Ashburton A&P Show

Agri Optics showcased their services at the 141^st annual A&P show in Ashburton on the 26^th and 27^th October, to catch up with existing clients and field enquiries from prospective clients. Despite the torrential rain while setting up on the Thursday, the show days themselves were thankfully a great deal better. I thought I’d write a blog about the sort of questions the team were answering as a point of interest to those who weren’t able to make it.

Picture 1: Nick Evans and Lucy Murray on a muddy Friday morning after finishing set up!

The theme of this year’s show was chosen by the President David Butterick and was “Irrigation – the life blood of mid Canterbury” – this is a great fit for Agri Optics’ services and solutions. It was also the topic we fielded most enquiries about!

Picture 2 & 3: The team answering clients enquiries.

There was much interest in EM surveying and how it can be used for variable rate irrigation to make better use of water, as well as a helping make more informed decisions on where to place your moisture probes.  We had people enquire about using their EM maps and VRI to conserve water and use that water elsewhere on the farm with potentially large savings to be made by not having to buy more water shares.

Picture 4 & 5: Areas of most discussion EM surveying and AquaCheck moisture probes!

The main point of discussion however was about moisture probes; from looking at the different options available to the different telemetry types and other sensors that can be added to the systems. From weather stations to milk vat monitoring to comply with the MPI Milk Cooling legislation that came into force in June 2018.

We ran many clients through their AquaCheck graphs and explained what they were seeing, things to avoid like getting spikes going through all the profile layers and how much water to put on and where the moisture trace should be sitting at different times of the year, which was very similar to the workshops we ran a couple of months ago. If you are unsure of what your AquaCheck Web graphs are telling you then please get in touch and we can help run you through the data, or if we are in your area we are happy to come and see you to go through it all. So just get in touch as making informed decisions is of paramount importance.

We will be at the Innovation Vineyard field day in Blenheim, which is run by the Marlborough Grape Growers Cooperative on the 14^th November, the NZ Effluent expo at Mystery Creek on the 27-28 November, and at the FAR Crops event in Chertsey on 5^th December. We look forward to catching up at one of these or other events in the coming months.

Chris Smith

Agri Optics

It's starting to get dry...

Other than this slightly cooler snap we've had over the last couple of days you'd have to say spring is well and truly here! And with these nor-west winds (in Canterbury anyway) and warmer days things are starting to dry out and there's not much rain on the horizon. The seasonal weather outlook from NIWA suggests that we're in for a dryer than average season in most places (https://www.niwa.co.nz/climate/seasonal-climate-outlook/seasonal-climate-outlook-september-november-2018) and at this point I'd have to say they're about on the money. 

The joys of being a farmer or in the ag industry is that everything you do hinges on the weather, so we get really good (for the most-part) at managing timings and inputs and reading the signs to optimise what we do on farm. Now is no different. Whether you're an irrigated farmer or a dryland one now is the time to be installing your soil moisture probes if you haven't done so already so that you can accurately measure and manage your soil moisture and timings of related inputs on farm. 

Soil moisture probes allow you to know whats going on under your feet and make accurate and timely decisions to set yourself, your farm, your crops and your livestock up to perform to the best of their ability for the coming season. Soil moisture is one of the key drivers for plant growth so it's important that we know where we're currently sitting in terms of soil moisture levels so we can react to it accordingly. Decisions around fertiliser (and other input) timings, timing and amount of irrigation, stock carrying-capacity decisions etc can all be driven by more accurate information regarding soil moisture levels. 

If you want to find out more about some of the leading soil moisture probes in the NZ market have a look here: https://bit.ly/2OyeVj1 

And if you're wanting to get some installed for the coming season please pick up the phone and give the Agri Optics team a call now before you run out of time and you're left carrying a spade in the back of your ute or ruining the tip of your good pocket knife for the upcoming summer. 

All the best for an upcoming and prosperous season ahead! 

