NEW SOFTWARE ▶▶▶ “Omnia provides the link between farm data


with agronomy, so that there is an easy, quick way to start making informed decisions based on what you’ve already measured or recorded,” he says. “It has been designed in such a way that the user can incorporate his farm data from a number of sources, with each one becoming a layer in the integrated system.”


Yield maps and costings Yield maps, says Mr Wood, are a good example: “They hold a wealth of information, but it is very difficult to make good use of it. The Omnia system lets the user replace some of the numbers behind them with terms, such as good, acceptable and poor, to make them meaningful.” Bringing in a costs of production module has been very well received by users of the system, adds Mr Wood, as it is helping them to make some tough decisions and prepare for an uncertain future. “We have put some standard figures into


the system for variable costs and operations, but they can be altered if the user knows his own costs. It quickly flags up where any losses are being made or if costs are slipping out of control,” he says.


Drone imagery Having drone imagery in the system is assisting with weed control decisions and variable rate spraying opportunities, he says. “It’s easy to produce a weed pressure map,


showing where the highest pressure is likely to be. This means you can then make management decisions about drilling date and seed rates, as well as looking at variable herbicide applications. “A high risk area might need a higher 360g/


ha rate of flufenacet, for example, rather than the 240g/ha rate the rest of the field is going to receive. That difference is worth £20/ha.” Drone images can be particularly useful with maize crops, as well as for identifying potato cyst nematode hotpots in potato fields, he adds. The Omnia Precision Agronomy Service is


still charged on a area fee of £5/ha/year, with a minimum cost of £500, so there is no additional expense as growers expand their use of the system.


II ▶ FUTURE FARMING | 9 November 2017


Case Study: Alex Richardson, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire


Hutchinsons agronomist Alex Richardson is using the Omnia service on his own family farm in Lincolnshire, as well as with his farmer clients across south Lincolnshire and north Cambridgeshire. Having seen big costs savings from its first


year of use with variable P and K applications on his home farm – enough to pay for a new Amazone spreader in just one year – Mr Richardson believes it has a valuable role for targeting inputs. “Even if you aren’t completely convinced


about precision technology, you can use Omnia to farm parts of fields, rather than treating it all as a whole,” he says. “Where hedges have been taken out and fields amalgamated into one, you can farm as though they were still there.” He has customers who want to split


fields, as well as those who are looking to variable apply inputs. Some will be operating the Omnia


service themselves, others prefer Mr Richardson to do that role.


“The more you put in, the more you get


out,” Mr Richardson emphasises. “But the beauty of it is that you can use as many or as few layers of information as you want.” Mr Richardson’s own family farm had


already had soil zoning carried out, so that information was transferred into Omnia. He has since added weed maps and slug pressure maps, to help with decision-making, and is hoping that variable rate liming will be the next step. “I’m also looking to introduce variable rate herbicides,” he says. “The potential on our farm is to variably apply top-up treatments, rather than the base programme. We have got some serious blackgrass in places.” He has also experimented with drone


imagery and can see the potential for using it on a regular basis. Costs of production maps are also very


revealing and make for some good family discussions, he confirms. “Like all arable farms in the region, we are working on bringing these down.”


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