As published in Grower, May 2009.

Profiting from the technology is the bottom line for farmers investing in high accuracy GPS.

A three year research programme is following leading vegetable growers as they seek the rewardsof GPS and other precision farming tools. The technologies are being used to change how potatoes, onions, lettuce, sweetcorn, vegetableseed and arable crops are grown. One grower has already halved his fuel bill through using GPS.

Even simple things are making big differences. Self-steering systems allow hands-free driving. It is less demanding and more accurate.  This leaves the driver free to check equipment function, observe crop health or talk on the phone. Users (and their families) report greatly reduced fatigue and increased productivity. The trend is for new users to keep adding more units into their tractor fleets. Once they see the benefits, they can’t see how they did without it.

Twelve cropping farmers, from Mangere to Ashburton, have stepped forward. All have invested in high quality GPS and have auto-steer systems. While experience and equipment levels vary, all are enthusiastic, if wary of potential pitfalls ahead.

LandWISE manager Dan Bloomer is grateful to be able to work on the project. “We get to work with farmers who have selected themselves for the project. They are innovative and practical, and terrific contributors who are happy to share their learning with others.”

FARMER FOCUS
The farmers have identified particular aspects of advanced farming systems upon which they wish to focus. Issues range from “getting the systems going on our place with our staff” through “using this gear to manage my problem weeds much better” to “getting all this paddock information out of the tractor and straight into my office computer – I want to use it to make better decisions”.

LandWISE members (a Who’s Who of innovative vegetable growers, industry representatives, science providers and others) see ‘Advanced Farming Systems’ as key to improving sustainability.  For this study, LandWISE has partnered with the Foundation for Arable Research and the HortNZ Processed Vegetables Product Group. Additional core funding is provided by the Sustainable Farming Fund, New Zealand Fresh Cuts, Balance AgriNutrients, Farmlands and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council.

BEYOND STRAIGHT LINES
GPS use moves beyond driving straight lines, into permanent beds, precision weeding, spraying, and variable application of nutrients and water. Case studies will also explore data management, crop and soil sensing and mapping, and the integration of precision tools into cropping systems.

The common theme is increased profitability, while reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, and improving soil and farm resilience in the face of climate change. This happens with the fewer cultivation passes and reduced tractor horsepower required on a farm which can result from GPS use in crops. David Clark at Opou Station in Gisborne had his fuel tanker driver ask where else he was buying fuel. It is a longer time between tanker visits now, with fuel usage about half what it was under conventional cultivation.

Another case study farmer grows lettuces, carrots and Asian brassicas for NZ Fresh Cuts in Mangere. Chris Butler is already enjoying gains from GPS use. He has reduced tractor passes, saves time at the end of each row and expects to reduce nitrogen fertiliser inputs significantly. He anticipates improved soil properties will reduce weather related downtimes. Improved windows for field operations, together with higher efficiencies, will allow more crops per year. He says: “GPS is an essential tool for us to gain the most from our land and financial resources.”

WHAT ARE ADVANCED FARMING SYSTEMS?
Advanced Farming Systems is a term used to describe the integration of new technologies, often including GPS, into farming practices. The benefits of a well designed advanced farming system include improved soil health; savings on fuel, water, steel, fertiliser and agrichemicals; and reduced GHG emissions.

Advanced Farming Systems can reduce overall capital investment in farm equipment and improve profitability in ground breaking ways:
• Driving straight using GPS eliminates overlap and saves expensive inputs such as seed, fuel and chemicals.
• Reduced cultivation saves fuel and equipment and enhances soil quality, especially if controlled traffic principles are adopted.
• Reduced compaction avoids wasted energy (driving on loose soil is similar to driving uphill all day). Energy is required to consolidate a traffic base, then again to remove the compaction. Think of rippers and sub-soiling implements as large anchors which the tractor pulls through the earth, hour after hour. It is easy to grasp the energy savings possible through avoiding, or at least reducing, compaction.
• GPS guided Controlled Traffic Farming creates permanent tramlines, ‘supporting beams’ in the soil that carry the tractors. The formed tracks give better support to traffic in wet conditions. The soil condition between tracks keeps improving with time. A ‘garden’ forms between the tracks, allowing crops to grow free of compaction. It is about putting compaction where it is an asset and nowhere else.
• Advanced farming systems allow farmers to identify and manage zones separately within fields. Both soil and crop sensing tools are available. Combining crop scanning with GPS, a farmer can identify different zones, defined by ‘relative greenness’. Variable rates of nitrogen can then be applied, based on crop needs in different zones of a field. Given the high energy inputs and cost in N fertiliser manufacture, this offers large environmental and economic benefits.
• Fitted with RTK-GPS and auto-steer, tractors can return to the same precise line – within 1 or 2 cm. This allows for new systems such as strip-till cultivation, banded fertiliser placement and precision planting (all returning precisely to the same row), as well as precision mechanical weeding to within centimetres of crop plants. Advanced Farming Systems are changing the face of farming. Users are enthusiastic about the gains made possible and the improvements still to come in many aspects of their cropping.

To learn more about Advanced Farming Systems and LandWISE events, see www.landwise.org.nz.
LandWISE has worked with advanced farming systems in Hawke’s Bay and New Zealand-wide since 1999.