Cheers, 

Jemma

Rain gauges – why they're a powerful tool for your operation

Do you know how much rain has fallen on your farm?  Or on your block of land down the road?  Do you sometimes forget to tip out the rain gauge?  Accurate rainfall figures for farm records are becoming more and more important in this age of transparency.  Knowing how much rain fell on any given day on your own farm or on a particular crop will give you the ability to make more accurate decisions.  Telemetered rain gauges save you the hassle of manually reading the rain gauge and provide up to date data straight to your phone or computer. 

Rain gauges can be installed along with your soil moisture probe and positioned under the irrigator or installed in a dryland area.  Positioning the rain gauge under the irrigator enables you to monitor exactly what application depth the irrigator is applying.  Application depths can change as a result of adding extra irrigators to the system, blocked or broken nozzles and changes to system pressures to name a few.  Excessive application depths are expected to account for on average 10% of water losses on an average irrigation system, that’s wasted power, water and most importantly money.  Not applying enough water may result in yield losses and shallow rooted plants.    

A telemetered rain gauge installed under the irrigator will also enable you to see the application rate applied.  If it is above the rates described for your situation in the table below you may be wasting water.  

Agri Optics can add a rain gauge to your soil moisture system to help your decision making.  Ring us today to talk about the options for your farm. 

Agri Optics office: (03) 302 9227

Cindy Lowe 021 796 834 or cindy@agrioptics.co.nz

Email: info@agrioptics.co.nz

Precision Ag update - a UK & Europe perspective - Part #2

The second part of the CB Norwood’s Precision Ag tour was spent in Europe with machinery companies. First, we visited Vaderstad at Hogstadvägen in Sweden, then Lemken in Germany, Horsch in Germany and finally New Holland in Belgium. All these companies looked after us very well, for which we were most grateful.

Arriving in Sweden, the first thing we noticed was how dry it was and how it was reflected in the stressed crops we saw travelling to the Vaderstad factory. The same could be said of the crops we saw in Germany, but to a slightly lesser extent.

Vaderstad showed us a vast range in cultivation and drilling equipment but from a precision ag point view I was most interested in their E system and Seed Eye technology and what it could mean to us in terms of precision seed placement. The sensors installed in each seed tube on the drill form the basis of the Väderstad SeedEye. This gives the ability to register each seed that is metered and drilling can be controlled down to the exact number of seeds per square metre. 

Figure 1: Vaderstad SeedEye system

Next we went to Germany and visited Lemken, where we looked about their HQ and factory. Again, a lot of cultivation and other equipment but more of the traditional systems with various plough options. However, they too have very accurate seed planting options which would be very useful for precision seeding.

Figure 2: Lemken precision drill seeding system using air pressure

When we got to Horsch we had seen how the other companies worked but I was surprised at the level of trial work and other extensions Horsch were working on and how they were thinking outside the box. They were doing trials on the effect of difference press wheels on root establishment, different row spacing, seed rates and fertiliser rates down the spout. It was a very comprehensive setup and very interesting results.

They ran through their different drilling options including the Avatar with 3 hoppers to put different seed rates and types such as hybrid wheat in different zones plus fertiliser in the third hopper.

Figure 3: The effect of different sowing techniques on root development in Oil Seed Rape

Figure 4: Horsch Avatar drill with 3 hoppers

Figure 5: Trials on seed and fertiliser rates at different row spacing

 All the systems we saw lent themselves well to Precision Ag and accurate seed rates per metre, which can be used in combination with your EM maps, or other sources of spatial data such as yield maps or satellite imagery.

On the second day at Horsch we had a good look around their sprayers and the very impressive pro plus boom system that followed the crop canopy at a height of just 30cm with various nozzle options including 25cm spacing that reduced the effect of wind speed on your spraying window, giving more spray days which is a very useful feature everyone needs.

