Category Archives: Water

AgTech, Automation, Irrigation, Nutrients, Precision Agriculture, Sensing, Soil, Water

Technology to Reduce N Leaching

August 17, 2016 Dan Bloomer Leave a comment

N-Leach_Workshop The Precision Agriculture Association NZ is presenting workshops focused on technologies available to help reduce nitrogen leaching. There are two North Island workshops being offered at:

Massey University on Thursday 1^st September 2016 [PDF here]

and

Ellwood Centre, Hastings on Friday 2^nd September 2016 [PDF here]

Programme

The ‘Technology to Reduce N Leaching’ workshops are similar to the well received program conducted in Ashburton in March 2016 and will address where we are and what we can do about nitrate leaching limits in a North Island context utilising a range of technologies and farm systems options.

The particular areas for focus for the program are:

Variable rate technologies and systems
Precision irrigation
Precision spreading systems and services
Soil mapping
Soil moisture monitoring, sensors, metering
Nutrient budgeting and environmental monitoring

A Q & A time slot is devoted in the afternoon session for attendees to interact with members and presenters on the day to share learnings and understandings about the issues. This will also be possible over the lunch break on both days with one and half hours devoted for this.

Offer to PAANZ Members

As part of the Hastings program only on 2^nd September, PAANZ members are offered the opportunity to participate as trade/sector participants for technologies and products as may be appropriate to support the program.

PAANZ is not able to offer trade/sector stand space at the Palmerston North venue due to space restrictions unfortunately so only the Hastings venue will be able to accommodate this option for members.

If you would like to participate please advise Jim Grennell, E-mail: jim@paanz.co.nz

Mobile: 021 330 626, places are limited to ten organisations for the Hastings workshop to be involved as a trade/sector participant so it will be on a first come basis.

The cost of participation will be $100.00 plus GST per stand with attendance fee of $100.00 per person additional.

As these are indoors Workshops, with a technology focus and space at the Hastings venue is limited no large equipment or hardware can be accommodated.

Confirmation of members wishing to take up this opportunity is required by Monday 22^nd August 2016 after which time the opportunity to participate will be made available to non-members.

Agronomy, AgTech, Drainage, MicroFarm, Nutrients, Plant Health, Planting, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Research, Sensing, Soil, Water

Profit Mapping Variability in Onions

August 15, 2016 LandWISE Admin Leave a comment

Profit Bands Across A Paddock

Justin Pishief and Dan Bloomer
Centre for Land and Water

As part of the Onions NZ project “Benchmarking Variability in Onion Crops” a process was developed to generate yield and profit maps. This presentation explains the process using the example of a 7.3 ha paddock in Hawke’s Bay.

Data from a satellite image captured in late November were used to identify high, medium and low biomass zones. Paddock yield samples were taken from these zones at harvest and used to generate a paddock yield map. The average yield of the paddock was estimated at 95 t/ha, with a predicted total field harvest of 669 tonnes. This compares to the grower recorded harvest of 614 tonnes.

The relative yield data were combined with grower supplied costs and returns to determine gross margins across the paddock. Data were mapped in ArcGIS and a Gross Margin map with five “profit bands” produced. The highest band had a mean Gross Margin of $11,884/ha compared to the lowest at $3,225/ha.

The breakeven gross margin yield is estimated to be 62.5 t/ha at current costs and prices. The estimated cost to business of low performing areas is $27,945, assuming the whole paddock could achieve the top band mean yield.

The poorest performing areas were identified by the grower as impacted by a failed council drain and areas of slowed drainage in the main paddock areas. An OptiSurface® assessment using historic HBRC LiDAR elevation data analysed of the impact of ponding on the site and also suggested ponding was a significant issue.

An OptiSurface® landform assessment was conducted using both single plain and optimised surface designs and the soil movement required to allow effective surface drainage was determined.

The assessment showed ponding could be avoided by land shaping with 224 m³/ha soil movement and few areas requiring more than 100 mm cut or fill. The cost is estimated at $2,000/ha or approximately $14,000 total.

Drainage, Irrigation, Nutrients, Water

Rootzone reality – measuring nutrient losses

June 21, 2016 LandWISE Admin Leave a comment

Drainage fluxmeters in commercial fields across the regions

P Johnstone, M Norris, S Green, G Clemens, C van den Dijssel, P Wright, G Clark & S Thomas
Plant & Food Research

Minimising nutrient losses from cropping systems makes good financial sense. It also minimises any adverse impacts on our waterways, which is increasingly important in many regions as new national water policy requirements are implemented.

A common theme in many regions is the requirement that growers should, as a minimum, be managing nutrients according to agreed good management practices. However, there is relatively little long-term measurement of how good management practices throughout New Zealand impact losses of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from cropping paddocks.

