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Harvesting Rich Eire Soil by Nicolette Tapper

The world’s population reached 7.1 billion at

the end of 2012, and continues to increase by

150 people every minute. More resources are

required to nourish the human race. Making the

best use of the geographical space we currently

occupy and optimal utilization of the untouched

land available for agriculture in the future

depends on smart, precise and controlled farm-

ing technology. A complete agriculture guid-

ance solution increases output, reduces over-

heads and improves back-office decision making

processes. Irish agronomists and farmers are

looking to Leica Geosystems’ GNSS based auto

steering solutions with an integrated service

tool and a simple connection to RTK network to

increase their yields.

John Arrell, owner of Progressive Agriculture Solu-

tions (PAS), Ireland is no stranger to the world of

precision farming. John has been heavily involved

with Agriculture Management Solutions since 2002,

before establishing PAS. “I started off selling paral-

lel tracking systems and then progressed with the

technology, selling my first GPS steered tractor in

2006,” John says.

PAS was started in 2012 because John was attracted

to the Leica Geosystems Agriculture product suite

as they offered a fully supported guidance solution.

“I wanted to partner with a company that led the

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which automatically steers a seven ton machine.

John comments “Using these products I am able to

engage more with tractor dealers throughout Ireland

and I’m able to do this because of Leica Geosystems

technology.”

Additionally, Leica Geosystems offered John the

opportunity to establish his own RTK network. RTK

positioning is a satellite-based technology used to

provide centimeter level positioning accuracy. An RTK

position used by a roving device in the field relies on

the data received from a stationary reference source.

For John, setting up a permanent network solution

means farmers don’t need a stationary reference

source, as the local area would already have one

set up they can subscribe to. “We started the PAS

network in an area where there was a demand for

high end machinery. By placing base stations in these

areas we had something that no one else in Ireland

had: our own agriculture RTK Network that worked

unlike any of the existing radio bases that were being

used.”

Positioned only 18 km (11 mi) away from one of

John’s strategically placed base stations, is arable

farmer Liam. Residing in the north west of Ireland

field in positioning technology and Leica Geosystems

was the obvious choice. Their technology was tried

and tested in other industries. This gave me confi-

dence to establish my company as a leader in the

field.”

PAS supplies Ireland’s progressive farmers with

the full Leica Geosystems Agriculture product suite

through tractor dealerships. With no shortage of

water and incredibly fertile soil Ireland has the per-

fect conditions for producing grass, an inexpensive

feed for livestock. To maintain these luscious green

pastures, a smooth seeding, accurate fertilizing and

thorough spraying application is essential. Steer-to-

the-line tractor guidance systems such as the Leica

mojoMINI provide farmers with even coverage with

no overlap, saving money on seed and fertilizer.

For a cereal farmer Real Time Kinematic (RTK) accu-

racy is imperative for crop cultivation. Leica mojo3D

equipped with Leica mojoXact provides sub-inch RTK

positioning which determines straight crop lines,

pass to pass. Perfect rows no longer come from

visual orientation, they’re controlled by GPS – much

like the one in a car with an in-cab guidance display

– connected via a control box to the steering wheel

Straight and true crop lines with mojo3D and RTK.

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and managing a progressive farm consisting of an

array of field shapes and sizes over differing topo-

graphy, Liam was trialling the Leica mojo3D and Leica

mojoXact. Within a month Liam had drilled approxi-

mately 100 ha (250 acres) of winter barley, all with

the assistance of Leica Virtual Wrench, an invaluable

service that is a web based in-field remote support

and diagnostics tool. “After initial set up and train-

ing on the Leica Geosystems products we supported

him through Leica Virtual Wrench, and talked him

through any queries he had on set up. We could

tune and direct remotely, which he found invaluable,

especially when he wasn't sure how to do some-

thing. We just logged on to his screen and talked

him through it. Within a day he was confidently drill-

ing around sweeping hedgerows using fixed contour

and doing the headlands using ‘ultimate curve’ guid-

ance,” explains John.

“Liam found that after a few days of using the steer-

ing he became completely dependent on it, using

his time to monitor more closely what the imple-

ment was doing and conducting business on the

phone. The biggest change he noticed is that he gets

out of his tractor in the evening not feeling tired or

exhausted,” says John.

John anticipates a strong future for precision agri-

culture in Ireland “Partnering with Leica Geosystems

has been a great business venture, not just because

of the technology that they offer but because of the

people within the company and the solutions that

they provide me with, like being able to run my own

RTK network.”

About the author:

Nicolette Tapper is Marketing & Communications

Coordinator for the Agriculture Division at Leica

Geosystems Pty Ltd located in Brisbane, Australia.

nicolette.tapper@leica-geosystems.com