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AERIAL IMAGERY FOR PRECISION AGRICULTURE

Precision agriculture is no longer a new term in crop production. It is now a widely accepted practice. Aerial imagery is a key component in utilizing precision agriculture techniques for the management of farmland. The GeoVantage Imaging System provides high-resolution, orthorectified images that are used by Cooperatives, Ag Service Providers (ASPs), Crop Consultants, and Growers.

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IMPLEMENTATION

  • Create management zones

  • Evaluate the effectiveness of fertilizer applications

  • Perform in-season analysis to make crop management decisions

  • Manage geo-referenced soil sampling

  • Precisely schedule irrigation

  • Scheduling of pesticide applications

  • Find mechanical errors in application equipment

  • View the whole farm/field

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The GeoVantage Imaging System enables individuals and companies involved in production agriculture to find trouble areas within a field well before they are visible with the naked eye, thereby providing the ability to take pro-active actions to manage crop health. The GeoVantage Imaging System minimizes unneeded field work and maximizes efficiency.

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LEARN MORE

COMPACTION

The term “soil compaction” refers to a change in state of the soil that increases its bulk density. Soil compaction is becoming more and more important due to the fact that:
 

  • Equipment is larger

  • Uncontrolled traffic

  • Earlier field operations

  • Operating on wet soils
     

Identifying compacted areas within a field with the naked eye is difficult and compaction is a difficult variable to measure from the ground without equipment (eg soil penetrometer) and high labor costs.

If a soil is over-compacted there is significant risk of yield reductions as compacted soils affect both soil and plant growth alike:

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Effects On Soil                   Effects on Plant Growth

Porosity                              Root growth

Aeration                             Nutrient uptake

StructureWater                  Infiltration/Utilization

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Strength

Aerial imagery shows subtle patterns of soil compaction that are almost impossible to see from the ground. By comparing patterns of traffic and irregular crop growth, problem areas due to compaction are easily identifiable. In Figure 1 above, the red areas on the north side of the field showed yield losses of 45-65 bushels per acre while the red strip on the east side showed yield losses of 20-30 bushels per acre.

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Figure 1 – NDVI showing effects of compaction

The management of compaction is an extremely important factor in whole farm economics and sustainable profitability.

CROP HEALTH

It is no secret that there is a strong need for increased agricultural production given the increase expected in population around the globe. There are finite agriculture resources and growers are expected to produce more with less. The need for improved management practices is acute. In order to implement improved practices reliable, timely, and actionable data is required. Enter in-season on-demand aerial imagery.

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Aerial imagery is used by consultants (CCAs, scouts, agronomists), cooperatives, and agriculture service providers to assist in calculating the economic differences between the “good” and “bad” crop condition zones enabling improved management decisions. Often times, determining crop health without the “bird’s eye view” from aerial imagery is difficult.

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One of the main image types to determine crop health is the Near Infrared (NIR) image. The NIR is most effective to determine the vegetative health of the crop as the other imagery bands (Red, Blue, Green) are “absorbed” by the plant to create food.

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The NIR band used in conjunction with the red band is utilized to create a vegetation index commonly called a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The NDVI provides quantitative information on the health of the crop in the field. The green colored zones have the most robust and volume of vegetation while the yellow and red zones represent less vegetation. This information can be used to make management decisions on the application of inputs like fertilizer and fungicide.

 

 

 

SCOUTING

Producers are very interested in monitoring the development and vigor of their crops throughout the growing season. In-field variability is sometimes very difficult to identify and measure using the conventional scouting methods. These methods are also very labor intensive and make it difficult to view all parts of every field on every farm in a trade area.

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                                                                             Figure: Scouting fields on two farms that are far apart

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Many times, using traditional scouting methods, it is difficult to determine what areas in a trade area need to be evaluated to identify problem areas in the field. The utilization of aerial imagery not only provides the data needed to target scouting efforts, it is an excellent base layer to scout fields by providing quantitative and timely information. These timely efforts can then be leveraged to ensure the proper application of inputs. With the proper application of inputs comes increased grower profitability, increased (or preventing loss of) yield, and decreased operational costs for cooperative and agriculture service providers.

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If you are in the business or providing scouting services, it is time to explore the value of integrating aerial imagery into your process. This data layer will:

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  • Save you money

  • Save you time

  • Increase operational efficiencies

  • Increase customer satisfaction

  • Enable market growth

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VARIABLE RATE APPLICATION

Variable rate application (VRA) is the method of applying varying rates of inputs in the appropriate zones within an individual field. The ultimate goals of VRA are:

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  • Maximize farm profitability

  • Increase efficiencies in the application of crop inputs

  • Ensure environmental safety and sustainability

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The utilization of remote sensing, specifically aerial imagery, has shown to provide a positive economic impact on a per acre basis [Watermeier (2003), OSU (2002), and Seelan et al (2003)].

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The management of in-season nitrogen application(s) is a critical component to land management. Mismanagement can result in yield loss and negative impacts to the environment. Given this importance, companies and individuals alike are turning toward aerial imagery as a means to develop nitrogen management zones and the corresponding VRA. The economical nitrogen rate can vary substantially within individual fields (Scharf et al, 2005). It is difficult to assess these differences in a timely manner without the use of remote sensing. An aerial image, when analyzed appropriately, can provide the agronomist with key insights on the crop. For example, the near-infrared (NIR) light reflecting off a nitrogen stressed corn crop is quite less than a non-nitrogen stressed crop (Schlemmer et al, 2005).

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Once aerial images have been utilized to target scouting efforts, a VRA fertilization file can be created using precision agriculture software (ie Mapshots, SST, AgFleet, etc…)

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Another application of aerial imagery for VRA is using the bare soil image to create zones to apply soil nutrients and/or amendments.

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Whether you are looking at VR seeding, VRA for fertilization, or VRA for herbicide/fungicide and aerial image is the data layer to use to enable better management decisions and increase profitability.

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