Essay: Precision farming in the UK

History of precision farming within the UK
Precision farming has been around for a very long time. It stems from farmers sectioning of pieces of land into farmable areas. These areas would be defined by hedges or ditches. These sections of land would be uses to isolate specific areas of land with differences in soil types and qualities.
Precision farming now takes on a different meaning but still returns to the main reason for its use of targeting specific area in a field to gain the most from it. For most people precision farming is the use of GPS steering on tractors but it also now takes on other forms such as nutrient mapping and controlled traffic management.
Environmental impacts of using precision farming
Agriculture is an industry that has a duty of care to the environment and all living things found in the diverse habitats found on the farm. Precision agriculture has been targeted by many farms to help the environment. An application where this has been seen are in the application of pesticides.
Precision farming technology has allowed farmers to improve the application of pesticides and has allowed farmers to correctly target pests and diseases. The main reduction of environment impacts has been due to new technology such as GPS controlled section control on sprayers. This technology has been designed to overcome human error.
Applications of precision farming within agriculture
There are three main areas that we break precision farming down to. These are assessing variation, optimising operations, varying applications and operations.
Assessing variation is used in modern farming as an aid to agronomy. In the past agronomists would walk fields and asses growth and how crops are being effected by conditions. They would also advice farmers on the best practices that may affect how a farmer would carry out specific tasks on the farm. This is very expensive and time consuming. Precision farming equipment now allows these tasks to be conducted more accurately over greater areas of land in reduced time.
There are many ways this can be done but the most well-known uses have been in the forms of satellite imagery, tractor mounted sensors and drones. These pieces of equipment allow you to carry out tasks such as soil scanning and yield mapping. They can also be used to determined plant growth variation. All of the data that can be taken from these tests are used to make informed decisions on current crops and allows farmers to forward plan for future cropping.
One main area that needs to be assessed for next year’s crop is available nutrient. Nutrient mapping allows farmers to map gradual changes in nutrient availability in the soil. This then allows farmers to apply variable rate fertilisers to specific areas of the field. Once this has been done there should be the correct amount of available nutrient for crops to thrive. The two main benefits for this application of precision farming are reduced wastage of fertiliser and also not under applying therefor capping the capability of the crop and overall yield. Given these two benefits this allows a farm to produce better yields at reduced cost.
Once variation assessing has been done then you can look as varying applications and operations. The aim of this is to minimise inputs into a field but to maintain the correct amount of products to allow for the best crops. There are many operations that can be varied to reduce input.
Operations which can be varied include:
Variable rate drilling – seed rates can be varied to coincide with soil mapping. For example reducing seed rates in the most fertile soils and increasing in harsher soils.
Variable rate fertiliser – sensors on tractors can scan the crop canopy and measure green crop area. This gives you a green area index. These numbers then feed into the spreader control box and can apply different amounts to allow plant to use fertilisers more efficiently.
Target spraying and variable rate – drones can be flows over crops to find areas of where weed burdens are high. These areas can then be treated specifically. By using technology to improve pesticide accuracy you are also helping reduce environmental impact. There is also a reduction in the amount of chemical being used bringing financial savings to farmers.
Optimising operations is the main technology that directly affects the operator. Mainly found in the form of steering guidance and auto shut offs. Most smart operations use Global Navigational Satellite systems.
Auto Guidance – ensures operations are as efficient as the system will allow. Typically ensuring operations are, at their most accurate, within 2cm on each pass, whether within one operation (pass to pass) or throughout the growing year (controlled traffic).
Auto shut off – using precise locations of equipment signals can be sent bringing implements into or out of operation far quicker, more precisely and more consistently than human operators. Both for applications (drilling, spraying and spreading) as well as data recording (yield mapping, nutrient sensing, soil scanning).
The costings and savings of GPS assisted steering
Companies that look to use assisted steering must consider a variety of factors before buying these packages. The main factor is the economic impact to the business.
Economic factors directly influence the profitability of the company. This can be measure by comparing input costs, savings and gross profit. Nix (2015) believes that the cost of running 3 machines on Real time kinetic (RTK) assisted steering is £20/ha giving a net profit of £2/ha. This is and initial profit made by reduced diesel costs and full area cropping.
There can be further gains by using this system in conjunction with other farming practices by creating lower input costs. These saving can be found by reducing the amount of fertiliser, sprays, labour and seed used on the farm.
The effects of precision farming on employers and employees