Precision Agriculture and CORS

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Precision Agriculture and CORS

• Shannon Huber Norwood
• Multi-County Extension Agent
• Alabama Cooperative Extension System

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Why precision agriculture?

• Growers are facing increased input costs
• nitrogen, fuel
• Labor is becoming harder to find
• Allows farms to reduce labor needs
• Environmentally friendly
• Putting inputs precisely where they are needed
• Generate farm specific data to increase profits

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GPS use in Agriculture

• Yield Monitoring
• Variable Rate Application
• Fertilizer, plant growth regulators, defoliant
• Sensor Technology
• Remote Sensing
• Guidance
• Boom control

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Yield Monitoring

• Sensors on combine or cotton picker determine
  yield, typically at 1 second intervals
• Controller connects GPS data to sensor data
  allowing for creation of yield map
• Typically use 1m accuracy GPS
• Cotton pickers use light emitters (Ag Leader) or
  microwave technology (John Deere)
• Yield monitors are report cards for farmers

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Yield Maps
Ultimate goal is a profit map!
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Variable Rate Application

• Technology exists to variable rate apply most
  crop inputs
• Fertilizer, seed, insecticide, plant growth
  regulators, defoliant
• Fertilizer is probably most frequently applied
  on a variable rate basis

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Variable Rate Application
Seeding Prescription Map Higher seeding rates
under pivot.
Nitrogen Prescription Map Based on multiple years
of yield data
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Sensor Technology

• Greenseeker is a commercially available product
  that measures NDVI (Normalized Difference
  Vegetative Index), which basically indicates how
  green the crop is
• Why is this important?
• Indicator of plant health and growth
• What can we use this for?
• Nitrogen application was original purpose

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Sensor Technology
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Remote Sensing

• Commercial providers of aerial based NDVI and
  thermal imagery
• In Alabama, primarily for cotton management
• Plant growth regulators and defoliant

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Remote Sensing
Scouting image product from commercial vendor
Thermal image product from commercial vendor
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Guidance

• 3 levels of guidance products
• Light bar/LCD screen guidance
• Assisted steer
• RTK

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Why would a farmer need guidance?
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My personal guidance systems
Runs on chicken nuggets mac-n-cheese
Runs on baby food and lots of love
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Guidance

• Light bar/LCD screen guidance
• 12 pass-to-pass
• Burndown of cover crops
• Pastures
• Golf course/sod
• Cost 1895 - 5000

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Guidance

• Assisted steer
• 4-12 pass-to-pass
• StarFire 2, OmniStar
• Spray applications
• Planting
• Some products simply attach to steering column
• Accuracy, but not repeatability
• 2000 (as an add-on to light bar) and up

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Guidance

• RTK
• Base station
• CORS
• Controlled traffic pattern
• Controlled tillage
• Precise input application

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Guidance

• RTK Costs
• CORS Station approx. 24,000
• 22,000 for third party auto-guidance setup
• 12,000 for third-party base station
• Base station range is approx. 6 miles line of
  sight
• Line of sight seems to be challenge here (vs.
  Midwest or MS Delta)
• Many farms are spread over large geographic area,
  would require multiple base stations
• Multiple base stations or moving a base station,
  which would require additional labor.

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Guidance Boom Control

• Sprayer booms are typically 60 or 90 ft.
• Booms can have from 3 7 sections
• Boom controls allows individual sections to be
  turned on or off

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Guidance Boom Control
Field boundary
Top View
View from behind
Slide courtesy Dr John Fulton, AU
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CORS

• Private company worked with Chris Johnson at
  USSRC and Tennessee Valley Research and Extension
  Center to test use of farm RTK equipment using
  CORS as correction signal
• Two brands of equipment were tested

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CORS

• Farm in Lawrence County acquired Trimble
  AutoPilot equipment to use with CORS
• This farm is located approx. 27 miles from GTAC
  CORS

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CORS

• In January, a discussion began between Extension
  PA program and area farmers to gauge interest in
  CORS as a possible application for the
  Conservation Innovation Grants

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CORS in North Alabama
25 mile radius map
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CORS

• Farmers inquired about going together to purchase
  a CORS
• DOT was contacted
• Grant money secured from Wheat and Feed Grain
  Cotton Commission
• Word spreads9 farms buy into the CORS for
  Courtland

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Partnership
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Courtland on-line!!!

• Courtland site became operational on
• March 11

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Which one is right for me?

• Traditional Base Station

• CORS

• Line of sight
• Geographic limitations
• More base stations
• Move station
• Some dealers provide network
• Depending on factory pre-installs or current
  equipment, it can be cheaper to upgrade than
  purchase 3rd party

• Requires cell phone coverage
• Not compatible with John Deere GPS - tractor
  equipped with John Deere RTK can not use CORS for
  correction signal
• Nice that other groups/agencies can use signal

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Future Plans

• Further evaluation of CORS for ag applications
• Funded by Alabama Cotton Commission
• Precision Ag Team plans to apply for Conservation
  Innovation Grants in 2009
• Require farmer cost-share
• Commercially available technology
• Further partnership with DOT

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Contact Information

• Shannon Huber Norwood
• hubersr_at_aces.edu
• 256-412-1696 mobile
• 256-353-8702 ext. 28
• Amy Winstead
• winstat_at_aces.edu
• 256-443-4752
• 256-353-8702 ext. 26