Spotlight on… TerraMap and how it could change the way you farm – Farmers Guide

TerraMap is Hutchinsons’ revolutionary high-definition soil mapping service, providing unprecedented insight into soil health and performance. Using cutting-edge passive gamma-ray detection, emitted by a scanner carried on an all-terrain vehicle, TerraMap measures naturally occurring isotopes to create highly detailed soil maps.

Unlike traditional soil sampling alone, TerraMap combines these advanced scans with reference soil samples to produce high-resolution maps of both nutrient and physical soil properties. With up to 48 soil characteristics mapped at 800 data points per hectare, TerraMap helps you truly understand your soil-and its potential.

Depending on your needs, TerraMap offers six service levels with up to 48 layers of soil data including carbon. There are six service levels to suit different budgets and requirements:

Standard – Maps P, K, Mg, pH, soil texture, and elevation, and meets the requirements for Farming Rules for Water

Standard & OM- As above plus organic matter

Premium – Everything in standard and OM plus cation exchange capacity, elevation, plant available water index, plus eight additional nutrients

Standard Carbon – Standard service + OM + organic carbon (% and t/ha)

Premium Carbon Plus – Everything in Premium, plus Organic Carbon (% and t/ha), Active Carbon (%&t/ha)

Gold – The most detailed option, covering all soil, nutrient, physical, and carbon properties. This service measures soil’s ‘plant available’ and ‘non-readily available nutrients, allowing greater understanding of soil dynamics.

TerraMap offers a flexible scanning window unmatched by other systems. While many opt to scan after harvest – when fields are easiest to access – TerraMap can be used at almost any time of year, making it highly convenient for farm planning.

If ground conditions allow, scanning is unaffected by soil moisture, stone content, compaction, crop cover, or cultivation state. If the vehicle carrying the scanner can access your field, it can be mapped. Hutchinsons has 24 scanners based around the country and around 80ha/ day can be mapped.

You don’t need to have a Hutchinsons agronomist to have your fields Terramapped. A member of the digital services team is able to deliver the results and go through them with you. The data created by Terramap is compatible with other software programmes.

TerraMap delivers more accurate and detailed soil maps than any other system. This greater definition provides a clearer picture of soil variability across your fields, enabling:

• Smarter, more precise input planning through variable rate applications
• Improved understanding of field performance
• Identification of problem areas for targeted action
• Reliable carbon baseline measurements