Figure 6: Top spec nozzle system with 4 nozzles every 50cm and 2 nozzles at 25cm in-between

Figure 7: Off to see the sprayer demos at Horsch

 Michael Horsch also touched on the next stage in their sprayer development, with autonomous machines that sprayed by themselves and the cameras learn the weeds they see in field and can map them. All very exciting and not that far away. High spec sprayers are very useful for variable rate PGR’s (plant growth regulators) or liquid nitrogen for example.

The final company we went to see were New Holland, with their machinery from combines to Foragers. Using their Precision Land Management system on control and measure. Yield maps are the starting point for a lot of people’s journey into Precision Ag.

Figure 8: New Holland combine open for investigation!

If you have any questions or want anymore detail on what we saw, just get in touch. 

On a personal level, it was great to see what machinery is available and what we could do with it in the Precision Ag space and to see that we’re not far behind the northern hemisphere in terms of PA adoption, and in some instances, are actually leading the way.

Chris

Precision Ag update - a UK & Europe perspective - Part #1

Having just spent most of June in the UK and Europe on a tour organised by CB Norwood, looking into Precision Ag, I thought I’d give an overview of what I saw of interest.

The tour group consisted of a great mix of farmers, contractors, CB Norwood’s managers, from both the South and North Island, Tim Myers (CB Norwood CEO), myself and was run by Paul Collins (CB Norwood Partnership Development Manager) - hats off to him for an excellent job managing the whole event and his team back in NZ.

The first week was spent in the UK, going around farms and visiting the Cereals event near Duxford. There was a real mix of farms from the traditional Estates, to new corporate farms less than 10 years old with huge areas 15,000+ hectares. From the precision ag point of view, it was interesting to see that we are all using the same technologies but for different reasons. EM surveys are used to identify different soil management zones as they are here, but not for irrigation and with little use of the topography data collected at the same time. EM was used for variable intensity of cultivating, and a lot for variable rate seeding. The EM zones are identified and then the soils classified into percentage establishment zones, so then according to your thousand grain seed weight and total population your seed required was automatically adjusted. This combined with using the EM to highlight areas of potentially higher blackgrass burdens - they find much higher levels on heavy soils identified from the EM maps, so they drill at higher seed rates   areas to compete with the blackgrass more. Using variable rate seeding and cultivations the farmers where going far more even looking crops, suppressing the blackgrass marginally more and getting up to 8% increase in yield.

Image 1: Winter wheat VR seed rate from an EM map. 

The EM maps where being used in combination with combine harvester yield maps to create zones for zonal soil sampling rather than grid soil sampling. The advantage there was that you had less samples than grid sampling, so it was cheaper, and you took samples in transects from within each soil zone from the EM map. Most of these farms have no livestock and the fields have been the same size under the same management for a good length of time, which lends itself more to zonal soil sampling.

There was a greater spread use of variable nitrogen from either satellite imagery, drones, N sensor/GreenSeeker type sensors than in New Zealand. The farmers had to use their nitrogen smarter as they had strict limits and timing limitations. This was apparent at the Cereals event on the Yara and Horsch stands to name but two both showing their own real-time sensors.

Image 2: N sensor for real-time VR nitrogen application

Image 3: The Horsch biomass sensor, also for VR N

At Cereals every machinery company seemed to be developing or had its own self propelled sprayer option, from the very basic offering to the other end of the spectrum the Horsch sprayer with its incredible boom technology on the pro plus and nozzle setup, allowing it to follow the crop at a height of just 30cm even on contoured land and almost making it wind proof spraying – with a climate like the UK one, you need to be able to spray at every opportunity you can!

Image 4: The soil pit - a great way to compare root structure in different scenarios

Image 5: There are many different software options in the UK for field inputs and collecting layers of data for smarter farming

It was great to catch up with Jim Wilson and the team from Soil Essentials, one of the few Precision Ag companies who still had a stand at the Cereals Event. The consensus on the Precision Ag front was that there are a lot of interesting and innovative ideas in the pipeline, for growers to use, which is very exciting. 

