June 02, 2010
PRECISION AGRICULTURE GUIDES FARM STRATEGY
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The larger your operation, the more important precision becomes - with its ability to save time and input costs multiplied across hectares, an up front investment in precision ag can be repaid very quickly, as Paul and Katie Messina have found.
Paul and Katie Messina are at the forefront of Western Australia's precision agriculture movement. They plan their strategy carefully, take on board research and development findings, have built-up solid relationships with employees and suppliers, and are now reaping the rewards.
Paul and Katie farm 10,000 hectares at Tenindewa in the mid west of the state and crop around 9,000 hectares of cereal wheat, lupin and canola using techniques that even their Case IH dealer, Steve Purcher from Purcher International in Geraldton, finds innovative.
"Paul is always driving us in new directions. He is constantly researching new ideas and techniques, and planning his equipment purchases and farm layouts to ensure he is operating as efficiently as possible," said Steve.
"It was Paul's requirement for a loan GPS base station years ago that really opened our eyes to what could be done with technology and now 95 per cent of my customers are going down the precision ag path," said Steve.
Paul explains how the Messinas took up precision agriculture.
"Back in 1995 my cousins and I decided that tramlining, where you reduce soil compaction and impact on paddocks by driving on the same fixed lines, was the way of the future. For tramlining to work best, you have to pick a common size for your equipment centre -spacings - we chose 36 metres, so we could work in multiples of that. In our longest paddocks we can now do three kilometre parallel runs before you have to turn around so you don't waste time cornering."
Paul has a fleet of machines that support his precision ag approach, last year alone buying three new Case IH Axial-Flow combines, two 7120s and an 8120, and two Case IH Steiger 535 model tractors. He also uses four Case IH AFS Pro 600 monitors, the portable monitors that can be used to record data and guide equipment, in his farm vehicles, even fitting a monitor in his ute to do soil analysis and boundary mapping.
Paul and Katie employ up to six seasonal employees during peak times, in addition to two full time employees. In the past, much time was spent explaining not only the mechanical side of the machines, but also how the software worked. But things have now changed and they believe that the Case IH AFS Pro 600 monitors are responsible for last year's increase in efficiency.
"During last year's harvest I tried to fully utilise what AFS Pro 600 software -offers - employees could drive into any paddock and the software recognised which paddock they were in and projected the harvesting tramlines ahead. The screen is very easy to use and even the seasonal employees were able to master the software quickly, enabling them to focus on the most important part of harvest, which is achieving a good sample."
Farm profitability also benefits from the data gathered by the AFS Pro 600 monitors.
"We have made massive gains in productivity since getting good data - we have four distinct soil types and now that we have reliable yield and soil data, we can do variable rate applications with all our machines to save on fertilisers and sprays."
"Seeding in 2010 is the next challenge for us as we will be deepbanding Flexi-N below the seed. The Pro 600 monitor will be controlling all three functions - steering, granular and liquid fertiliser applications. This is all very new as other systems usually only drive two of the three, but achieving variable rate liquid in the mix is giving us even greater flexibility."
Secure RTK - New from Case IH
In large paddocks, GPS-enabled auto guidance comes into its own, ensuring precise lines and eliminating overlap. Better than a standard GPS system is a Real Time Kinematic (RTK) system, which uses different types of satellite signals to deliver repeatable accuracy of up to 2 cm. RTK systems rely on a base station and one or more remote receivers.
Secure RTK is a remote monitoring feature than can be enabled on Case IH RTK base stations. By adding a cellular modem, the base station can report on its own status and local conditions such as signal strength. Remote monitoring means farmers or network technicians don't have to drive all the way out to a base station to see why it's stopped working, then potentially have to drive all the way back to the farm or dealership to get the right parts or tools to fix it, then drive all the way back out again - a major inconvenience on large properties. The remote diagnosis means the farmer or technician may only need to visit the base station once, saving a great deal of time and energy.
