An Australian precision agriculture electronics company is entering the Canadian market, riding in on Morris Industries’ latest 8-Series seed carts.
David Sharp of Farmscan said making money by saving money is what precision agriculture is all about.
“We’ve seen the acreages increase in Australia, it’s the same thing that is happening in Western Canada,” Sharp said.
“It’s just the reality of the business. We see the Canadian market looking for affordable variable rate and (global positioning system) tools, so here we are.”
Ken Kotowich of Morris Industries said when his Saskatoon company went looking for a precision agriculture supplier, it found the 25-year-old Australian electronics business looking to expand into North America and Africa.
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“We like to say we looked the world over for the best gear and found Farmscan down under.”
Morris tested the Farmscan equipment at its research and development site in Yorkton, Sask., for two years and Kotowich said the rugged variable rate controllers and systems perform “really well under Canadian conditions.”
The $75,000 Morris 8-Series air cart will sport the Farmscan Canlink 3000VRC variable rate control system as a $7,000 option.
It has a liquid crystal diode screen control box that displays large type in a high contrast format.
On the Morris 8, the system is connected to a machine controller mounted on the seed cart that relays information about ground speed, tank air pressure, bin levels, implement position, engine status, fan rpm, final drive ratios and product feedback from each metering device.
Hydraulic drives operate the meters at an infinitely variable rate, allowing for slow, high-torque turning of the meters for small seeded crops such as canola and on-the-go fertilizer blending or granular inoculant applications.
Fail safe systems prevent metering if the fan is not up to speed or programming steps have not been followed. A priming function also prevents seed-run startup misses by beginning to meter product before forward motion occurs.
Liquid control is also available.
The basic system on the Morris 8 cart allows the operator to manually vary application rates.
For true precision applications, a GPS or differentially corrected DGPS antenna can be added, starting at about $800.
Farmscan Data Manager software running on a computer with a data card reader can create precision application prescriptions. They can be stored on the card, which may then be transferred to the controller for use in the field.
Up to 24 individual products can be calibrated in the yard before seeding and then recalled for use in the field. Using the data card and GPS, individual fields can also be preprogrammed.
Michael Leishman, Farmscan’s North America manager based in Saskatoon, said the preprogramming system is ideal for operations with several equipment operators or for later in the season when fatigue can set in.
It can “prevent those little mistakes that can have big costs,” he said.
A light bar guidance tool is also an option.
The same controller can be used for spraying, manure slurry application, liquid fertilizer banding, soil sampling, swath guidance and yield monitoring on a combine.
Yield mapping data can be used by the Data Manager software to build field profiles for precision variable rate prescriptions.
