by Ron Bell

Over the past fifteen years most prairie farmers have maximized economic returns by increasing efficiency. We have used tools such as soil testing and increased fertility efficiency. We have gone to zero tillage for more efficient moisture management as well as fuel and machinery savings. We have moved to better varieties and more efficient rotations We have become incredibly efficient on a field by field scale.

At one time when we were farming with horses we probably had a pretty good idea of every foot of our land. In fact farms were often broken into tiny fields of uniform character. To continue maximizing returns we need to be able to return to treating smaller areas separately. To do that we need to have as much information as possible in as much detail as we can afford. It doesn't make sense to over fertilize one area while under fertilizing another. We can no longer afford to spray the entire field with Poast if we can identify the patches that require treatment.

With GPS and GIS mapping we now have the technology needed to 'farm by the foot". My intention, in getting into Precision Farming, was to collect data for at least two seasons in order to have a better idea of how the various relationships of slope, elevation, soil fertility, and salinity or in other words landscape interact to give yield. The goal was to be able to gain enough information to formulate a good plan that will allow us to create a recipe for fertilizer and seed rates. This plan will take a lot of discussion.

I didn't want to start varying seeding and fertilizer rates, however, until we had established what we had to work with. Grid soil sampling where you take 40 - 100 samples per field and test them separately is not an affordable option. We hope to use yield maps in combination with photo imagery and elevation maps to identify crop zones.

I am early days in Precision Farming. This fall I started with an AgLeader yield monitor and a Northstar 12 channel GPS system with Pacific Crest differential correction radio modem. We chose AgLeader because we had heard good things about equipment reliability and customer support. AgLeader also had moisture sensing capability that some others didn't.

AgLeader lived up to it's reputation. The yield monitor was relatively easy to install as was the GPS system and the data seems to be very accurate. The customer support line although not toll free has been very helpful when needed. I was glad that a close friend, George Wady also installed a similar system in his combine. We were able to exchange useful information particularly in setup and calibration.

Twin Valley Co-op and Prairie Geomatics together have provided a differential correction signal from a tower at Birtle. The service provided by Art Dalton (Prairie Geomatics) in getting the GPS on track was also invaluable.

George Wady, Garth Butcher and myself are co-operating with Twin Valley Co-op, Westco Fertilizer and Prairie Geomatics to assess Precision Farming, particularly soil fertility to provide a soil testing strategy to give us a fertility layer on our map. We will also correlate this to an elevation map.

Overall we have been extremely pleased with the performance of our yield monitoring system. When everything was connected it worked. It was amazing to turn on the monitor and have yield, moisture, time, temperature, speed, acres, bushels, longitude, latitude, elevation, bushels/acre, bushel s/hour, acres/hour, acres/load, bushels/load, bushels/field... etc. It was also amazing to see the first printout with this data. It was great for crop insurance reports.

I got the most satisfaction however, seeing the first yield map appear on the computer screen. I could begin to see on a map a partial representation of what potential each part of the field had. Yield patterns appear to follow slope. The hilltops and runways were evident but we saw good yields in parts of the field we least expected.

In conclusion, over the next 16 months, I am confident we will put together a plan that will allow us to farm smaller and smaller portions of our farm in the most efficient manner available. While it seemed a very big step into unknown technology I am now very certain we made the right decision at the right time. We do indeed live in interesting times.