Image 6: The Soil Essentials team

 All the companies seem to have started from various positions within precision ag but come to the same conclusions on what works best, all of which we are doing here too in New Zealand. Of all the cropping farms there is probably about a 50% uptake in Precision Ag in various forms. Most farms seem to use muck in some form or another to increase organic matter and help with moisture constraints.

The last farm we went to in the UK, was the Beeswax Dyson Farming, owned by the Dyson Company. They had bought over 15,000ha since 2011 and used EM surveys and drones to help them get up to speed on their various soil types to manage them better. They were also heavily involved in environmental schemes like some of the old traditional estates we saw.

Figure 7: Beeswax Dyson Farming, general storage shed

In the next article I will discuss some of the interesting ideas that we came across in Europe. 

Cheers, 

Chris 

EM Surveying - other uses for the data

Today it's our final blog for the 4-part series on EM Surveying that we've run you through over the last month. To date we've covered off:

• Part 1 - the process
• Part 2 - what the data is telling you
• Part 3 - the main uses

Today Chris is going to take you on a run-through of what some of the other uses are for your EM Survey data are & how they can be applied on farm...

...I touched on probe placement at the end of the last post, so will continue where I left off. The EM layers are very useful for making sure you have your moisture probe in the most indicative soil type if you only put one probe in under a pivot for example, or if you have several soil types it ensures you can put probes under the lightest, heaviest and average soils, to make more informed management decisions on irrigation application. The topography information collected at the time of survey can also be used for determining soil moisture probe locations. 

Figure 1: Shallow EM Map with 3 probe locations in the different soil types. 

Where the land is undulating we can bring the elevation data into the equation for probe placement to find a flat area in each of the different soil types. We can also use a moisture probe in a dry land situation for adjusting inputs to the season (such as fertiliser, re-grassing & de-stocking).

When conduiting the EM survey we are using RTK GPS to log the EM data, this topography data and its derivatives are very powerful information layers. We can create water flow maps so you can see potential areas there may be issues for your Farm Environment plans, contour maps, and water flow animated videos as shown below. The Water Shed model mimics a large rainfall event, then over time shows where the water moves from quickly and where it hangs around longer. 

These Water Shed models highlight potential avoidance areas for planting, especially for nurseries and high value crops, in areas prone to heavy rainfall.

As you can see there are many ways people are using their EM survey data, and there are many other uses tailored to the individual client’s requirements. It is generally best to discuss with you your issues then we can work together on using the data to achieve the best solutions for you.

For any more information or to discuss your requirements give me a call.

Chris Smith

Operations Manager @ Agri Optics NZ Ltd 

EM Surveying - The Uses

In the previous EM survey blog, I ran through the process of conducting the survey, this time I will go through some of the uses.

The data from an EM survey is very useful for irrigation in many ways. The topography data can be used for planning the pivot design itself with your irrigation provider for example working out tower spacing and pivot positioning. The angle of slope can be used to see if the pivot stays within design parameters for insurance purposes as well as design planning.

Figure 1: Contour map on top of elevation map

After the initial pivot or irrigation design plans, we can then look at the EM data itself to determine the amount of variability within the surveyed area. Within the PCT Gateway software we can look at the value and amount of the crop being grown on the area and the cost of installing variable rate irrigation (VRI). The software needs to know the average yield and value of the crop. That way using algorithms it calculates that by not over watering the heavier soli types or under watering the lighter areas you bring the crop yield on those areas up to the average. It looks at the reduction in variability by using VRI as opposed to a blanket application. In the example below the variability from using VRI drops from 30.4% to 4.68%. So, by using the average yield and the price we can see the payback vs the cost of putting VRI on your pivot.

Figure 2: Illustrating the payback from VRI, using an EM map. 

This model just looks at the costs vs savings of VRI from a production prospective. It doesn’t take into consideration savings from reduced water use, power savings, reduced track repairs etc, which will be in addition to this.

