Precision spraying: helping farmers apply only what is needed
Read time: 4.5 minutes
By controlling exactly where and when they apply an input, farmers can save money, and increase long-term yields and returns on their investments
A farmer’s number one asset is their land, often passed down through generations. As yields depend on the quality of the soil, they know their land’s health is vital not only for them to make a good living, but for their successors to do so, too.
As the world’s population grows, more soil becomes degraded, meaning it doesn’t hold enough water to support crops. Indeed, just 11% of the earth’s surface is suitable for arable use and one-third of that land is already classed as degraded. By 2050, that figure could rise to 90%, according to UNESCO.
Meanwhile, rising costs of inputs such as diesel, fertilizers and pesticides, and competition from global markets increases pressure to be more efficient.
Precision technology is both an economic and sustainability driver. The dollars and cents speak for themselves
Input control
As a result, there is increasing demand among farmers for precision agriculture technologies (PATs) which allow them to carefully control what inputs go onto their land. According to the US Department of Agriculture’s Research Service, PATs can reduce applications by up to 20%, keeping costs down and helping to support better long-term soil management.
“Precision technology is both an economic and sustainability driver. The dollars and cents speak for themselves,” says Alex Caldwell, North America Product Marketing Manager at CNH.
This technology isn’t just being driven by a faster return on investment; it’s also become easier to quantify and understand how the technology is going to help them into the future.
“Take the AIM Command FLEXTM II used with SenseApplyTM,” he says. “The farmer gets the benefit of AI-enhanced cameras that detect weeds, and the system will turn individual nozzles on and off according to need, saving product. What’s more, the nozzle will spray at the right droplet size and the right pressure every time for maximum effect.”
The result is high-precision spraying that reduces overlap, cutting herbicide use, for example, by up to 60%. Farmers can also see the benefits continue to develop over time.
Aerial view of a Case IH Patriot 4450 sprayer with SenseApply technology.
Accumulated benefits
“One year’s data is valuable, but farmers would much rather see a trend. With three years of data from their fields, they can produce a really good weed pressure map that they can use to inform their spraying practices,” Caldwell says.
Weeds tend to grow in the same places within a field year after year. Having an accurate weed pressure map to control sprayers means the farmer uses only the optimum amount of herbicide on a field. By spraying precisely the amount needed onto the specific weed, a farmer also lowers the overall chemical load within the soil, potentially reducing pressure on beneficial soil micro-organisms such as bacteria and fungi. “That’s where a lot of the long-term yield benefits come from,” he explains.
Data also helps farmers manage nitrogen levels in the soil. When they know the health of plants within a field, they can create accurate variable-rate maps that dictate where and how much nitrogen to spray. By only spraying where the plant can absorb it, there’s less residue on the soil, helping reduce the risk of unused fertilizer being left in the field.
Data also helps farmers manage nitrogen levels in the soil. When they know the health of plants within a field, they can create accurate variable-rate maps that dictate where and how much nitrogen to spray.
Real-time management
“Variable-rate maps are nothing new. What’s great about this technology is that we’re creating the maps off this year’s crop on the fly, while we’re driving in the field. It saves a whole load of pre-work and frees up the farmer or agronomist to work on higher-order problems such as soil testing or tissue sampling.”
Essentially, this technology helps farmers make better decisions. This is particularly important as it draws upon artificial intelligence to generate suggestions based on data collected over the years. For example, it could suggest planting a certain crop at a given density across a particular field. But the farmer is the one to make the ultimate decision based on their experience.
“This technology makes the farmer’s gut instinct as informed as possible,” Caldwell says.
Crop protection with the Case IH SenseApply sprayer technology.
Support and training
As the technology becomes more sophisticated, CNH is expanding the training and support it offers.
“It’s our job to make it as easy as possible for farmers to collect the data, use that data and gain maximum return from their investment,” explains Caldwell. “I love going on a follow-up visit after a customer has bought a sprayer and telling them about a feature they’ve not been using. It might be because they’ve not had time to read the manual, or to experiment. But they have the confidence to push any button with me there, speed up their learning, give them the opportunity to experiment and see how easy it is,” he says.
Data will drive the future
The high levels of interoperability between CNH’s different offerings means data can easily be shared across tools and applications. With the right interface, it can also be shared among a farmer’s partners, including agronomists and buyers.
Looking ahead, Caldwell can see data use “going through the roof.” For example, he says, it could help farmers judge their yields well ahead of harvest to allow them to lock in the best price.
“Farmers typically know their breakeven cost before the seed is even in the ground. But today they have to wait to harvest the crop until they know the yield, which might be after the best price has been offered. In future, our technology and the data it provides could allow them to confidently predict their yields and sell it in forward markets when they judge it best,” he says.
CNH currently offers sprayer drone technology in Brazil, with plans to expand to the rest of Latin America and the Asia pacific region. Although not yet available in the U.S., Caldwell can see how drone technology could be used in future for precision spraying fields without straight boundaries. “Some physical areas are unsprayable using the big sprayer booms, so farmers have had to buy something smaller to accommodate those areas. But these smaller spraying machines take more time. Drone precision spraying with smaller booms would address that and allow the farmer to buy bigger booms for the rest of their land,” he says.
In these and many other ways, CNH’s precision spraying technology gives farmers a practical way to use data, automation and machine control to manage inputs more accurately — supporting both productivity and more responsible land management.
CNH is a world-class equipment, technology and services company that sustainably advances the noble work of agriculture and construction workers.
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