b'Precision Ag 24/7/365Most view precision agriculture as using certain devices to do tasks,but Jacob van den Borne sees it as a whole year integrated process.BY: ASHLEY ROBINSONTHE MAJORITY OF people think precision agriculture is a relatively newTo fix that we amounted an NPR sensor on our manure tankers and we ac-invention that came about a decade or so ago, however Dutch potatotually log what we bring in potassium and nitrogen and all the other important grower Jacob van den Borne knows that isnt the case. nutrients. So, we are actually able to make maps of how many nutrients we What is the definition of precision farming? If you Google this, you willapplied on which part of the field, van den Borne explains.find out that there is actually a lot of explanation my definition of precisionAfter fertilization, its then planting time. On van den Bornes farm they farming is on the right time, on the right place, doing the right thing, explainsuse variable rate planting which is based on maps of the shady areas in fields van den Borne during his presentation at the virtual Canadian Spud Congressand soil zones.on Feb. 25. Adding this means precision farming is as old as farming itself. Once summer hits they start collecting data from the fields. All of the Van den Borne runs Van den Borne Aardappelen, an irrigated potato farmequipment on the farm is equipped with sensors which connect to software in the Netherlands and Belgium, and has spent years working on his precisionto collect data about the fields. In any fields which arent performing well, ag process. Its constantly evolving work and requires him to be workingvan den Borne collects more data for them through drones and satellites. The all year long at different steps each seasonall designed to increase hisfarms irrigation systems also collect dataoverall crop yields. each nozzle has a sensor mounted on it We start in the winter, the spring, the summer, and we end in the autumn.which monitors irrigation rates and If you want to do precision farming, your basic data that you need is your yield.areas watered.And, of course, we can only do yield measurement in the autumn. So, precisionWhen I started to have farming starts for me at the last yield mapping, he explains. such a big data set, what I In the winter, to kick off the cycle, van den Borne maps all of his potatomissed was actually the fields. He works on a four-year cropping rotation where he swaps fields withgrowing practiceto other farmers meaning he doesnt farm the land every year, so his staff andlook at the crop, to himself must inspect the fields every year they use them.look at the plants and Geo fencing is used to keep track of the fields, an application on theirto actually translate phones will automatically start a crop registration as soon as they enter athat data into the real field. The fields are then scanned with an EM38 device and soil conductivityagriculture policies, is measured. To finish off the winter season they map AB linesthe optimalvan den Borne says. To route in the field for planting, spraying and harvesting.fix that they now haveCrop sensorsSpring then kicks off with fertilizationvan den Borne uses livestocka schedule where theymounted onto a sprayer fertilizer as there are a lot of cattle in the area he farms at. While he likesphysically visit fieldsboom on Jacob van den manure, he finds the one problem with it is that the nutrients in it unmix whenevery other week with aBornes farm, Van den Borne Aardappelen.spread.student group for cropThe sensors helpscouting. collect data van denBorne uses. Potatoes instorage at Jacob van den Bornes farm. The track system unloading the potatoes measures their length, size distribution and water weight.PHOTOS: VAN DENBORNE AARDAPPELEN24 SPUDSMART.COM SPRING 2021'