The next stage is to make VRI maps up for the pivot, using the different soil zones, predominately we use the shallow EM results. If the area has a lot of variation in topography we can also combine the elevation layers with the EM map to make an application map for the pivot. We can also use other elevation layers to achieve the best solution used for each specific survey, as required.

The map below, shows a three zone EM map, where  red is the lightest soil, green the medium textured soil and blue the heaviest soil. This has been combined with the slope map, where the darker tone indicates a slope of 0-5% and the brighter tone of colour areas where the slope is above 5%.

Figure 3: An EM map and slope map combined to make a VRI application map. Brighter red, green and blue indicate slope for the different soil zones. 

The EM zone maps can also be used for irrigation pod placement, as well as moisture probe placement. If you only have one probe under an irrigation management zone, you want to make sure its under the right area. I will discuss this in more detail in the next blog. In the meantime, if you have any questions about EM surveying please get in touch.

Chris Smith

Operations Manager Agri Optics NZ Ltd.

EM Values - What the data is telling you

Today we've got the second part of a 4 part series on EM Surveying and all it's uses. This week we've been into the EM Surveying over on the West Coast (check out our Facebook page if you want to see more) and it's certainly an important part of the job being out there doing the survey and seeing the physical aspects of the job to help make sense of the data and what it's telling you. Today we look at what the EM data does tell you...

An electro-magnetic (EM) sensor generates a constant electro-magnetic field that penetrates into the soil profile. It measures the bulk electrical conductivity of the soil profile. As we conduct an EM survey the sensor is taking readings at two different depths simultaneously. These two depths are known as the ‘Shallow EM’ and the ‘Deep EM’. The depths the DualEM reads depends on the height the machine is off the ground. With our EM setup we are reading the soil profile depth of 0-50cm for the shallow EM and the deep EM at a soil profile of 0-125cm. So the deep EM values are the same as the shallow plus another 75cm deeper. This is why the deep EM readings are always higher than the shallow as it is reading that extra 5cm.

Figure 1: Shallow EM survey values varying from 2-20 EM units (mS/m)

Figure 2: Deep EM of the same area with values ranging from 14-30 EM units (mS/m)

In this survey the same features are showing in the shallow EM and deep EM results, however sometimes this is not always the case the deeper profile can have a different underlying soil type that the shallow EM doesn’t pick up but the extra 85cm of deeper soil does and it changes the overall structure.

Generally speaking and depending on what part of the country you are in and the time of year the survey is carried out amongst other things, we would class a range in EM in the shallow profile of 1-3 units as low variability, 4-8 units as moderate variability and over 8 units range as high variability in the shallow layer/soil profile. In the deep EM/soil profile layer a range of 1-6 would be low variability, 6-15 moderate variability and over that high. It is often dangerous to generalise like that, but it gives you an idea of the type of ranges we look at, and as previously stated there are a lot of other factories that determine if the readings are low, medium or high variability. You also have to look at the distribution of the values as well, if the majority of the values are within a certain range and a few rogue values outside that but on a minimal area of the total, then the range in variation may not be as much as it first looks. How much the variability is costing you in terms of blanket irrigation applications compared to variable rate irrigation applications be it water, seed or fertilizer is a subject for another day!

For more information on EM Surveying please contact us at Agri Optics NZ Ltd.

Chris Smith.facebook

EM Surveying - it's that time of year again!

With all the early season rainfall we've had the EM Surveying season has started a lot earlier than most years. It's great in a couple of respects: 1) we can get across the ground before it all gets really wet (if that happens) and the potential to make a mess increases and 2) it gives you more time to analyse and incorporate the data into your decision making over the winter months. 

As we're already into it this year, we thought it was time to give you a reminder about EM Surveying and how it all works. Today you'll get the first of a two part blog looking at the process, what you get from an EM Survey and what it can all be used for. 

