Precision FarmingDoing The Job Right With Preci­sion Ag

In 1993, Stéphane Lhotte and Matthieu Dupuys’ parents founded the machinery-sharing co-oper­a­tive CUMA des Terroirs. The two men have known each other since child­hood and natu­rally took over manage­ment of the CUMA when they became farmers them­selves. The organ­i­sa­tion provides machinery for its member farms and works a total of around 1,000ha. As is typical for the Hauts-de-France region, here in the Verman­dois the rota­tion includes cereals, oilseed rape and other cash crops, like sugar beet. Stéphane and Matthieu employ just one full-time driver, which demon­strates CUMA’s high level of organ­i­sa­tion.

2012: INTRODUCING GUIDANCE

2012 was a turning point for the pair. “That year, we bought a seed drill combi­na­tion with a rotary harrow,” recalls Stéphane. “It was a used machine without side markers, and the cost of fitting new markers made us consider other options. We asked our John Deere dealer, and he offered us a Green­Star 1800 display and an SF3000 receiver. That is how it all began for us.”

The famous ‘yellow dome’ (receiver) from all those years ago is still ready for work. On the day of our visit, it was mounted on a 6R 250 tractor. “At the time, we had an 8245R that was Auto­Trac-ready,” Matthieu adds. “During stubble cultivation, the auto­mat­i­cally guided tractor drove ahead, followed by a second tractor with an imple­ment of the same working width – that was when we first saw the time savings per hectare.”

MIXED SOIL TYPES AND VARIABLE SEED RATES

In 2014, a second receiver was purchased for the self-propelled sprayer, and again, there were further time savings. But it was not until 2016, with the purchase of a new 18-row planter, that the two managers really grasped the poten­tial of preci­sion agri­cul­ture.

Stéphane and Matthieu had already tried varying the seed rate manu­ally, with mixed results. Ulti­mately, it was not possible to main­tain the prescribed rates consis­tently over several hours. Stéphane shows us a 1:25,000 soil map of northern Saint-Quentin, which he got from his father. Work on this map began more than 50 years ago by the Chamber of Agri­cul­ture in the Aisne départe­ment. “Today we have digi­tised maps of our soil types that we can upload to the John Deere Oper­a­tions Centre,” says Stéphane.

Stéphane Lhotte’s father handed down a soil map of the northern Saint-Quentin area – a remark­able piece of work care­fully compiled over more than 50 years by the Chamber of Agri­cul­ture in the Aisne départe­ment.

Today, CUMA des Terroirs relies on the digi­tised version of its soil type maps, which can be uploaded to the John Deere Oper­a­tions Centre.

This map of a field belonging to a member of CUMA des Terroirs shows savings in herbi­cide use. It was created by drone, together with the Chamber of Agri­cul­ture in the Aisne départe­ment and its service provider, Abelio.

For each digi­tised field, the exact loca­tion of deep silty soils; which receive a normal seed rate, as well as calcareous zones; where the seed rate is auto­mat­i­cally increased by 30%, is known. “Since 2019, sugar beet has been drilled with vari­able seed rates,” explains Matthieu. “Together with section control, which minimises losses from row over­laps, the crop develops more uniformly, and we have better control over seed use.”

Following the same prin­ciple of differ­en­ti­ated rates between silty, calcareous and sandy soils, vari­able-rate drilling is now used for cereals, oilseed rape and legumes too.

SOLUTIONS THAT ARE EASY TO IMPLEMENT

The step from a soil type map to an appli­ca­tion map can be daunting for newcomers. “The specialist for new tech­nolo­gies at our John Deere dealer recog­nised the issue and trained us accord­ingly,” says Stéphane. “This allowed us to use vari­able seed rate, section control and tram­line manage­ment on the drill simul­ta­ne­ously and directly via the tractor display, adapting drilling to suit subse­quent oper­a­tions with a 2.2m width.”

The Oper­a­tions Centre makes it possible to inte­grate the soil type and adapt the seed rate accord­ingly. “It is easy to set up, espe­cially on a tablet or PC because the screen is large enough,” says Stéphane. From the CUMA office in Gricourt, JDLink can easily transfer the appli­ca­tion map to the tractor display, which is connected to the rele­vant imple­ment. When drilling cereals, CETA du Saint-Quenti­nois provides recom­men­da­tions for the number of seeds per square metre depending on the stage of the season. When drilling crops for energy produc­tion, espe­cially sorghum, a second satel­lite receiver is used for auto-steer, as the length of the imple­ment meant drift on slopes could some­times reach up to 15cm.

TARGETED CROP PROTECTION TREATMENTS

The self-propelled sprayer has a 45m boom and is equipped with a G5+ display connected to the John Deere Oper­a­tions Centre via JDLink. A successful trial for targeted thistle control was carried out on sugar beet this spring. A drone flight over the fields, conducted by the Chamber of Agri­cul­ture and its service provider Abelio, provided the basis for creating maps compat­ible with the sprayer’s section control. “The herbi­cide saving is very clear, and importing the Abelio map into the G5+ display is very easy,” says Stéphane. “Behind the steering wheel, it feels almost magical.”

FERTILISER: THE NEXT STEP?

The cost of nitrogen fertiliser and the poten­tial savings from using preci­sion tech­nology are hard to leave out of the discus­sion. If it is not possible to apply less fertiliser, then nutri­ents could at least be supplied to the plants more precisely. For the two CUMA managers, the goal is clear: The right amount in the right place.

At a demon­stra­tion at their John Deere dealer PM-Pro, the two farmers were intro­duced to a new appli­ca­tion devel­oped with fertiliser manu­fac­turer Yara. The Atfarm tool combines nitrogen rate control via a crop sensor with satel­lite-based moni­toring of crop devel­op­ment. This produces an appli­ca­tion map for vari­able nitrogen rates based on esti­mated biomass and nitrogen uptake. “The simplicity of the Atfarm system, which can be controlled via smart­phone, is surprising,” says Stéphane, who would like to try it with his fertiliser spreader.

MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

The two farmers agree: Preci­sion agri­cul­ture is not a waste of time. “Honestly, the John Deere solu­tions work,” says Stéphane. “The special­ists we deal with receive contin­uous training.” Matthieu relies on tech­nology to address the shortage of labour, partic­u­larly when he is hoeing sugar beet, which is now signif­i­cantly more precise thanks to the RTK signal, even with a some­what older hoe.

CUMA des Terroirs entered the world of preci­sion agri­cul­ture through guid­ance, and its managers are confi­dently contin­uing along that path. If there could be any improve­ments, Stéphane and Matthieu would like their records in the Oper­a­tions Centre to be more compat­ible with the forms required by the author­i­ties. Even so, they intend to continue investing in auto­mated solu­tions. The appli­ca­tions should, however, remain simple and intu­itive to use. “All time savings, both in setting up and in driving, improve the effi­ciency of our work,” says Matthieu. “These gains are more impor­tant than possible yield increases, because crop devel­op­ment depends, above all, on the weather.”