Precision of the future: advancing precision agriculture

Precision Agriculture has gone from being a tool of the future to being a technology widely used at various levels and in a large part of agricultural enterprises in Brazil and Latin America. The technologies used are not limited to grain cultivation, they are already present in practically all sectors, including irrigated rice, sugarcane, forestry and horticulture. The current situation clarifies a common doubt at the beginning of its use: Precision Agriculture is not a fad but a trend that is here to stay.

The growth in its use is a consequence of a series of factors, such as better knowledge of the products by both users and resellers, results and return on investment confirmed by several years of experience, growth of the technical and agronomic support network for the tools of Precision Agriculture, generating greater accessibility and supply of products, in addition to increasingly affordable prices, allowing the investment to be considered by a much larger number of producers.

Precision Agriculture appeared in a practical form in Brazil in the late 1990s. At the time, the technology focused on crop yield mapping, carried out during harvest. Already in this introduction phase, the topic gained a lot of strength and began to be widely discussed in forums that brought together producers, manufacturers and academia, to better understand the gains and possibilities with this technology.

Due to the need to delimit the topic and because it is a very broad concept, it was agreed that the term “Precision Agriculture” referred to all technologies that apply the use of GPS to agriculture, in the search for optimizing the efficiency of the operation or the agronomic aspect of production. Some terms have changed since then, such as GPS (Global Positioning System) which became GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems), although the basic concept is quite similar.

Today, however, a much greater supply of products is available for Brazilian producers to use. Among the main technologies are light bars, automatic pilots, harvest monitoring systems, variable rate application equipment, automatic control of sections for planting and spraying, remote sensing, on-board computers with telemetry and software (GIS – Information Systems Geographic). Investments vary in size, but it can be said that there are technologies suitable for practically all sizes of operations where mechanization is used from planting to harvesting.

CNH brands have a wide range of products available from the factory for practically all product lines. Currently, the one that stands out the most in terms of growth in adoption is the autopilot, which is already a standard item on several models of tractors and sprayers. Where equipment is optional items, sales grow very quickly, including for harvesters. One of the reasons for this is that Precision Agriculture technologies offer an immediate return to the producer, with the most diverse gains such as lines planted per hectare, elimination of failures and overlapping, reduced fuel consumption per hectare and increased operational efficiency.

A good example of the type of gains seen with the use of autopilot can be seen in sugarcane. One of our clients reports that he can optimize planting in order to improve the total number of rows by more than 5%, using the pilot during planting. It is still foreseeing a gain from increased productivity by avoiding the crushing of ratoons throughout the useful life of the sugarcane field and is already counting on a significant reduction in harvest losses.

Another tool that is already widely used as it is a standard item on several harvester models is the productivity mapping system. The emergence of agronomic service providers that use the productivity map as a tool to diagnose problems and recommend crop corrections has driven this technology to grow again.

Another differentiator of the CNH brands is that, in addition to offering technologies embedded in factory machines, the company offers a complete line of solutions to install on machines that are already in the field. And most importantly, these technologies Aftermarket They can be installed on a large number of models on the market and with technology that is fully compatible with correction signals and information management with the factory offering. The big advantage for the producer is that he can improve the performance of the existing park, maintaining compatibility with the new machines he is purchasing. Our strategic partnership with Trimble, a renowned brand in this market, offers us the versatility to meet all situations and be the best option in terms of product, presence and support.

The planting and spraying section control system is also a more recent technology, but it is beginning to gain prominence in the agricultural scenario. The idea is to maximize applications in order to automatically turn off and on sections to avoid failures and overlaps, especially in folded and irregular areas. Studies with this technology show that product savings can reach 17% considering a 30 meter bar and an irregularly shaped crop.

The accuracy of the positioning system together with the proper functioning of the precision equipment it controls are the main factors that determine its performance. The more precise, the better your result will be compared to conventional means of carrying out the practice. On the other hand, accuracy is completely proportional to its cost. The more accurate it is, the more expensive the initial investment or signal correction cost will be. Finding an optimum between accuracy and cost within the limits for the application in question is a key factor in increasing return.

In terms of precision levels, the company offers a number of options, such as the innovative technology of the new RTX system, which brings exclusive features, previously possible only with the use of RTK, which requires the installation of a fixed base with the appropriate infrastructure. With Centerpoint RTX, it is possible to obtain an accuracy of 3,8cm with repeatability, year after year, through a satellite signal and, therefore, available in any region in Latin America.

Even with all these advances, new products and many technologies at different stages of use are still to come and the expectation is for great evolution in the coming years. The future will bring a greater level of automation of machines and integrated operations, where sets of equipment will work in synchrony to carry out tasks in an organized manner and considering logistical efficiency. Another expected evolution will be intelligent decision-making systems, which use information from telemetry to optimize all operations and also to integrate with the property's business management systems. Environmental and food safety issues will also be largely responsible for driving developments that use sensors and positioning systems to know all the details of origin and agricultural practices used in food production.

 Click here to read the full article in issue 131 of Cultivar Máquinas.