EM Survey – Part 1 - the process.

When we conduct an EM survey we are measuring the electrically conductivity within the soil profile, the values have close links to the soil texture properties, where clay gives a higher reading than silt that in turn gives a higher reading than sand. So, by driving over a block of land you pick up the differences in the soil texture at two different depths 0-50cm and 0-125cm. Other factors have varying degrees of influence on the readings such as soil bulk density and moisture within the profile at the time of the survey. High salinity readings can have a huge influence on readings, but this is only in specific areas of New Zealand. The EM data is logged using 2cm accurate RTK GPS, so not only do we map the relative changes in soil texture, we are also collecting valuable topography data at the same time.

Agri Optics' EM Survey setup with soil profile shown. The measurements penetrate 1.25m into the ground. 

We drive most commonly at 12m swaths across the area, but closer resolution can be used for more intensive situations such as viticulture. Once the survey has been conducted we write a report about the findings from the two different EM layers, we then zone the EM data up into different management areas and run topography generated maps. Once you have had time to read through the report we arrange a meeting to then run through the report with you in person if you so desire. We also supply the client with software to view the data on their own computers and look at the different layers plus make your own management zones if required. From this point we can then focus on the areas of interest for your requirements.

The survey data has many uses, depending on the farming type and location and includes but is not limited to the following;  being the basis of variable rate irrigation application maps, moisture probe placement, used in zonal soil sampling, in dryland farming areas knowing where to put your effluent, to varying your nitrogen use depending on the underling soil types and used for flood modelling. It can also be used in conjunction with other layers of data such as yield maps, biomass maps and as happens frequency used with the topography data. Over the next few blogs I can drill into more detail on these different uses.

The EM season runs form the end of irrigation in the autumn through to Spring, but from now onwards is the ideal timing. For more information on EM surveying or to book one in for this season, please contact one of the Agri Optics team. Cheers, Chris. 

Technology Transforming New Zealand Irrigation

The latest issue of the IrrigationNZ News (Spring 2017) features an excellent and in-depth article on how technology is transforming irrigation in New Zealand. Featuring six case studies from throughout the country describing the different technologies applied on each farm - from soil moisture sensors to weather forecasting options to automated irrigation systems "designed to deliver the right amount of water at the right time".

Many of the technologies discussed have been previously showcased on our H2Grow blog so if you are interested to find out more follow this link and turn to page 28 => IrrigationNZ News: Spring 2017

Overlooking the North Otago dairy farm run by Nick Webster part of the "Peter Mitchell and Nick Webster" case study discussing how they use Growsmart Precision VRI technology to improve their operation.

Shared by the H2Grow team.

In the words of Rachel Hunter - it won't happen overnight, but it will happen...

Wasn’t the whole election one big roller coaster?  If we have learnt one this from this whole affair, it is that we are all very passionate about our water resources – not necessarily for the same reasons, but passionate none the less.

Regardless of who ends up running the country (at the time of penning this blog, Winnie was still  courting both the National and Labour parties), I think it is clear that public opinion will ensure that water management and associated policies will be addressed is some way, shape or form by the incoming government.  Given this, I think it is important (and timely) to look back and acknowledge where we have got too in relation to this, but also to look forward at where we can still go.  

The National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPSFM) and Regional Plans

Most regional councils now either have notified or operative plans which outline their methods for addressing water quantity and water quality.  While no two plans are alike, the NPSFM requires limits are set, therefore, all plans do just that – they set allocation limits for surface and groundwater resources, as well as water quality limits.  It is the latter which takes various forms including property limits and/or catchment limits using Overseer, in stream water quality limits, and the development of the Good Management Practice (GMP) framework.    Many councils have also adopted the use of audited Farm Environment Plans to be able to monitor, measure, report and ensure that farms are meeting their environmental obligations. 

As with anything in life, good things take time.  Councils are in the process of rolling out and implementing these plans now.  The effects will not be immediate, but they need to be given a chance to actually work. 

