Data Drives Field and Farm Performance

Digital Farming Data 

The missing part of the farming decision tree has recently been filled for Cloud Farming director Chris Leslie.

Data for strategic business and farm-scale decisions has not been hard to come by, what has, is field-scale decisions. That has been rectified through the FieldView platform and Yield Kit.

Cloud Farming provides farm management and contract services for farming clients from East Lothian to Tayside. Their philosophy of farm security is more often down to minimising risk than maximising yield. Consequently, the focus is not on pushing yield even further in the better ground, but lifting it in poorer areas.

Evaluating how best to do this has historically been handicapped by data quality, when it has been difficult to match exact yield data to their attention-to-detail farming style.

Mr Leslie first realised the potential of FieldView after seeing a series of US farming videos posted by Matt Larson. But without a combine equipped with yield mapping, he had no way of using it.

The business is five years old and like many new businesses, required plenty of investment upfront. Again, it comes down to risk, and the outlay for the latest combine technology could not be justified.

FieldView’s retrofit Yield Kit changed that, giving Mr Leslie and his team access to detailed field performance data, and automated transfer to the cloud, saving hassle with memory sticks and minimising time.

Nutrition focus

Now, Mr Leslie can scrutinise precision-based agronomy, with his primary focus on variable rate nutrition.

He was an early exponent of precision farming, working first with Soyl and now using the Hutchinsons Omnia platform to target nutrition more appropriately, something he sees as invaluable for evening-out field performance.

A particular interest is variable rate sulphur, with rates adjusted based on vegetative images from Omnia or FieldView. He feels variable sulphur rates are more important than nitrogen as a deficiency is bound to impact nitrogen metabolism in the plant.

He wants to find the perfect balance for every situation, which is where FieldView fits in.

“We’ve captured field yield data and we’ll evaluate that precisely against the field zones. FieldView is a great business decision tool at field level.”

Scrutinising establishment

But field scrutiny goes much wider than that. The business is equipped with three cultivation systems and two drills as there is no ‘one size fits all’.

“We’re very much down the minimum or no-till route,” says Mr Leslie. “That’s not just seeking out opportunities within the EFA (Ecological Focus Area) or carbon credits. We’ve found that in fields with high soil variability, although minimum disturbance might cap the better part of a field, it lifts crop performance on the poorer parts. When taken as a whole, the return is better.”

He is not averse to cultivating deeper if needed though; again it is about risk. With so much variation in weather, season and soils, it is what is right at the time.

FieldView lets Mr Leslie monitor the performance of different establishment methods across soils and seasons, enabling him to create a data library to refine what works best and when in the future.

He will also use the platform to monitor the performance of premium wheats with a switch from distilling to milling varieties. Again, it is about risk, as premium wheats might be the ‘safer bet’ longer term. Not only can he benchmark a Group 1 against a soft Group 4, he can also compare varietal performance, ensuring the ideal variety for each situation.

It is too early to tell how EFA or other environmental schemes will play out, but FieldView might also be used to assess how poorer land could be better utilised. It is not something he plans to do now, as he thinks cropping can deliver the environmental benefits governments are seeking.

Simple setup

Perhaps one concern for farmers evaluating digital tools is the investment needed in IT and time. However, for Mr Leslie this was simple, with FieldView automatically transferring data to the cloud. It also allows clients to watch harvesting in real time and shows absolute transparency in yield data.

Although, the Yield Kit is an aftersales item, he says installation was reasonably quick. “With the help of my seven-year-old son Charles, it took just over an hour to install. There is some drilling required, but the fitting instructions and templates are easy to follow.”

Viewing FieldView data is straightforward too. A basic iPad will suffice and at times Mr Leslie has borrowed one from the children to log in.

FieldView offers realtime data, including from field operations – something the children found fascinating when he was combining, he notes.

There is a serious use too, as live data ability lets him catch up on yield and moisture readings from home or office if needed. He also likes the connectivity with Gatekeeper and Omnia.

“Establishing field maps and boundaries across various platforms and software can be complicated and time consuming. Sharing data between FieldView takes up much less management time.”

Mr Leslie acknowledges it has not all been plain sailing. He did experience some difficulties transferring ‘as applied’ data into FieldView, but teething problems are bound to occur given the extensive functionality of the platform, and he recognises the “superb” support from the FieldView team.

He is confident any issues will be overcome, and for him, teething troubles are worth it given the benefit to the business.

“Our aim is to optimise field and farm performance to build resilience for our customers against the inevitable volatility. We can only do that by making the right strategic and tactical decisions for every situation, and we can only do that if we have accurate data."

“FieldView allows us to evaluate accurately anything we do in a field, and any farm trials we undertake with our clients. It enhances our business offering and adds value for our customers.”

Case study

Richard Cross

Oxton Estate, Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire farm manager Richard Cross is also using FieldView to help refine agronomic practices at the Oxton Estate.

Since starting the role in 2010, he has made several changes. The biggest was the move to shallower cultivations. When he arrived, four Kuhn power harrows were needed for drilling preparation, now he has a 4-metre Muzuri Pro-Til drill. It is not a pure one-pass system, as he runs a shallow disc through for better seed coverage, but it is close.

Now the focus is variable rate nutrition. Soils are variable, from Keuper maul clay to Notts sand and gravel, but there are many other factors that result in variable field performance. “When we got FieldView I was astonished by the yield variability in some fields,” he notes.

The goal is to even-out field performance. “If I can get every hectare of wheat doing 9 t/ha then we are going to be ‘quids in’.”

Last year he ran variable rate nitrogen trials in wheat and oilseed rape, consisting of a flat-rate strip at his usual 200 kg N/ ha, and rates of plus or minus 20% based on crop biomass.

Although 2022 was the first season for these trials, they have already highlighted potential benefits. In the two trial OSR fields, the reduced N area yielded exactly as his flat strip farm standard, resulting in a 40 kg N/ ha saving.

The purpose of the trial is not necessarily to reduce the amount of N applied, but use it more wisely, however with high fertiliser prices it is a worthwhile saving.

This season he hopes to move to liquid fertiliser, which he thinks is more accurate and allows sulphur to be included in every application – something he feels important. This is another example of Mr Cross’s aim of continuing refinement and the need to make every hectare pay. He considers it as vital, especially as the future cropped area is likely to reduce.

“Going forward we cannot afford unproductive field areas.”

FieldView will fit here too. Mr Cross is building a library of field performance across the rotation. It is too early to say how unproductive areas will be used, but the estate already has a keen eye for conservation and sustainability, having planted 35,000 trees over 10 years.

Indeed, any reduction in the environmental footprint is welcome, and the estate is almost paperless. Even the N prescriptions were created in FieldView, something Mr Cross describes as easy.

“We just created the zones using FieldView’s Autozone feature and transferred them straight to the spreader.”

Key messages

• Plug-n-play setup

• Free your time with the convenience of your farm data in one place and easily accessible on the move

• Excellent range of field, variety and input performance evaluation tools

• Instant insight into as-planted, as-applied and yield data

• In-season field health tools for crop monitoring and remedial action

• Precise and instant data analysis for those conducting farm trials

• Seamless connectivity with various telematic, precision farming and farm management platforms, reducing duplicated data entry and errors

• Create and share field reports with approved farming partners and advisors

• Remote and realtime data viewing capability – instant data from combine, drill or sprayer

This article is an extract from CropFocus magazine, if you would like to sign up for the next issue please sign up here