Joel Gruver WIU- Agriculture
[email protected] (309) 298 1215
Precision Organics Opportunities for improved efficiency and
effectiveness of field operations
WIU/Allison Farm Field Day
I am not an ag engineer or a techie
PRECISION
Currently only available upon request Will soon be downloadable
from our website
http://www.wiu.edu/cbt/agriculture/farms/organic/
High tech precision & old school attention to detail
Some larger-scale organic grain farmers like Lynn
Brakke are using a lot of precision technology
In 2012, I witnessed a new level of attention to detail
Sweeps were adjusted many times
throughout the day to achieve desired soil
flow into the row
105 F in the shade :-<
http://www.acresusa.com/toolbox/reprints/Organic%20weed%20control_aug02.pdf
Excellent article by Mary and Klaas Martens
Dad… just think what we can do
with RTK guidance on this farm!
Attention to detail is key to success in all types of farming
It takes a high level of skill and will to be a successful organic
farmer!
How many of you can plant a straight row?
Whatever skill level you bring to the table can be augmented by GPS guidance technology
Farmers like Mike Findlay are using RTK guidance on both their planter and cultivating
tractors but planting with guidance makes cultivating
without guidance much easier
Blind cultivation is also enhanced by guidance
Ridge-till - the original guidance and controlled traffic system
http://www.slideshare.net/jbgruver/ridgetill-succesful-farming-jan-1986
AgriCanada
Without restricted
traffic, most field
surfaces receive
traffic each year
Most of the power required for tillage is associated with undoing wheel traffic
RTK-guidance/auto-steer makes
controlled traffic much easier
www.mitchellfarm.com
Strip intercropping: 2010: 230 bu/ac
Jacob Bolson and Roger Knutson
http://cornandsoybeandigest.com/precision-ag/farming-edge-strip-intercropping- edges-capture-more-light-reward-higher-yields
www.cedarvalleyinnovation.com
More light = More yield
1. Enhanced guidance and connectivity,
implements guiding tractors
and not the other way around
2. Autonomous machines? Eventually
3. Smarter telemetrics
4. Better sensors
5. Improve diesel fuel economy
6. Emission regs drive change
7. Small is big
8. Going electric
8 ways that your equipment may get smarter
http://www.hoosieragtoday.com/index.php/2012/03/04/the-end-of-the-chemical-era/
Big equipment companies are starting to design new cultivation tools for
controlling herbicide resistant weeds
A few companies even specialize in precision
cultivation
“Flexibility to satisfy all your hoe requirements”
The Tillet Weeder uses computer technology and a spinning blade to remove weeds. Note the disc-shaped cultivation blade with a notched cut-out to
allow the blade to spin around transplanted cabbage.
Garford dealer – Canadian company that sells into the Upper Midwest
http://bluerivert.com/
start up company – no commercial products yet
BRTs vision for the future
The founding team is two brothers, one a large-scale dairyman from NY State and the
other an engineer and environmental scientist based in Minnesota. We are working closely
with a robotics team that has deep experience engineering high-quality products for
agriculture and other markets. start up company no commercial products yet
Robotic weeding 1 row at a time?????
Precise banding will probably be needed for ROI
What is PRECISION COVER CROPPING???
1) Planting of cover crops with a precision planter
2) strategic placement of cover crop rows in relation to other cover cover rows and/or the following cash
crop rows (often using GPS guidance)
3) Strategic placement of cover crops in specific fields or parts of fields
4) Selection and management of cover crops to
achieve specific objectives
Precision planting
http://www.extension.org/pages/64400/radishes-a-new-cover-crop-for-organic-farming-systems
September 2008
Attempt #2
Radish planted on 30” rows using small milo plates in mid-August 2010
Attempt #3
Cover crop system Relative
corn yield
Volunteer oats 79%
Radishes planted on 30” 99%
Radishes drilled on 7.5” 91%
Corn following cover crop experiment (2011)
Corn planted directly over radish rows
May 2012
Radish planted on 30” rows with RTK guidance on August 29th right before Hurricane Isaac rolled in
4 days later
7 days after planting
10 days after planting
~ 1 month later
Why are the inter-rows so clean?
We had just cultivated the radishes!
+20 bu/a corn in plots w/ fall cultivation vs.
no cultivation of radish in 2012
~ 2 weeks later
December 2012
We are planning to plant corn directly over the radish rows in 2013
Precision planted radishes w/ peas from 5 ft of row
Precision radishes w/o peas
Radishes with peas were ~20% larger
Crimson clover
Green lentils
Fava beans
We are using small plots to identify cover crops that
play well together
Chick peas
Sunflower
Rapeseed
Oats
Phacelia
Do you want both species to
winter kill?
Planted with a drill in late September 2012
Radish
Cereal Rye
Radish Radish
Cereal Rye
Precision planting may allow you to plant your cover crops later
Little radishes can have
long roots!
Would you be comfortable planting a field in this
condition?
Planting right on top of ridged
radishes
Last fall we set up a 6 row bar with Yetter Mavericks
We plan to freshen rows before planting as needed
Why is there rapeseed on the edge of this bean field?
We ran rapeseed (2 lbs/a) through insecticide boxes
while planting these soybeans
40 lbs of cereal rye planted directly over soybean rows in 2011
The cereal rye and rapeseed both died when the crop canopied. No significant
effect on yield, some in-row weed suppression in 2011
Insecticide boxes do a good job of metering small seeds
+20 lbs N/a
A little extra N can make a big difference
Triple S mix Sunflowers, Soybeans & Sunnhemp
What do you think is in this CC
cocktail?
You won’t really know what is in a mix unless you design it.
Aerial seeded annual ryegrass in April 2012
10’ Howard Rotavator tilling ~ 3” deep with C blades
Annual ryegrass after chisel plowing
Chiseling before rotavating worked best!
Planting into poorly digested red clover residues
25-50% stand loss Near perfect stands in all other corn
plots on the farm this past spring
Organic No-till?
Rodale roller
Cultimulcher
Much less weed seed
germination
…but few options for
weed termination
Early July 2009
August 2009
Early November 2009
Plot yields ranged from 51.6 to 58.6 bu/ac
No significant differences between systems
November 2010
Plot yields ranged from 42-52 bu/ac
Significant foxtail pressure but almost no broadleaf weeds
November 2011
The NT bean plots yielded ~10 bu more than the best
tillage system plots
April 2012
May 10 2012
Double drilled with 4” offset
Mid June
All of July :-<
NT bean yields ranged from ~ 30 to ~ 60 bu/a
60 b/a in wet hole
30-40 b/a in well drained areas
Our cleanest and best yielding beans in 2012 were conventional-till but we have not been able to achieve
this level of weed control every year.
Where are the soybeans??
Traditional organic weed management often comes up short during wet years
A strong stand of cereal rye was incorporated ~ 2 weeks before these soybeans were planted
Cover Crops
Adapted from Magdoff and Weil (2004)
CCs affect many agronomic factors simultaneously
Feed livestock
Control erosion
? ?
Increase management
Host pests
Become a weed
Prevent soil drying
Dry out soil excessively
Interfere w/ equipment
performance Suppress crop
growth
Tie up N
Add cost
Cover Crops
Adapted from Magdoff and Weil (2004)
Not all effects are positive
Greater precision in farming practices increases the likelihood of
intended outcomes
More positive and fewer negative effects
This is what we were hoping for in the field where we ended up planting our
precision radish experiment in fall 2012!
This is what we may end up with :-<
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