Omnia helps compile accurate seeding plan – Farm Contractor Magazine
The continued development of Hutchinsons' Omnia system allows growers to create variable-rate seeding maps with the aim of uniform crop establishment. ...
Ed Strawson, digital services specialist, explains that the various layers available within the Omnia system can help growers to put together an accurate variable seeding plan. “Growers can build up details of the soil type, weeds and slug pressure within the system, all of which is automatically taken into account when creating a variable seed map,” he says.
On top of this information, growers can log the crop and variety being planted, with the thousand grain weight, predicted germination and targeted plants/sq m. From this, the system will produce a variable seed rate map, calculating the required kg/ha to achieve uniform establishment.
As well as adjusting the seed rate to factor in pressures within the field, the system can also make continual adjustments based on the drilling date.
“When making the plan, the grower will input the drilling date,” Ed explains. “As we saw last year, this can change very quickly due to the weather. When drilling is delayed, most growers will simply up the seed rate. This means some areas of the field will receive too little, while others are oversee With Omnia, if the drilling date changes, you can simply change the date in the system, and it will calculate a new variable seeding map.”
The various layers within Omnia can also help growers to make difficult
decisions about drilling. “With the greater number of options available within the Sustainable Farming Incentive, and more people looking closely at the overall profitability of their fields, growers can use the profitability module in Omnia to see if there are parts of the field that are consistently losing money.
“It might be headland, or a particularly wet part of the field, and with the data in front of them, they can make the decision to take this area out of production.”
Updating the drill
While Hutchinsons’ variable-rate maps are compatible with nearly all systems on the market, the company recognises that some growers are still using older drills and tractors. As such, it offers the E-Seed and Connect systems.
E-Seed replaces the landwheel on older drills with an electric motor, enabling it to work with variable-rate seeding maps. Ed says the accuracy is on par with factory-fitted variable rate systems and is priced competitively for a quick return on investment.
If the tractor does not have a GPS system, the iPad-based Connect system uses the location tracking on the smart device to ensure that the correct seed rate is applied in the right part of the field. A combination of both of these systems will enable smaller-scale growers to take advantage of the latest technology, according to the company.
Email Us