To help fill this gap a network of permanent drainage fluxmeters has been established in commercial fields in the Canterbury, Manawatu, Hawke’s Bay, Waikato and Auckland regions over the last 18 months. There are a total of 12 sites in the network, covering a broad range of cropping systems, soil types, climatic conditions and management practices.

At each site fluxmeters have been installed at a depth of 1 m. Any water from rainfall or irrigation events that drains to 1 m is captured by the fluxmeters. It is then pumped to the surface and analysed for nutrient concentrations. Net losses can be estimated by combining these measured concentrations and measured drainage volumes.

Preliminary results from the network have highlighted a wide range in N and P losses in drainage water. Many of the losses have been comparatively low to date, evidence that economic and environmental risks can be successfully balanced through the integration of good management practices.

Where high losses have been observed this has resulted from large drainage losses and high nutrient concentrations in the drainage water.

Importantly, this is a long-term initiative and the value of the information from the network will increase over time as growers and regional authorities consider long-term trends.

Agronomy, Controlled Traffic Systems, Drainage, Irrigation, Plant Health, Research, Sensing, Soil, Water

Investigating variability in potato crops

May 17, 2016 Dan Bloomer Leave a comment

LandWISE 2016 Conference presenter Sarah Sinton is a well experienced member of a Plant and Food Research group studying potatoes.

In the 2012-13 growing season the Plant and Food researchers surveyed commercial potato crops in Canterbury and confirmed grower concerns that a “yield plateau” of approximately 60 t/ha was common. At this level, potato growing is becoming uneconomic.

Plant and Food Research computer-based modelling shows that yields of 90 t/ha (paid yield) are theoretically possible in the surveyed paddocks in most years. This shows a “yield gap” of about 30 t/ha.

The most important factors found to be reducing yield were soil compaction, the soil-borne diseases Rhizoctonia stem canker and Spongospora root galls.

DSC_4288sm — Tuber health, disease management, soil compaction and irrigation all have ability to reduce yields

Using CORE funding, Sarah and colleagues have been running a number of related trials, comparing field performance with modeled potential growth rates. They’ve used DNA to assess soil pathogens, applied a range of treatments and measured disease incidence and yields. They have also looked at the role of seed quality in potato emergence, variability and yield.

But it is not all about diseases. Soil compaction, structure and related issues such as aeration, drainage and water-holding show up as crop limiting factors. Also implicated are irrigation management and weeds.

Potatoes NZ reports that the use of guidance technology and variable rate application based on soil testing is being undertaken but there is limited crop based management of inputs. There may be opportunity to manipulate some inputs.

In paddock variability can be relatively easily identified using remote sensing equipment (both NDVI and Infrared) but there are three major problems with potatoes which are:

Remote sensing can identify differences in a paddock but these need to be ground truthed to determine what the reason for the difference is – e.g. canopy disease etc.
Often by the time a difference is apparent on a crop sensor map, even when it is ground truthed, growers cannot implement a management decision that will change the crop performance.
Yield maps are generally used as the baseline reference for Precision Agriculture and this is difficult and expensive to implement for potatoes.

Sarah is presenting some of her group’s work at LandWISE 2016. Look for “Investigating variability in potatoes”.

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

Excellent LandWISE 2016 Conference Speakers

May 2, 2016 Dan Bloomer Leave a comment

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>

Agronomy, Nutrients, Precision Agriculture, Research, Soil, Water

New food production paradigms: why farm systems are changing

August 15, 2015 LandWISE Admin Leave a comment

HBB_RSNZ_Header

A public lecture offered by the Hawke’s Bay Branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand

Dr Charles Merfield, Director
Future Farming Centre, Biological Husbandry Unit Lincoln

7:00pm – 8:30 pm, Wednesday 26th August 2015
Hawke’s Bay Holt Planetarium, Chambers St, Napier

13032009338 sm Modern farming systems are 70 years old. They have been very successful at meeting their key aim; maximising food production. However, society is asking farmers to take on new aims including providing ecosystem services to protect and enhance the environment.

Four key technologies created modern farming: fossil fuels, synthetic nitrogen fertilisers, soluble lithospheric fertilisers and agrichemical pesticides. There are increasing issues with each of these both from the input (e.g. cost, resistance) and outcome (e.g. pollution) sides.

Sustainable agriculture is smart agriculture that uses all available tools to find long lasting alternatives. A key to developing and analysing farm systems is overlapping the sciences of physics, chemistry, biology and ecology. Sustainable farming can be viewed as a martial art, probing and testing the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses then using smarts, not brute force, to win the contest.

Viewing farming through the eye of Darwin’s Law of Evolution will allow more sustainable and durable solutions to be developed.

Dr Charles Merfield is the founding head of the BHU Future Farming Centre which focuses on ‘old school’ agri/horticultural science and extension.

