b'C anadianP otatoC ounCilManaging Your Soil SmartlyA group of researchers in Canada are using precision agriculture to map field management zones. BY: ASHLEY ROBINSONSMART AGRICULTURE IS becoming more and more common, assisting growers with their work and helping them to learn more about their fields and the crops they plant. And while precision agriculture encompasses a wide variety of things, a group of researchers in Prince Edward Island and Quebec are looking at one aspect of itusing sensors to discover soil variability by mapping field management zones.We are working on different fields to try to fine tune our management zones, Athyna Cambouris, precision agriculture scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), explains in a phone interview. We try to define in each management zone, what should be the specific amount of nitrogen they should receive by using vegetation index measured in each management zone at crucial potato growth stages.The project started in 2018 and lasts for five years. Its part of the Cana-dian Potato Council with the Canadian Horticultural Council cluster projects funded by the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP). Cambouris is theThe experimental field in Quebec in 2020 where a diverse nitrogen strip-treatment project lead and based in Quebec, and is working with Aitazaz Farooque, anwas used on it.PHOTO: MARC DUCHEMINassociate professor and industry research chair for precision agriculture in the faculty of sustainable design engineering at the University of P.E.I.Cambouris has spent her career of 25 years researching precision agricul-ture technologies in potatoes, while Farooque has been working in precision agriculture research since 2008 when he did his masters research on it, and while he has mainly researched potatoes, he has also done some work with blueberries.Both are working with potato growers and agronomists in their respec-tive regions to test sensors in soil to evaluate variability and determine field management zones. The two were connected when Cambouris was working on a smart agriculture project with McCain Foods in New Brunswick. When the cluster project opportunity came up, it was decided they should collaborate as there had been plans to include researchers in Western Canada, but that didnt pan out.THE PROJECTCambouris and Farooque are using ground conductivity sensors to map fields and develop management zones based on the maps. From there, the fertilizer needs for the crops are able to be determined based on the management zones. Mapping of electrical conductivity using DualEM-II sensor in a P.E.I. field.PHOTO: RIMSHA KHANThat was an indirect method of estimating what is the productivity status in the soil, and then how we need to quantify that and respond to it so that weCambouris were looking for. Starting this growing season, theyll be building are applying those inputs based on the need, Farooque explains in a Zoomon this work by starting to experiment with crop inputs.interview. We have all the data collected and we analyze to see how those manage-The goal of the project is to be able to assess the feasibility of usingment zones responded to the variability of inputs and whether we were able to ground conductivity sensors in potato cropping to manage crop inputs. Theincrease the yield with a minimal environmental impact, Farooque says. He first two years of the study were foundational, Farooque explains. Sensors wereadds during the last growing season, they used variable rate fertilization and tested to make sure they were accurate and able to detect what Farooque andseeding based on the management zones to test the productivity benefits. 34 SPUDSMART.COM SPRING 2021'