End-to-End Solution for Managing Soil Variability
Veris Technologies, who first commercialized on-the-go soil sensing for agriculture, has recently released FieldFusion™, an online platform completing the loop from measuring soil variability to managing it with variable rate prescription tools. An intuitive interface allows users to take action with the high resolution soil data collected by Veris sensors -the foundation of the system.
“Growers are tired of pretty maps, they want profitable maps,” said Eric Lund, president of Veris Technologies. “With a Veris sensor platform and FieldFusion™, a service provider can offer complete solutions for seed, fertility, water, pest and soil amendment decisions.”
Instead of handing a grower a jump drive with bit and bytes, FieldFusion™ can take the many layers of data and fuse them together in different combinations to make management zones specific to the input being managed. Appropriately named Precision Seed, this management zone fuses the key yield drivers of soil texture, organic matter and topography and simply lets the grower and advisor plug in the rates for each zone.
Other key elements of FieldFusion™ include:
1. Data quality. Every field submitted to FieldFusion™ receives quality control steps to clean it, remove outliers, and organize it in a simple to use file format. Most importantly, a member of the Veris team reviews each map and provides a report card with customized feedback and tips to continually improve their operation of the soil sensors.
2. In-field validation and calibration. The entire platform is designed to maximize the value of soil sensor data. One aspect of this is that it is now possible to move from relative sensor readings to lab calibrated data. This enables analysis between fields, farms and across trade territories. Lab calibrated CEC, OM and pH values open doors to new site-specific management of inputs.
3. Slope and curvature. FieldFusion™ adds to the knowledge of the field by calculating each sensor point’s slope and curvature to understand water movement and its affect on the growing environment.
4. Precision Promise. Each soil sensor map can be overlaid with the zones created by the USDA Soil Survey and 2.5 acre grids. The comparison consistently reveals nearly the full range of soil that exists within a field is still present within the grids and soil survey units.
5. Application specific management zones. A revolutionary concept takes FieldFusion™ in a direction different than the crowd: instead of forcing all of our inputs of seed, fertilizer, lime, etc. into a single set of management zones, each of these inputs interacts with the soil and topography differently and should have its own set of zones.
6. VRS in three clicks. From start to finish, simplicity was built into the system. In addition to being frustration-free, the new site –specific management tools provide additional revenue streams.
7. Mobile, Portable, Flexible. At any point, the data and zones can be ported to other farm management software or used on mobile devices in the field for scouting.
Originally published October 09, 2015.
