Kyoto coming? Check into GPS

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Published: October 24, 2002

Grain growers should seriously consider precision farming if Ottawa

ratifies the Kyoto accord, says an expert on the technology.

Nitrous oxide, one of the nastiest greenhouse gases, is often created

during the breakdown of nitrogen fertilizer.

Melfort, Sask., farmer Dennis McIntosh thinks agreements like Kyoto

will eventually limit the amount of nitrogen that farmers are allowed

to apply, which should stimulate interest in precision farming.

“By the year 2010, grain farmers will be under major pressure to

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introduce this technology in its fullest forms on their farms,” said

McIntosh, who has been researching global positioning systems for six

years.

GPS technology has three agricultural applications: guiding sprayers

and seeders; mapping fields; and applying nutrients at variable rates.

Farmers who just want to get their feet wet with the new technology

should stick with guidance systems. McIntosh said it’s a big leap from

“ground zero” to using GPS systems to create yield maps and

prescription nitrogen formulas.

His main advice to farmers considering buying an entry-level guidance

system is to find a neighbour who is using one successfully. That’s

because each system performs differently depending on the circumstances.

“I started in the dark days of precision farming and I’ve seen many

issues and incompatibilities and show-stopping situations on my farm.”

McIntosh said basic guidance systems cost about $6,000. Farmers can buy

an integrated box, which consists of a receiver and a display module in

one unit, or they can buy them separately.

“The major advantage of the integrated units is portability,” he said.

These units, which can be as small as a desktop calculator, consist of

a magnetically mounted antenna attached to the top of the vehicle’s cab

and an integrated box that is plugged into the cigarette lighter.

“You can easily move the integrated ones in a matter of 10 or 15

minutes from one machine to another.”

Receivers and display modules that are bought separately may require an

additional cable harness and another display unit to make switching

back and forth practical.

“It’s awkward to say the least to use those for quick interchange

between vehicles and it drives the cost up.”

McIntosh said the standard, affordable GPS systems are still “a little

bit lacking” in their ability to precisely guide seeders. Farmers can

expect about a 15 centimetre margin of error on each pass, which is too

big for some farmers.

However, the technology appears to be excellent for spraying.

“Farmers’ tolerance levels for overlap and miss are generally much

higher on spraying than they are on seeding.”

The ability to log which parts of a field have been sprayed is a nice

feature available on new guidance systems at relatively little extra

cost, he added.

McIntosh said it’s a good way for farmers to familiarize themselves

with the more powerful features of precision farming technology – yield

mapping and variable rate nitrogen application, for example – without

serious consequences.

“If you mess it up somehow, so you lost a coverage map. You didn’t end

up with your fertilizer put on at the wrong rates all over the field.”

When shopping around, McIntosh advised farmers to ask about the

receiver’s update frequency. He said they should probably avoid ones

with a slow frequency of one update per second and stick with units

that offer five or 10 updates per second.

He also recommended determining where their farm is located in relation

to the Wide Area Augmentation System, or WAAS correction service. This

is a free service that enhances a guidance system’s accuracy.

Farmers located on the fringe of WAAS coverage might want to consider a

receiver with a built-in e-Dif option, which is an alternative

correction method.

About the author

Sean Pratt

Sean Pratt

Reporter/Analyst

Sean Pratt has been working at The Western Producer since 1993 after graduating from the University of Regina’s School of Journalism. Sean also has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Saskatchewan and worked in a bank for a few years before switching careers. Sean primarily writes markets and policy stories about the grain industry and has attended more than 100 conferences over the past three decades. He has received awards from the Canadian Farm Writers Federation, North American Agricultural Journalists and the American Agricultural Editors Association.

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