Researchers Using GPS To Cut Erosion With Waterways

Kurt LawtonAerial Imagery, Conservation, Fertilizer, GPS, Research, sustainability

It’s a proven fact that grass waterways and stream buffer strips reduce erosion and runoff. Current research at the University of Kentucky strives to develop reliable prediction models for accurate placement of these grassy strips in a field using GPS. Tom Mueller, associate professor in the University of Kentucky (UK), College of Agriculture, guided Adam Pike, UK graduate student, on … Read More

Precision Ag Testing Of Biomass Crops

Kurt LawtonAerial Imagery, Ethanol, GPS, Remote sensing, Research, Satellite, sustainability

Biomass crops slated for ethanol production are gaining research dollars as scientists use precision agriculture remote sensing to study the issues and logistics of getting crops from field production to the biorefinery gate. A lot has to happen to a plant from the time it first captures sunlight in a field to being dispensed as fuel at the pump. For … Read More

France Tests N Fertilization Using Remote Sensing

Kurt LawtonAerial Imagery, Company Announcement, Fertilizer, International, Remote sensing, Satellite

RapidEye, a German-based GIS mapping technology provider, is working with a France company to test and deliver biomass maps that can help farmers improve Nitrogen efficiency in wheat and canola fields, as reported by Vector1Media. RapidEye provided S2B’s VISIOPLAINE platform with biomass maps to support nitrogen fertilization of canola fields for five regions from early winter 2008 to early spring … Read More

New USDA Satellite Images of Ag Land

Kurt LawtonAerial Imagery, Precision Ag in the News, Resources, Satellite

USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) just released new satellite images of agricultural land cover for the 2008 crop year. The images, referred to as the Cropland Data Layer (CDL), identify geospatial crop locations in three U.S. regions: the Mid-Atlantic and, for the first time, the Southwest and Southeast. The CDL information is a useful tool for projects ranging from … Read More

InfoAg Talk: Soil Management Zones Increase N Efficiency

Kurt LawtonAerial Imagery, Ag Leader, Audio, Farmers, Fertilizer, GPS, InfoAg, Software

Ten years of research by Dr. Raj Khosla and his precision agriculture grad students at Colorado State University has produced a soil color based management zone technique that accurately optimizes Nitrogen use efficiency within and across zones in given corn fields. “Once farmers realize the value of varying N rates based on field productivity zones, most want to add more … Read More

New Prescription N Application Sensor

Kurt LawtonAerial Imagery, Ag Leader, Audio, Equipment, Fertilizer, Industry News

At this week’s InfoAg 2009 conference, precision.agwired.com caught up with Ag Leader Technology’s Roger Zielke to discuss a new sensor-driven product designed to help growers apply prescription Nitrogen rates by measuring the health of the growing crop. Zielke, who heads up new business development for Ag Leader, describes how this Holland Scientific light sensor reads light reflectance of the growing … Read More

Agri ImaGIS Teams With Farm Market iD

Kurt LawtonAerial Imagery, Company Announcement, Farmers, GPS, Industry News, Satellite

Data on farmers and fields will now be aided by satellites. Farm Market iD, a leading provider of farm-level U.S. agricultural data, announced today the signing of a joint venture agreement with Fargo, North Dakota-based Agri ImaGIS.   The joint venture agreement between Farm Market iD and Agri ImaGIS creates co-development and co-marketing arrangements for Farm Market iD, a comprehensive database of … Read More

New Crop Forecast Tool for Precision Agriculture

Kurt LawtonAerial Imagery, Company Announcement, Industry News, Satellite

Billed as the true next generation agricultural information product, CropForecaster service combines satellite imagery with biomass and leaf area variables. It can produce daily imagery that tracks and predicts crop development and growth from planting to harvest. CropForecaster is the combined work of ZedX, a Pennsylvania-based leading developer of internet agricultural decision support services, and France-based Infoterra, a subsidiary of … Read More

Precision Ag From The Air

Chuck ZimmermanAerial Imagery

Indiana Unmanned Aircraft Systems is taking precision to the air with a successful test flight. This is a picture of one of their units from their website. Indiana Unmanned Aircraft Systems (IUAS), a Muncie, Indiana based aerospace company and manufacturer of small unmanned aircraft systems, announced the first successful test flight of its Im VII Air Vehicle Two (Im VII … Read More

Idaho Farmer Uses Aerial Images and GPS

Laura McNamaraAerial Imagery, Equipment, Precision Ag in the News

It may look like a toy, but as Ag Weekly has reported, Robert Blair’s CropCam unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, provides visuals of his farm that are vital for his precision farming. Robert says his CropCam is basically the same product the military and NASA are using. Here’s an excerpt from Ag Weekly on how Robert uses the CropCam: Blair … Read More