It must also be remembered that for many areas, it is as much about maintaining the already good water quality that exists – this is not allowed to deteriorate.  For those few areas where improvement is needed, the plans bite much harder, and that it totally appropriate.

The fact that all of this has occurred seems to have been completely overlooked by many, and it’s not just politicians I’m referring too. 

How are we meeting our environmental obligations already?

Figures provided by Irrigation New Zealand show that since 2011:

·       

• $10 million invested in audited Farm Environment Plans;   
• $600 million invested by existing irrigators upgrading to modern, efficient irrigation systems;
• $18 million invested in precision irrigation technologies;
• $15 million invested in installing irrigation decision-making technologies;
• More than 24,000 kilometres of our waterways have already been fenced off to exclude stock at a cost of $220 million. 

As we continue to meet our environmental obligations, you can only expect these numbers to increase.  It is noted that this expenditure is all on farm, reinforcing the point that water quality will be addressed at the farm level. 

Looking Forward

Regional Councils need to continue to implement their plans. This may seem like an obvious thing to state, but it’s true nonetheless.  Consistent messages and enforcement from the regulatory bodies will be a must.

I believe that many farmers are on board with GMP (the on-farm practices) despite still being largely ignorant or merely confused by the new environmental regulations.  Education is still key to the success of this stuff, and that has to come from all involved – banks, valuers, real estate agents, farm advisors, customers… anybody involved with the farm.  And, many farmers are being innovative and taking up technology where it is available.  You only have to look at the statistics above regarding the investment to date in irrigation upgrades and precision irrigation technologies.  

And last, but not least, time, time, time.  To quote Rachel Hunter from her Pantene ad, “it doesn’t happen overnight, but it will happen”, and it is happening.  Get on board, and keep it up.

 By Keri Johnston, Irricon Resource Solutions

Phone 0272202425 or email keri@irricon.co.nz

The irrigation season is just around the corner…

With the days getting longer and the weather getting warmer (I’m sure it’s too good to be true!) spring growth will soon be kicking into gear and irrigation season will be just around the corner. Now is the time to be ensuring that you’re as prepared as you can be for the irrigation season.

If you’re an irrigated farmer now is the time to be thinking about how you’re going to schedule your irrigation throughout the upcoming season. The days of scuffing the dirt with your boot and having a dig with a spade are fast coming to their end with the need for on-farm soil moisture monitors such as the AquaCheck probe, to give some more accurate numbers to the soil moisture levels than a scuff of your boot on the soil. Having soil moisture probes installed on farm not only helps you make better irrigation decisions but it also gives you some hard and fast data to have when it comes to Farm Environment Plan (or the likes) auditing.

Soil moisture probes for use this coming season should be being installed now or over the next few weeks ideally. All continuous soil moisture measurement devices take a period of a few weeks to ‘settle down’ and give accurate readings post installation.

At Agri Optics we have a great soil moisture probe in the AquaCheck probe as part of our suite.

The key things to note on these probes compared others (other than their great price) are as follows:

·         They’re fully telemetered, giving you access to view up-to-date soil moisture data and make timely decisions based on current, actual data

·         They’re a vertical oriented probe that has multiple soil moisture sensors down their length, giving you a total soil moisture trace and soil moisture traces at each different sensor depth. This means that you can see how the soil moisture moves down through the soil profile and how effective you’re being with your irrigation management. The bottom sensor is also a good ‘check’ for drainage leaving the root zone

·         The AquaCheck probe has built-in soil temperature sensors – a good gauge to be able to better manage irrigation and fertiliser timings in the shoulders of the season in particular

·         They have the option of connecting to rain gauges to give accurate records of rainfall and irrigation at each soil moisture probe site

·         They have a short ‘settling’ time post install compared to most of their competitors, meaning that you’ll get useful data to make decisions off in a short time frame

