hard to follow a guidance system any closer.

Two centimetre accuracy isn’t needed for broad-acre spraying or fertiliser spreading. But some opportunities are missed if a less accurate system is settled for.

When we are unsure of accuracy, we create deliberate overlap to ensure coverage, or create buffers to avoid causing damage.

When spraying, overlap represents overdose of chemical and can result in poor growth in current and following crops. Poor coverage represents under-application giving poor control or the possibility of increased herbicide resistance.

When cultivating, overlap wastes time and fuel, and means more damage to soil for no gain. The ability to return to exactly the same wheel tracks allows considerable energy savings too.

In the end, most cropping farmers want more accuracy and precision as they develop new ways of working with GPS. They all say – buy the most accurate system you can justify.

Controlled Traffic Systems, Precision Agriculture, Soil, Uncategorized

A wide span tractor designed for vegetable production

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Hans Henrik Pedersen is completing a PhD at Aarhus University in Denmark. He was a key speaker at LandWISE 2013: “New Ideas”. Hans told delegates about his work investigating a wide-span tractor as an option for cropping farmers.

Vegetable farmers, who adopt CTF, face serious challenges at harvest because very few harvesters are designed to match CTF systems. The soil structure is severely damaged when heavy harvest machines run over the well structured growing beds. A few farmers have modified harvesters, but to our knowledge only one CTF vegetable farmer has succeeded in matching harvest machines for all his crops.

As CTF farmers are still a minority the limited demand means that machinery manufacturers do not yet perceive a need. Also 3 m track width, as used by most CTF vegetable farmers, is a challenge as mass produced harvest machines need to meet road regulations in different countries.

In a Danish project partly funded by the Danish Business Innovation Fund a 9.6 m prototype wide span tractor has been developed. It will be tested by a commercial farmer (Jens Kjeldahl, Samsø) who will grow onions on 9.6 m wide beds spanned by the tractor. ASA-Lift A/S has designed and built the wide span tractor. Besides cultivation, drilling and plant care operations, the tractor will be used as a bunker harvester for onions and possibly for other crops. At harvest, the machine will unload at the field edges, thereby avoiding tractors and trailers in the field.

ASALiftGantry First presentation of the ASA-Lift WS-9600 tractor, summer 2012. Photo: Brdr. Kjeldahl

A wide span tractor solves two main challenges facing the traditional tractor:

  • Restrictions in width (e.g. due to road regulations) are solved by changing the direction of travel between field work and road transport. The machine is wide in the field and long when transported on roads but only 2.55 m wide.
  • Weight of the tractor can be reduced as implements can be mounted within the span of the tractor. The forces from the implements are transferred directly to the tractor as opposed to traditional mounting systems, where the tractor needs weight to pull the implement. Also, in conventional implement designs, a strong, heavy and often complex structure is needed to transfer the forces through the tractor hitch, as well as to fold the implement for transport.

Earlier work on wide span tractor designs e.g. as described by Chamen et al. (1994), unfortunately did not lead to commercial production.

A key point in design of any technology is to ensure that the development process is targeted to the priorities of potential customers. As part of my PhD. Studies I have performed a Quality Function Deployment (QFD) to derive user-requirements and design parameters.

Twenty eight farmers and farm managers in Europe and Australia have been interviewed about their priorities for the design of a new growing concept based on wide span machines. The majority of those interviewed were CTF farmers. The farmers were asked to score 28 specific requirements on a scale from 0 to 4.

The 10 requirements with the highest priority were: (average scores are given in parentheses)

  • Automatic accurate steering of the carrier (3.9)
  • Reducing soil compaction (3.8)
  • Durability of the machine (3.4)
  • Overview of the entire machine from the operator’s seat (3.4)
  • Total costs per hour (3.3)
  • Clear view and manoeuvrability to avoid damage (3.3)
  • Semi-automatic control for increased productivity and ease of operation for the driver (3.3)
  • Comfort of the driver (3.3)
  • Automatic accurate steering of mounted implements (3.3)
  • Capability to carry heavy loads in the field (3.2)

A next step involved technical experts suggesting technical solutions (Design Parameters) to accommodate the priorities set by the farmers. The results of this QFD analysis can be used by any manufacturer who wishes to develop wide span machines.

Tractors as we know them today were very successful in replacing horses. Since they were introduced in the 1920s, rubber tyres and four-wheel drive have been established, along with other features, but basically the design has not changed. However, the power output has increased more than 10 fold and the weight of tractors has increased by a similar factor. The load of agricultural machines is challenging the productivity of soils. We believe it is time for a change to the traditional tractor and that the wide span alternative can be designed to suit the needs of modern agriculture while significantly improving production efficiency.

