When Tim Norris of Gambier, Ohio, collects space and crop knowledge all through the 830 acres that he farms, he gathers 250,000 information components.
“Observe each half,” Norris says, noting these 250,000 information components rework yield maps to income maps.
Norris, named an Ohio Grasp Farmer, no-tills corn, soybeans, wheat, sunflowers and an 8-species cowl crop mix in Knox County, considered by many the no-till capital of the world. He moreover beforehand owned a precision agriculture enterprise, Ag Info Tech, by way of which he labored with larger than 800 farmers via the years.
He begins by setting space boundaries with differential GPS. From there, he marks soil form and supplies elevation with a LIDAR model. He analyzes terrain with maps that current arrows inside the path of ground water transfer.
“In case you see the entire arrows pointing into one spot, you acknowledge that has an excellent chance of drowning out, and it is important drain it,” Norris says.
The arrows on this terrain analysis level out transfer of water, which helps no-tiller Tim Norris of Gambier, Ohio, see potential low spots that may need drainage.
Yield Analysis
Subsequent, Norris analyzes yield. He says he doesn’t choose to solely take into account based totally on soil form because of inside one soil form, he sees extreme and low yielding areas in his fields. He supplies totally different parts measured with strategies like grid sampling.
Norris likes using a crop’s frequent all through 10 years to create a map that leads to the coefficient of variation, which reveals whether or not or not yield is safe or variable.
Observe each half…
This map, combined with the terrain analysis, could possibly be seen in 3-D. On his farm, Norris says lower-yielding areas are larger in elevation, whereas higher-yielding areas are at lower elevations that can have gathered additional water.
These maps help when analyzing new seed hybrids and varieties, and Norris suggests together with singulation to every report.
“If in case you will have a ton of data, you might once more up and see what you’re looking at,” Norris says. “Usually, you’ll uncover points regarding the information that you just could must rethink.”
As quickly as Norris has a terrain analysis, he creates a layer that options the following knowledge:
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Soil (form, phosphorus, potassium, pH, Bph, CEC and OM)
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Planting (planting date, choice, inhabitants, singulation, row starter and row starter value)
From there, Norris creates a map with 4 planting zones so that he can use variable-rate planting. He and his seed advisor choose the easiest hybrid and set the acceptable value for each zone. For example, in lower yielding areas of 1 space, he’ll plant 31,600 seeds per acre, whereas in larger yielding house of that exact same space, he’ll plant 34,000 seeds per acre.
“By planting a lot much less, we actually elevated our yield……”
“We saved seed inside the variable value plan,” Norris says. “Everytime you take a look on the bushels per acre, we had been 164.3 bushels per acre with the 34,000 seeds, and we had been 177 bushels per acre with the 31,000 seeds. By planting a lot much less, we actually elevated our yield.”
Income Maps
Using the yield maps, Norris can create income maps. Every worth is included on this map, from the information he’s already gathered to gear funds and curiosity. The income of explicit individual areas inside the space could possibly be determined, and other people numbers could possibly be combined for an basic space income.
“I can take a look at my frequent income by soil form based totally over time, after which I can start to try to find out what the potential of that farm is, based totally on the soil types that are in that farm,” Norris says. “It moreover helps me uncover and set up areas that I shouldn’t be farming.”
Norris says the numbers from the income map help him resolve areas which may be positioned inside the Conservation Reserve Program or simply be put apart. The income map can also contribute to rent discussions.
“If I’ve a landlord that feels the rent is simply too low, I can use the historic previous and current them type of a baseline,” Norris says. “That helps take that, ‘Successfully, I do know my neighbor’s getting additional,’ out of the equation.”
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Norris creates income maps from the 250,000 information components he collects. On this 2022 income map, the inexperienced areas current $400 per acre income, whereas the purple areas current $53 loss to $101 income. Frequent income was $302 per acre.