Precision agriculture and variable-rate technology (VRT) can help growers and agronomists manage field variances and produce higher-yielding crops.
With VRT, producers can maximize every opportunity by tailoring seeding and crop nutrition applications to specific parts of their fields — and interest in the technology is growing.
According to Stratus Ag Research, variable rate fertilizer prescriptions were used on approximately 4.7 million acres in Western Canada in 2016. Across the prairies some 30 percent of surveyed growers were considering trying the technology on their farm.
“It allows growers to allocate inputs better, so the land is capable of producing more,” said Vanessa Lawrence PAg, a Co-op GROW Team agronomist in Saskatoon, who put the technology to the test as part of Co-op’s GROW Team Innovation field trials.
“By putting more seed and fertilizer in one area as opposed to another, where it’s not capable of producing, you’re not over-fertilizing certain pieces of land. It supports the 4R nutrient philosophy of the right nutrient at the right place at the right time.”
Technology at work
In 2016, the Co-op GROW Team helped farmers get a firsthand look at this advanced technology by testing Decisive™ Farming’s Optimize RX™ program at eight sites in Saskatchewan.
Optimize RX brings a full set of agronomic services and expertise to the farm. Each step in its streamlined process is geared towards increasing return-on-investment.
- MORE: Decisive Farming
At each trial site, a Decisive Farming representative mapped the field, conducted a soil test and uploaded the unique prescription to the grower’s seeder.
At its trial location near Colonsay, Sask., the Saskatoon Co-op GROW Team used Optimize RX on a 120-acre wheat field. Following harvest, Decisive Farming will generate a return-on-investment, showing how the variable-rate acres compared to those that received traditional constant seeding and fertilizer rates.
- READ: Sample yield report PDF
Results are still being calculated for the 2016 season, but Decisive Farming has found an average $13,000 return per section in previous trials.
“This is some of our more variable land with sloughs and small hills, but everything seems to have matured pretty evenly,” said Lawrence prior to the harvest on her family’s farm, where the trial was held. “I’m hopeful that we’ll see a yield advantage.”
Farming for the future
Beginning in fall 2016, Decisive Farming’s Optimize RX service will be available Co-op Agro Centres in Western Canada, where Co-op GROW Team agronomists will use the information to develop effective crop and crop nutrition plans for their growers.
“This is an easy process for growers. Once the prescription is loaded, the seeder does the rest of the work,” said Lawrence. “At the end of the season, we’ll be able to sit down with growers, and use these results to build a plan for the future that puts their dollars where they will make the biggest impact.”