·         They’re easy to install and uninstall, making them great for seasonal cropping situations

·         They’re very competitively priced

·         There are multiple depth option so that the depth of the probe installed can be matched to your farming system and requirements

·         In NZ they’ve got Agri Optics behind them, to help you, the farmer understand and interpret soil moisture readings and get the most out of soil moisture probes for irrigation scheduling

You can also view more information on the AquaCheck probes on our website: http://www.agrioptics.co.nz/portfolio/aquacheck/

If you’re interested in the AquaCheck probes or need a soil moisture solution for this season please don’t hesitate to contact one of the Agri Optics Team for some more information and a quote.  

All the best for an upcoming irrigation season & year ahead!

Cheers,

Jemma

'Tips, Tools & Technology for Efficient Farming' - Workshop Series

Do you want to improve the nutrient and irrigation management on your farm but are not sure where to start? Come along to a free 'Tips, Tools & Technology for Efficient Farming' workshop jointly hosted by Lindsay NZ, Agri Optics New Zealand Ltd and Irricon Resource Solutions.

Over the course of the workshop we'll cover off a range of topics from nutrient management, irrigation management and hardware, precision agriculture and how these all tie in with farm environment plans for efficient farming.

Please use this link to register - Register me for a workshop please!

We look forward to seeing you there

EM surveying - Knowledge is Power... (and Potential profit!)

An Electromagnetic Survey is one of the key layers required on the precision farming journey. Precise location and understanding of soil types is a key piece of information in driving decisions around water use and nutrient placement. Not only can an EM survey be used to reduce water inputs it can form the basis of other decisions related to plant health, production and nutrient uptake. Turning the pretty maps into useful data requires some powerful software. That is where VA Gateway comes in. Gateway allows for in depth analysis of multiple layers, including Yield and EM. All Agri Optics customers have access to VA Gateway and AgCloud the online version.

With the software we create reports on the various layers of data collected. Clients get information on two EM soil profiles, one measuring the conductivity in the top 0-50 cm of soil and the other looking at changes in the top 0-125cm of your soil profile. Our report explains our findings on each layer with an explanation of what you are seeing. Depending on the variability arising from the survey, we then create different management zones based on the range in EM units. These zoned maps can then be imported into your variable rate irrigation (VRI) software if they are used for irrigation or into your VR seed drilling control box if you are using it for variable rate seeding based on your soils.

Figure 1. Top left is a shallow EM map and to the right of it a zoned map of that layer. Below is the same but for the deeper EM (0-125cm).

We also report on topography features. As we log the EM data at 2cm accuracy we are also mapping these features. This data set in its own right is very useful and gives you the surface characteristics of the area surveyed in the form of six additional maps, slope, elevation, landscape change, aspect, any depressions and witness index (which way water will move in a rain or irrigation event). This data can be a powerful management tool. The water movement models can help highlight potential areas of issue, so they can be addressed, be it nutrient movement or run off.

Figure 2. Gateway software generates water movement models based on the topography data.

The elevation data can also be used to create contour maps that can be used in the design stage of your centre pivot system, e.g. when calculating tower spacing's or to help with budgeting for any required earth works.

Figure 3. Gateway software can be used to create 3D contour maps.

We can also create moisture probe placement maps based on your EM and elevation data to find your optimum site within each management zone. These sites can also be used as ground-truthing sites with HydroServices neutron probe to put actual specific values to the different zones water holding capacities and then convert the EM map into a water holding capacity map.

A further report can be created to gauge the likely payback time from the installation of VRI based on your soil variability, the crop you are growing, its value per unit and the cost of your VRI system. This is proving very helpful for those who are unsure as to whether they have enough variability in the surveyed area to warrant VRI.

All our data is collected using strict protocols, with the highest standards in continuity and quality every time. This ensures our clients have powerful, solution-focused information. For more details check out our website www.agrioptics.co.nz.

Post credit to Chris Smith.