Growers from Pukekohe to Canterbury are gearing up with technology to increase returns and improve the structure and water holding capacity of their soils.  They are part of the LandWISE Advanced Farming Systems project which is being run with help from the Sustainable Farming Fund, FAR and industry supporters.
These farmers are putting high accuracy GPS into their tractors, and making changes to their farming systems to gain improved soil health, savings on fuel, water, steel, fertilizer and agrichemicals and reduced Green House Gas (GHG) emissions.  
The crops grown include maize and cereals, potatoes, process and fresh market vegetables and salad crops for supermarkets.  In every sector, there is an advanced farming systems application of benefit. “This project is very much a partnership with FAR,” says LandWISE’s Dan Bloomer. “It’s not about technology off the shelf, it’s about how we use technology to allow smarter farming.”
Advanced Farming Systems is a term that describes the integration of new technologies into farming.   High accuracy GPS makes it possible to farm in new ways, by precisely guiding tractors and implements and capturing, recording and managing information.  Some of the farmers are investigating alternative approaches to soil management, others are focused on weeds or soil moisture. 
Canterbury arable farmer and contractor, Randal Hanrahan, has been establishing Advanced Farming Systems on his family farm in Ashburton.  “We have invested a lot in this property and now need to make sure we farm it as efficiently as possible”.  Randal has converted from border dyke to centre pivot to improve water use efficiency and flexibility.  Using GPS is allowing him to make the same kind of shift with cropping systems.  “We invested in GPS to improve our contracting business, now it is changing the way we farm, and it is exciting to see the changes it allows us to make.”
GPS with autosteer gives immediate savings in fuel, fertiliser, seed and time inputs, just by avoiding overlaps and increasing field work efficiency.  Randal is aiming to get a controlled traffic system up and running.   “That is challenging”, he says, “because our equipment has many different wheel tracks and swath widths.  But because we know where we want to be, we are planning for that as we replace equipment.  Compaction compromises our soil and so it is worth investing to do less of that.”  Farm labour challenges make it harder to find an operator with the skills to drive straight.   GPS and autosteer means that anyone can and then they can focus on the implement and the soil. Randal says, “Once they are skilled in GPS, any operator can become your best”.
Chris Butler at NZ Fresh Cuts is also using high accuracy GPS and tractor guidance.  His initial focus is removing higher cost cultivation operations. Growing crops on permanent beds is reducing compaction in their maize, salad and carrot production.  “Our fuel savings are recovering the cost of the investment in GPS.  Our gains in operational efficiency, reduced cultivation time and R&M are a big bonus”- Chris says. 
NZ Fresh Cuts also experience land utilisation gains, because they spend less time waiting for weather and soil conditions to be right for cultivation and planting operations.  “Salad greens are in and out very fast”, says Chris. “If we can avoid between-crop delays, we can grow more crops in the same piece of ground.”  “We are also expecting to see water stored more effectively as these soils improve, which should reduce any risk of nutrient leaching,” he says.
Farmers like Chris are adopting Advanced Farming Systems as a key to improving sustainability and profit in the face of economic and environmental challenges. 
They are finding their investment in Advanced Farming Systems can reduce overall capital and variable costs and improve profitability in ground breaking ways.  Some participating farmers have reduced their fleets in both tractor numbers and horsepower. 
David Clark adopted RTK-GPS and controlled traffic farming for maize in 2003.  Conventional cropping at his farm, Opou Station, near Gisborne had David concerned about compaction, soil structure and reduced earthworm presence. Since adopting a controlled traffic system, the soils are improving and earthworm activity is increasingly present.  “Before controlled traffic we seemed to have a slow drop in yields, but now those yields are climbing again,” David says.
David has seen his fuel use halved since investing in GPS and reduced his tractor fleet from four to two. “The fuel tanker driver asked me where I had been getting my fuel” he says. “As the soil frees up, it requires less energy to work and that means less fuel.  We generally direct drill now and strip-till where we need a bit of cultivation, usually to tidy up headlands.”
In conjunction with FAR, LandWISE will hold field days on Advanced Farming Systems, to allow those interested to view new technology being used on farms around New Zealand.  Anyone and everyone are welcome to register with LandWISE to receive notification of events.
To learn more about Advanced Farming Systems, GPS and Precision Agriculture see:
 www.landwise.org.nz/advancedfarmingsystems.php  
Information requests to info@landwise.org.nz or Phone Dan Bloomer or James Powrie at 06 6504531.
Trends in GPS use
LandWISE is supporting the integration of GPS and other tools into the mainstream.  Dan Bloomer of LandWISE says: “The trend is for new users of GPS to keep adding GPS units into their tractor fleets, once they see the benefits.  They start with driving straight rows and gain immediate field efficiency, and savings from that. 
Why Farmers Join LandWISE
LandWISE draws together farmers, advisors, science providers and regulators to work co-operatively on more sustainable crop production.
LandWISE is a small organization with a strong track record of supporting development and adoption of new technologies.  LandWISE has much to offer as we confront the challenges of climate change. 
More farmers want to learn ways to improve profitability, while reducing GHG emissions and improving soil and farm resilience in the face of climate change.  This happens with fewer cultivation passes and reduced tractor horsepower requirements which can result from GPS use in cropping.
James Powrie of LandWISE says, “When you join LandWISE you join an excellent group of farmers who are bringing new technology into their businesses to be more successful into the future.” 
Members get discounted attendance at the LandWISE conference, held in May.  Farmers and industry people meet there each year to learn how new technologies can be used to enhance soils, refine water and nutrient management and reduce chemical, fuel and labour inputs.  This is the event in NZ for farmers wanting to learn more about GPS and precision agriculture.
Sign up two people from your organisation and register a third for free.
www.landwise.org.nz/memberform.php