PHOTO: DANIE BESTER
PHOTO: DANIE BESTER
MANAGING YIELD POTENTIAL ▶▶▶
Precision farming improved my yields
BY ARTHUR GRAY M
r Bester grows 980ha of crops with the remainder of the farm supporting a beef herd. The main crops are maize and soy-
bean and occasionally sunflower. Harvesting is done with a Case IH Axial Flow combine equipped with an Ag Leader InCommand dis- play for yield mapping, using RTK correction. He also uses a DJI Phantom 4 drone for crop monitoring and ‘field inspections’. Danie cre- ates his own prescription maps using Ag Lead- er’s SMS Advanced software and loads them into the Ag Leader InCommand 1200 display to control variable rate application of liquid fertiliser on the planter, as well as the granular fertiliser spread with a Vicon GeoSpread, which is ISObus controlled, also by an InCommand 1200 display. Lime is used for controlling acidi- ty (pH correction) and granular fertiliser is ap- plied before planting and for top-dressing. He also uses chicken litter and cattle manure.
Crop spraying Crop spraying is done with a Hardi Ranger, which has section control and variable rate ap- plication controlled by Ag Leader Direct Liquid. A mainly No-Till regime is employed, cultivat- ing only to incorporate lime or break up
Precision farming has many benefits, including the ability to record how a crop is planted. Danie Bester explains how this works for him. He farms Rietbult Estates, near Balfour in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa.
compaction. A system of traffic control is also used where possible. We asked Mr Bester to describe the benefits he can ascribe to his methods of fertilisation and cultivation and he said, “The biggest game changer was to start doing zone fertilisation in which I use mul- ti-year yield data layered onto soil type data to create management zones. Every zone now gets the correct amount of fertiliser and by do- ing that soil acidity levels have started to stabi- lise more and the yield per zone has started to increase significantly.” Changing to NoTill also started to build soil health and dampen the effect of dryer times during the growing season. “I’m catching more water after a rain event than with conventional tillage. With the sprayers and spreaders run- ning SwathControl, the over application is eliminated, saving on inputs.”
Precision Planting v-set units Mr Bester plants with two locally manufac- tured DBX planters, fitted with Precision Plant- ing v-set units. These planters can handle any
amount of crop residue and emergence is very even. The maize planter is a 12-row with 910mm row spacing, fitted with variable rate seed and fertiliser drives as well as clutches that can switch off rows as required so as not to overplant already planted areas. Ag Leader’s Seed Monitoring takes care of the planting rate. The other DBX planter, for soybeans and sunflowers, has 10-rows set at 760mm spacing and is also kitted out with Ag Leader Seed Monitoring. As for Precision Farming Mr Bester said, “For me, Ag Leader is the most complete system, from guidance and planting to data collection and most importantly, software to analyse the data and assist in making decisions on what to do with the data collected. Com- pared with other brands that I have tried it is much more ‘user friendly’. And it is compatible with various machinery brands.”
Field map showing the different maize yield potential of various zones.
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Agfiniti Mobile used for scouting in the field; the various colours show different hybrids planted.
▶ FUTURE FARMING | 1 November 2018
The value of data recording To illustrate the value of data recording: “Last year we had a very difficult start to the season, planting was delayed by a few weeks. We eventually got started after some rain and planted for a week before being rained off. Two weeks later we resumed planting and as we finished I noticed that the emergence of one specific cultivar that we had planted in the first week wasn’t looking good at all, so I brought it to the attention of my seed rep. Af- ter I had finished all the planting, the rep and I, together with the seed company’s agronomist, went to inspect the field to see what the problem was.” “The agronomist says that he thinks the prob- lem lies with the planter. He thinks the stand was poor due to irregular planting and that we
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