Reference:  Chamen, W. C. T., Dowler, D., Leede, P. R., and Longstaff, D. J. (1994). Design, Operation and Performance of a Gantry System: Experience in Arable Cropping. Journal of Agricultural Engineering Research 59, 45-60.

Look also at the CTF-Europe website for more from Hans Pedersen, Tim Chamen and colleagues

 

 

Irrigation, Precision Agriculture, Water

Frustration to Irritation

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Many irrigators would identify with Hugh Ritchie’s presentation title, “From Frustration to Irritation”, in which he related his 13 year journey from dry land to irrigated farming.

Speaking to 74 delegates at the LandWISE/Irrigation New Zealand “Going into Irrigation” conference, Hugh said irrigation was the key to unlocking profitability, allowing the farm business to develop significantly. Yields have increased across the entire crop range, higher value crops have replaced low value options, and consistent yields stabilised income and enabled development and growth.

Before irrigation, the Ritchies grew arable and ryegrass seed crops and ran some deer. Now the deer are gone, and a wide range of process and fresh vegetable, arable, and high value seed crops are grown, with some sheep in the mix.

Looking back, Hugh realises he has learnt an immense amount about irrigation. What would he do differently if starting again? He’d probably design the farm around the irrigation, not fit the irrigation to the farm layout he had. “My irrigators don’t like trees,” he said. “They always come off second best!”

Tony Davoren from Hydro-Services discussed supply reliability and volumes. He showed the seasonal requirement for water for a mixed cropping operation. Piling crop demand on crop demand across the season, he showed peaks where volume is needed at times when reliability is critical. Inability to meet peak demands will impact yields. “The first 90% of yield goes to pay your costs,” he said. “You cannot afford to lose yield through water-shortage: that loss was your profit. Access to reliable supplies is vital.”

When should you start planning your irrigation system? Stephen McNally from OPUS Consultants showed that, whether major scheme or on-farm system, the same planning is needed. And it takes a long time from start to finish. To start irrigating in four years, start planning now.

Stephen stressed the need to gather resource information to reduce uncertainty, to determine irrigation system needs and costs, and to constantly review them against the farm business plan. Stephen also cautioned against taking cheap up-front capital options. Cheap systems invariably have high running and maintenance costs, and these rapidly outweigh any savings made at the start.

Dan Bloomer discussed “Specifying an irrigation system”, one subject of new Irrigation NZ resources for potential irrigators and irrigation managers. These contain valuable information and checklists to ensure potential irrigators collect all the information needed for a designer to do their job.

Carolyn Hedley developed the theme in “Assessing a farm for irrigation”. Carolyn discussed irrigation system options, the critical role of soil, and the availability of soils information via Landcare Research’s website “S-Map”. The use of new soil survey techniques was also discussed.

California Water Resources and Irrigation Advisor, Michael Cahn, explained how fertigation can be used to manage nutrients. This is an important aspect of irrigation in California, and increasingly in New Zealand. As farming intensifies and environmental limits are reached, care with nutrients is vital. Fertigation allows “just-in time” application, minimising any risk of leaching or volatilisation losses – saving money and the environment.

Andrew Curtis outlined Audited Self-Management to support good irrigation practice and provide assurance to the community that the water, a common good, is being appropriately used. He noted the responsibility irrigators have to demonstrate excellence in irrigation, and that audited self-management could reduce the overall cost of compliance monitoring.

Farm visits followed.

Lindsay Smith discussed his choice of irrigation for dairying, and his concerns about access to groundwater and links with the proposed Ruataniwha Water Storage scheme.

Ian Annan described how MrApple is ensuring maximum use is made of limited water, and that all conditions are met.

The day wrapped up at Mike Rittson-Thomas’ buried dripline irrigation system. “It was put in anticipating a five year life. Thirteen years on it is due for replacement but I have to be happy,” Mike says. “Now I’m waiting to see if the Storage Scheme goes ahead. If it does my options open up. I currently have limited water, so if it doesn’t, I’ll be looking at this again to eke out what I have.”

LandWISE and Irrigation New Zealand partnered to present the John Deere, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and FMG sponsored special-focus day. Seventy four people heard from eight presenters, then moved out to visit and hear the experiences of the three farmers; dairy with pivots, orchard with micro-sprinklers, and sheep/beef farmer with buried dripline in lucerne.