Machinery Costs

An analysis of how labour, fuel and depreciation can be used more effectivly with the aid of precision farming equiptment.

Some lightbars are, in Scotland, eligible under the land management contract option on the IACS single farm payment scheme for a 40% grant on their purchase. Contact us for more details...

Overlapping sprays, misses, inaccurate fertiliser, lime or muck spreaders are all potential causes of waste or inefficiency. All guidance units will sort this problem out, some offer more; area measurement, data storage, flag dropping. Some are upgradeable to auto steer or are part of a tractor recording and management package. Phone us and we will recommend the right unit for you.

Autosteer solutions can save money by drastically reducing cultivation and seeding overlaps and so spraying overlaps. Fuel, metal, labour time and depreciation are all saved. Also the quality of the job is improved, perfect straight beds lead to less damage and higher yields (less wastage). Removing the steering job from the operator allows him to concentrate on the important other jobs at hand.

Trimble pioneered RTK in the early 1990’s as a means of delivering high accuracy corrections for field applications. In the two decades since, RTK has become the industry leading methodology for sub-inch positioning. RTK uses either radio or cellular communications to provide corrections.

When using RTK with radio communications, you need access to a base station located within a seven-mile radius (approximately) from your farm. A RTK base station sends corrections via a radio transmitter to the mobile receivers attached to your vehicle. Base stations can be purchased for individual farming operations, or utilized through a subscription service from an established network.

A cellular communication modem may also be used instead of a radio to provide RTK corrections. These cellular networks are referred to as Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS). CORS uses a single GPS/GNSS reference station to transmit RTK corrections to the cellular modem on a tractor. This reference station may be located a long distance from the grower’s modem, making it a popular option in areas with spotty RTK radio tower coverage.

 RTK is useful for all crop types and provides enhanced accuracy throughout the crop cycle beginning with land preparation activities and ending with harvesting. Farmers growing row crops generally see the largest payback from using RTK systems because they are able to pinpoint the location of their seeding, spraying, irrigation and harvesting activities directly over each plant. Potato and vegetable growers in particular find RTK irreplaceable due to their need for extremely precise accuracy and repeatability.

Terrain and soil types of all varieties benefit from RTK applications, especially when used in conjunction with precision ag equipment designed to make greater improvements on this type of land. For instance, farmers using RTK guidance on their tractor and implement with products such as the Trimble® AgGPS® TrueGuide™ implement guidance system can see implement accuracy improve over guiding the tractor alone.