SOIL TECHNOLOGY ▶▶▶ NEED TO KNOW
▶ Despite of what many farmers think, there’s not a single field on earth that is homogeneous
▶ Better quality and easier available satellite imagery offers much potential for yield potential maps and NDVI crop indices
▶ Despite of crab steer, (very) wide tyres and pressure regulation systems on heavy machinery, (deeper) soil compaction occurs
▶ Decreasing the tramline distance to more equally apply granular fertiliser can pay off in more uniform and easier to harvest crops
This is the new design of the Topsoil Mapper soil scanner from Geoprospectors.
are heterogenous to very heterogenous and that triggered me to start with site specific ap- plication.” Ploughing was banned in 1988 and since 2015, where possible, direct drilling is used instead of mulch drilling. “In arable farm- ing, the soil is the starting point of everything. If you know what happens there, you can act with the right measures. If you spoil your soil, it will reward you with homogenous and good quality crops.” In order to understand what is happening in his soil, Mr Martin started searching for a soil scanner some years ago. “I wanted a continu- ous on-the-go soil scanner that did not neces- sarily require an extra pass over the field to avoid (extra) soil compaction. I also did not want it to require soil contact and I wanted to
Neuwiesenhof Farm
Name: Oliver Martin Residence: Baden-Württemberg, Germany Enterprise: On the 160 ha family farm, Oliver Martin, his wife and his father-in-law grow various types of cereals including winter wheat, oil seed rape, soybeans, summer barley, spelt, grain maize and alfalfa. The average field size is 2.03 ha and the soil type is loess. The farm cur- rently deploys one out of three TSM scanners in Germany and out of 56 sold worldwide FarmBlick: Based on the experience gath- ered and the equipment invested in, Oliver Martin (right) founded the precision farming advisory company FarmBlick in April 2017. Co-founder is business partner Marius Sauer (left). They advise farmers that are embarking upon precision farming, provide satellite- based yield potential maps, rent out their crop sensor and soil scanner and perform site specific soil sampling. The latter also relies on cooperation with regional soil sampling companies in Germany.
16 ▶ FUTURE FARMING | 25 May 2018
▶ Controlled traffic farming (CTF) is quite difficult to practice on farms with relatively small and irregular shaped fields
be able to use it at any time, including on fro- zen or snow-covered soil and in (very) dry and (very) wet conditions. When I read about the Topsoil Mapper (TSM) from Austrian manufac- turer Geoprospectors somewhere in 2014- 2015, so before it was officially introduced, I knew I wanted to have the TSM.” Geoprospec- tors was founded in 2014 and the TSM soil scanner was introduced at the 2015 Agritech- nica exhibition in Hanover (Germany). Mr Martin currently deploys one out of threeTSM scanners in Germany and out of 56 sold worldwide (see box for more info).
“I’m a data nerd” If you were already amazed by the above, then you’re probably going to be flabbergasted
when Mr Martin starts taking about remote and near sensing and data (processing)! “I would consider myself to be a data nerd.” Surprisingly enough, he uses satellite images instead of the soil scanner to create so-called yield potential maps. “The ESA Sentinel 1 and 2 provide very accurate 10×10m resolution im- ages. I use radar infrared satellite images from the past five years. These are not for free, but worth the €6/ha I’m paying.” With his own algo- rithms, the satellite images are processed into yield potential maps. Mr Martin can do this for any field on earth and as he points out: “Many farmers usually tend to think their fields are ho- mogenous. But based on my experience, I can guarantee you that not a single field on earth is homogeneous!” The yield potential maps (standard) consist of five different zones be- tween low yield potential, average yield poten- tial and high yield potential. The zones are used to create variable rate fertiliser application as well as variable rate drilling maps. “My target is homogenous (quality) crops, saving on inputs not necessarily is. I apply them variable rate to match the site-specific yield potential. Experi- ence shows that, based on a common 70 kg N per ha dosage, I for instance vary the applica- tion rate between 40 and 100 kg/ha and on av- erage I apply 71 kg/ha. My profit/gain shows in the crops that are much more homogenous.” During the growing season, Mr Martin uses the Isaria crop sensor, drones with a Parrot Sequoia thermospectral camera as well as satellite im- agery (the NDVI-indices) to determine the site-specific dosage of sidedressing granular fertilisers as well as growth regulators. “I use the satellite generated NDVI-maps, since I ex- perienced that crop sensors can be at their lim- its at the end of the growing season. This pays
PHOTO: GEOPROSPECTORS
PHOTO: OLIVER MARTIN
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