Friday, March 29, 2024

Tech means go slow to speed up

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A warts and all insight to precision agriculture’s impact on those at the sharp end includes frustrations over data quantities it generate but also the rewards of sticking with it and saving significant sums along the way.
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At this year’s precision agriculture conference in Hamilton delegates had the chance to learn about hands-on farmer experiences with the many different versions of the technology and pick up some lessons on how to get the most from it.

Taranaki dairy farmer Hayden Lawrence, also a member of the New Zealand Precision Agriculture Association, brought a research-based and farm-focused perspective to his adoption of variable-rate fertiliser application on his 135 (effective) hectare dairy farm.

Lawrence did a degree in agricultural engineering, specialising in precision agriculture, at Massey University and a doctorate in adopting precision agriculture for ground-spread fertiliser application.

“We took over the property and identified our single biggest cost was fertiliser so that seemed the best place to start to use precision agriculture to manage the variability in fertility between paddocks.”

Working with Dr Ants Roberts from Ravensdown they fertility mapped each paddock.

That resulted in seven differing rates of fertiliser being possible across the fertility levels. They had since spent eight seasons perfecting the variable spreading programme.

“Initially, the fertiliser contractors were tearing their hair out but it has now become more seamless, to the point if a paddock does not need fertiliser it does not get it.”

He acknowledged that would often run counter to the kiwi farming instinct but in year one 44% of the farm did not receive any fertiliser given existing high phosphorous and sulphur levels. By this year that had dropped to only 9% as levels stabilised.

But Lawrence pointed out the technology had to prove itself economically viable and that was the case.

“Our annual average saving by not over-fertilising and applying more where necessary is $74 a hectare and pasture production has remained steady.

“It’s not the smartest piece of tech but we are now using the tools we have to manage the farm smarter.”

However, he also had some cautions for farmers wanting to capitalise on the technology who also relied on their staff to make use of it.

“Just because they may be capable of running a smartphone does not mean they are always capable of managing this new technology.”

He welcomed technology that was tiered in its user choices, ramping up in complexity over several levels, giving users the chance to get in on the bottom floor for ease of use and graduate up from there.

For Beef + Lamb NZ chairman James Parsons precision technology was starting to prove its benefit but he cautioned about the time that could be frittered away managing and processing the data it could generate.

His extremely steep Northland drystock farm contrasted sharply with Lawrence’s Taranaki dairy unit but he, too, was starting to find benefits in having whole of farm fertility mapped for variable application.

Working with variable rates of aerial application, fertiliser rates would vary across country that had pH levels from as low as 3 to as high as 30.

However, some of his earlier experiences with precision ag data including EID in his stud sheep flock had buried him in data.

“It was a great tool but I did not extract all the value and had to ask if this was really the best use of my limited time?”

It was not until a B+LNZ Genetics software system was available that he was able to corral the data into a user-friendly report form.

“I learned to look for the 80:20 rule. Where is the low-hanging fruit on the farm, particularly given the time it takes to integrate the technology into your business?

“You have to be very clear on what is the strategic reason for using it and what is your benchmark. Mine is profit per kilogram of product.”

Along with the EID and fertiliser mapping, Parsons has also incorporated a drone into his farm business, using it to do a lambing beat and already saving four ewes from its observations this season.

Parson’s agreed with Lawrence’s acknowledgement the tech was best adopted in small steps, particularly when staff might be involved or time could be consumed in its adoption.

“You have to accept that in order to speed up you have to slow down initially to pick up this technology.”

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