Charles studied commercial horticulture in the UK and then spent seven years managing organic vegetable farms in the UK and NZ.

In the mid 1990s he moved into research, focusing on sustainable agriculture including soil management, pest, disease and weed management general crop and pasture production.

He has been fortunate to work and experience agriculture in diverse range of countries including NZ, UK, Ireland, USA and Uruguay. He therefore has a broad knowledge of real-world farming as well as science as well a deep understanding of the history of agriculture and science, which enables him to paint the big-picture of where modern farming has come from and where it is going.

Thanks to the Foundation for Arable Research, Charles Merfield will also be offering one day workshops for farmers and industry. For details see the FAR website>

FAR

Agronomy, Automation, Drainage, Irrigation, MicroFarm, Nutrients, Planting, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Sensing, Soil, Tillage, Water

Onions Research – three year project

June 14, 2015 LandWISE Admin Leave a comment

LandWISE has partnered with Onions New Zealand and Plant & Food Research in a three year project focused on understanding variability in onion crops. The project is funding by Onions NZ and the MPI Sustainable Farming Fund.

Dr Jane Adams, OnionsNZ Research and Innovation Manager, says the project, “Enhancing the profitability and value of New Zealand onions” is designed to provide the industry with tools to monitor and manage low yields and variability in onion yield and bulb quality.

It will incorporate precision agriculture with initial work to be done at the LandWISE MicroFarm. At the MicroFarm, we have been building increasing knowledge of the site, but will ramp that up with more layers of soil and crop information as we try to unpick factors contributing to lower yields and reduced quality.

Information about the 2014-2015 MicroFarm Onion crop can be found on the MicroFarm website.

The project proper starts on 1 July, but there has a lot of preparatory activity to ensure everything kicks of smoothly.

Anyone interested in joining a regional Focus Group supporting the project should
contact us>

Agronomy, LandWISE 2015, LandWISE People, Nutrients, Precision Agriculture, Sensing, Soil, Water

“V” is for variability – origins of variation within a crop and contributions to yield

May 24, 2015 LandWISE Admin Leave a comment

LandWISE 2015 Presenter Bruce Searle

BruceSearle200 — Bruce Searle, Crop Physiologist and Modeller Plant and Food Research

Why is a crop so variable and what can be done about it? And of that variability, how much can management practices actually affect?

Those who work with crops are well aware of this variability, but ways of addressing it are less clear.

Variability affects profitability so managing it is important. The more variable a crop is, the more the yield will be reduced compared to an even crop that produces the maximum attainable yield, and so profitability is reduced.

Increasingly, the value of a vegetable crop is dependent on providing product that meets some quality criteria – initially, usually size. This means that growing to maximise yield does not always increase profitability if the crop does not meet the quality standards. If variability is high then less of the crop will fall in the grades desired by the market and so profitability decreases.

Causes of variability are complex. It starts with the variability in seed size. Overlaid on this is variability in emergence time, variability in seedling size, variability in plant spacing and effects on competition, individual variability in relative growth rate, and differences in spatial supply of nutrients and water in the field and patchiness in pest and disease.

All these factors interact in different ways. Models are an ideal way to quantify some of this complexity and provide good insight, but the large number of measurements needed and the large number of interactions to compute can limit the value of such approaches.

Here we start to develop a conceptual framework that allows the causes of variability in a field to be identified and enables the contribution of each cause to be considered. We have called this framework the ‘V of variability’.

VforVariability

We group causes of variability into spread of emergence, establishment, population and growth, and examine how these factors change for crops of onions and potatoes and affect the variability of size in onions and potatoes and dry matter % of potatoes. We use this to identify how much variability is manageable and the appropriate key management practices to consider.

This framework, when linked with digital information capture at a field scale, could provide a powerful tool for management of variability.

Presentation Authors: Bruce Searle, Jeff Reid and Paul Johnstone – Plant and Food Research

Agronomy, Automation, Irrigation, LandWISE People, MicroFarm, Nutrients, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Sensing, Soil, Tillage, Water

The Farm of 2030

April 23, 2015 LandWISE Admin Leave a comment

The 2015 LandWISE Annual Conference attracted record numbers. It’s theme looked forward 15 years to contemplate what a farm might look like in 2030.

We are most grateful for the strong support of our many sponsors, a vital feature for bringing such events to the community. Sponsor_Sheet_600

You can see the full programme here>

Three speakers, Robert Fitch, Tristan Perez and Cheryl McCarthy, travelled from Australia to help lead discussions.

Add Tom Botterill, Peter Schaare and Ian Yule

Gert Hattingh, John Ahearn and John Chapman

Bruce Searle, Christine Finlayson and Geoff Bates plus others from New Zealand and see the wealth of knowledge and experience available.

