Digital Agricultural Technology: Agricultural engineering is experiencing a digital revolution. The standardization of data traffic, between agricultural machinery, tractors and PCs via Isobars makes it possible. Satellite-supported software systems take over lane guidance, and turning maneuvers and unscrewed tractors are entering the market.
When farmers apply liquid manure instead of mineral fertilizers, they save money, conserve resources and, on top of that, achieve better yields with some crops. But it depends on the measure. In abundance, manure becomes a burden for soil and water.
Clash has now presented a system in which software-controlled valves regulate how much liquid manure reaches the field and where. The dosage takes place with the help of a plant sensor on the tractor, which determines the nutrient content of the soil, and a sensor system, which measures the nitrogen content of the manure in real-time. The system saves data, including the resulting dosage and GPS data, date and time. With soil samples and crop yield maps, farmers then use them to optimize future fertilization. Precision increases with every fertilization. For farmers, purchases of mineral fertilizers can be planned precisely. They save money and protect the environment.
The Farmer Plans On The PC What Digital Agricultural Technology Will Be Implemented
Standardized data interfaces are the key to precision in the field. What the farmer plans on the PC must be implemented precisely by devices. It must be possible to control the tractor even if devices and tractors come from different manufacturers. Clash implemented the precise slurry technology in cooperation with Unhamper and supported the Isobars in the process. Two decades after the founding of the first working groups and a decade after its introduction, the standard for data transmission in agricultural engineering is omnipresent. “Devices and machines that are not compatible with it can hardly be sold”. Especially contractors, machine rings and large companies, whose vehicle and machine parks from makes from different manufacturers are thrown together, rely on the Isobars. For them, precise handling of fertilizers, pesticides or seeds quickly pays off, and they can meet their documentation requirements more easily with intelligently networked systems.
The group has 60 different Isobars attachments on the market, of which 20,000 are in use worldwide, including a device that injects manure directly into the ground. Eight or ten pairs of self-sharpening discs with a diameter of 45 cm break open the earth. The liquid waste is introduced via hoses at a distance of 19 cm between the discs.
Thanks To Digital Agricultural Technology, Slurry Strips Are Spread Down To The Last Centimeter
Depending on whether the farmer will later plant narrow or wide rows, he can leave a distance of 37.5 cm or 75 cm between the injectors. The highlight: Thanks to the automatic GPS steering of the tractor, the slurry strips are applied to the field with centimeter precision. The steering system saves the coordinates of the starting point and allows farmers or employees of contractors to sow exactly on the prepared strip weeks later.
Such GPS steering systems not only relieve tractor or harvesting machine drivers from steering and driving precisely on the existing wheel tracks day and night, but they also take overturning at the edge of the field, including the necessary gear changes.
Digital Agricultural Technology : One Farmer Controls Two Tractors
With a new system , one driver can even control two tractors. He sits in the first, followed by a second unscrewed tractor. Both vehicles communicate by radio. Advantages: Two light, less powerful tractors with attachments create more area than one large one and minimize soil compaction. Thanks to GPS steering, the driver can concentrate fully on their passions. Isobars makes it possible.
In addition, the standard allows towed devices to regulate the speed of the tractors—for example, a new non-stop press wrapping machine for round bales from Krone. While baling presses had to stand still for wrapping and unloading, the Krone machine moved forward continuously and pulled in the hay. According to Krone, this increases throughput by up to 50%. At the same time, the device relieves the driver of work: it automatically adjusts the tractor’s speed to the load on the press. “Tractor-Implement Management” is what agricultural technicians call systems in which the previously determinant tractor-driver unit becomes the receiver of commands for attached or pulled implements. Now the season in the field has begun for high-tech gadgets.
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