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Brisbane, Australia | Interesting topic. We got all excited when we were introduced to the concept of VRT as sellers of precision farming tools. Unfortunately, the wind soon went out of our sails as we started to learn that it wasn't going to be that easy. Yes, we did come across some simple VRT projects like the square field with a centre pivot where the seed and fertilizer rate was lowered for the dry area outside of the pivot circle itself. That was a fairly obvious project and it did work as expected. Another was where the fertilizer rates were lowered going down the field to allow for the furrow irrigation transporting the nutrients dissolved in the water down the furrow to stop the concentation in the lower parts of the fields. These are practical and logical examples of the simplest of VRT applications. However, in the years since that excitement died, we rarely come across anyone who has successfully implimented a VRT regime that includes all the variables.
Yes, there are lots of yield maps taken over a period of years but what seems to be the real problem with correlating all this information is in all likelyhood, the variability of the seasons themselves(weather factors, pest and disease pressures etc) and trying to work out what physically causes the yield variations across the seasons - most times the causes of these variations are different for each year........It's a great concept but maybe too random to quantify or even predict accurately.
Like Arnie we have tended to go down the most obvious path to produce the best yield outcomes, things that you can physically see the difference in the crop when you do the work, the main one being water management whether through surface grading for drainage or promoting even moisture retention or from what we read here often enough, sub-surface drainage.
We have always believed that once you get the moisture issue sorted, the next hurdle must be aimed at improving soil texture, nutrition and reducing pest and disease pressure.
Someone said farming was a gamble and maybe VRT is also just that, a gamble (but more expensive if you get it wrong!). Like I said at the start, an interesting subject! | |
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Data Analysis and Information Management...