You can see all speakers and their biographies here>

On Day 1, presenters discussed sensing, control and robotics. Developments in this area are proceeding remarkably fast, with prototype machines finding their own way around farms, identifying weeds by species and applying custom treatments including sprays only to leaves. Additional presentations on pasture and plant quality detection, grapevine pruning and fruit quality analysis made it a full informative day.

At the end of the day, delegates formed small teams to design their dream agricultural robots – an excellent way to consolidate information. The key however, was identifying what their robots should do (not how) and describing the constraints under which it would need to operate.

As soon as you state a “how” you limit the options that can be considered in determining the final design. Maybe it shouldn’t be a 4-wheeled rover, but an aerial vehicle, or even a ground crawler. Get the specifications right, and the design will identify itself.

AgBot - image from Queensland University of Technology — AgBot – image from Queensland University of Technology

Day 2 began with discussions around variability. Identifying what variability exists, where it is and whether it justifies custom management is a critical starting place. Speakers also focused on managing two important farm inputs to ensure the right job is done – seed placement and fertiliser application.

Day 2 was completed at the LandWISE MicroFarm at the Centre for Land and Water. There were demonstrations of in-field nitrogen testing, a soil pit to examine, a robot pulling a urine patch detector, a one pass strip-till and planting machine, testing fertiliser spreaders and UAVs.

AltusMissionNDVI — An AltusUAS UAV takes off at the Centre for Land and Water, a mission to collect data at the LandWISE MicroFarm

Something for every forward thinking agriculturist!

Mapping and Analysing – First Steps for Drainage

September 2, 2014 LandWISE Admin Leave a comment

First published in NZ Grower Vol 69 No 7

We have been making elevation maps of cropping paddocks. It is the first step in determining the optimum plan to manage drainage and sediment loss.

If it can, water will flow downhill. It flows faster on steeper, smoother land and faster when it is deeper. The faster it flows, the higher the risk of soil erosion and loss. If water can’t find a down-slope, it will sit until it soaks or evaporates away. If that takes too long, plants will suffer.

The rate at which water infiltrates (soaks into) the soil is largely related to soil texture and structural condition. A coarse soil generally lets water in faster than a “tight” clay soil. If the natural porosity has been damaged by over-cultivation, water movement is reduced. Other factors such as hydrophobic organic matter (think oilskin raincoats) also stop or reduce infiltration.

Step two is using a computer to analyse our detailed elevation maps and determine where water will pond and how deep it will be. Knowing how much land is affected lets us gauge the cost of ponding. We can “apply” a rain event and see where the water runs, how deep and how fast. This lets us identify, and make plans to manage, erosion risk areas.

The third step is creating plans to remove water in a controlled way; not too fast and not too slow. For many years this has been done by laser-grading. This creates a flat plane with a set slope so water can drain at a set rate across the land. Unfortunately it often requires a huge amount of soil movement.

High accuracy GPS and smart software has enormous benefits. Our detailed elevation maps are analysed to create optimised cut-and-fill plans that move only enough soil to enable surface drainage. We don’t mind that the surface is not a flat plane, so long as the water can move. We can set the maximum slope (to avoid erosion) and the minimum slope (to avoid ponding) and the direction we want water to flow.

OptiSurface software calculates where to cut high points and fill low points, balancing the soil so one just fits the other. Rather than a flat plane, we get a varied terrain with lower points connected to ensure drainage. While much is automated, there is still a need for farmer and designer input. The theoretical design must be practical.

Once completed, design files are loaded back into the tractor which controls the height of a levelling blade to get the exact cuts and fills we have determined. Advice is to use the same type of GPS for both surveying and levelling. Subtle differences between brands and even models of GPS system can create problems. It is also important to have a base station within 2 km so the vertical error is minimised. Having 40 or 50mm of GPS error when the soil cut is 20mm just doesn’t work.

The series of maps cover a case study 40ha cropping property. We mapped it using the farmer’s Trimble FmX and analysed the data in OptiSurface.

Map 1 shows the existing topography on the farm, each colour change being a 1m change in elevation.

Map 2 shows where water will pond, and how deep it will get.

Next we looked at some solutions.

Map 3 shows the possible topography if part was levelled to a single plane (purple through green strips) and part was OptiSurfaced (green through red strips).

Map 4 shows the cut and fill required to achieve each solution. The amount of movement for a single plane is huge – over 700m3/ha for single plane and under 20m3/ha for OptiSurfaced areas.

Map 5 shows the cut and fill required if the whole area is optimally resurfaced.

Programme

Offer to PAANZ Members

Profit Bands Across A Paddock

Drainage fluxmeters in commercial fields across the regions

LandWISE 2015 Presenter Bruce Searle

Promoting sustainable production