Albert Zahalka, senior vice president
Topcon Precision Agriculture

Synopsis

Precision agriculture, combining high-accuracy GNSS technology, sophisticated software, machine guidance and metering systems, crop analysis systems, weather monitoring and telematics, is changing the face of agriculture around the world. It allows farmers at all levels, ranging from small family-run operations to large agri-businesses, to achieve significant improvements in farming efficiency. Benefits include increased yields, savings in time, higher productivity, reduced pollution, lower water use and precise applications of nutrients, seeds and water.

Precision agriculture technology overview

Precision agriculture had its beginnings back in the 1970s, when contractors began using laser controlled graders and scrapers in broad-acre applications, such as cotton and wheat farming, where vast, flat areas had to be accurately leveled and irrigated.

A major step forward occurred just 15 years ago, when in 1995 the United States’ GPS constellation NAVSTAR was made available for non-military use for the first time.

Initial accuracies were only within tens of meters, but fairly quickly the technology developed until today farmer operators can achieve accuracies to within two centimeters.

The construction industry was one of the first to see the benefits of this technology in large civil construction projects, and much of the early research and development went into this industry, with its high-volume demand.

However, it wasn’t long before this technology began to be offered to the farming sector.

Early systems were based around on-screen mapping, in conjunction with a light-bar visual guidance system, which visually showed an operator where to spray, till, or plant.

The technology we have progressed to today allows operators, controlling a wide range of farming machines and implements and with little or no user intervention, to achieve an accuracy of within two centimeters – something which is actually unique to precision agriculture systems developed by Topcon.

A key element in achieving these sorts of accuracies – combined with some very sophisticated software and engineering – is the use of two or more satellite constellations: the US GPS system, and the Russian GLONASS system. When satellite signals from multiple constellations are used, it’s referred to as GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System).

With GPS and GLONASS, users have access to more than 40 satellites – and Topcon was the world’s first manufacturer to be able to access both the GPS and GLONASS signals for precision positioning in the surveying and construction fields.

Additional satellites are expected to come online in the next several years as two other systems – Europe’s Galileo and China’s Compass – become operational.

Receivers such as Topcon’s G3 receiver system have been designed specifically to access all available satellite signals, now and in the future.

Why is this important? It’s simple: the more satellites a GNSS receiver can access, the greater the accuracy and ability to operate in hilly or mountainous terrain or close to tree lines.

And with the majority of suppliers to the precision agriculture market still only using the US GPS satellites, there is a definite advantage to farmers in being able to access multiple networks and larger numbers of satellites.

They can work 24/7, they get fewer “dropouts” (when satellites are behind trees, hills or other physical features of the landscape) and they can achieve greater accuracy – saving time and money, and thus increasing profits.

However, this technology’s ability to access GNSS networks is only part of the story.

Today’s most sophisticated precision agriculture systems integrate GNSS technology’s less than two-centimeter accurate positioning capability with a vast array of guidance systems, sensing devices, metering systems, and weather stations to provide farmers with unprecedented control over their land preparation, seeding, application and watering, and harvesting.

And because the machines just about drive themselves, there’s no longer a need for highly skilled operators – an important factor in remote areas where it’s often a challenge to find or recruit trained operators.

The impetus for much of this technology has come from a perhaps surprising source: two large Southern Hemisphere countries where successful agriculture poses some major challenges – Australia and South Africa.

With vast, dry regions being farmed, often under frequent drought conditions, need – rather than cost savings and productivity – has driven initial development of some of the world’s leading precision agriculture systems.

A good example of the development of this technology in the Southern Hemisphere is the history of the Australian-based KEE Technologies.

Over a period of 25 years, KEE had developed highly innovative display and variable rate control technology, based around sophisticated software to control sprayers and application rates.

KEE had been very successful in selling its systems to farmers in Australia and South Africa, and was looking to make the leap to North and South America, Europe and other regions.

However, KEE had access to only single-network GPS signals – and then only through third-party suppliers.

In 2006, KEE was purchased by Topcon Positioning Systems, to form Topcon Precision Agriculture. This new division of Topcon combined KEE’s display and variable rate control technology with Topcon’s highly accurate GNSS-based guidance and general machine control technology.

In terms of take up of this technology among farmers in developed economies, Australia and South Africa are global leaders in the marketplace, but their United States counterparts are quickly closing the gap.

The large South American economies such as Argentina and Brazil, as well as Europe are readily accepting the new precision agriculture technologies.

Today, precision agriculture is about three key elements:

1. Saving time
2. Reducing cost
3. Environmental stewardship

These three elements are the building blocks for the rise in the precision agriculture market.

Saving Time

The latest precision agriculture technology delivers significant timesaving opportunities, whether it’s a family-owned farm or a large corporate agriculture business.

Typically on family farms, everyone is stretched for time – so saving time on larger-scale jobs frees farmers, their families and staff up for other “must-do” jobs, as well as more free time to give them a better quality of life.

On large agribusiness enterprises, timesavings translate into higher productivity and increased yields. And because of the scale of these operations, the return on investment can be very rapid indeed.

Reducing Cost

The latest precision agriculture technology offers significant opportunities for cost savings across a whole range of farming activities, including:

1. Reduced requirements for seed, nutrients, pesticides and other chemicalsTasks are done right, first time, every time, any time (24/7)
2. Water management
3. Higher productivity 
4. Reduced fuel usage.

As an example, very-large farms – such as in the American Midwest, Canada, Australia, Brazil or South Africa – where an operator jumps in the tractor in the morning and, by mid-afternoon has reached one end of a farm field and is only just coming back.

When you’ve got a field length of many miles, imagine being just six inches out every mile: consider the amount of seed wasted on unprepared land, tilled land wasted if it’s not seeded, or the potential to burn the crop if you put double the fertilizer on one strip, not to mention the cost of the inputs.

And unlike in construction, where if a job’s not done right, it can usually be redone, in agriculture the consequences of an error can be more critical.
If you double seed, if you put on the wrong amount of fertilizer or pesticide … the consequences can be very expensive – and not readily apparent until it’s much too late.

Water management is another area where there will be increasing opportunities for cost savings, especially as water becomes a scarcer and increasingly expensive commodity in many regions of the world.

Precision land leveling technology allows a farmer to accurately level or slope the land and control the amount of water arriving at any particular point.

This increases the efficiency of irrigation with far more accurate absorption rates. Precision land forming also allows the farmer to improve drainage and eliminate low wet areas.

Environmental Stewardship

Precision agriculture technology is playing a significant role in reducing the environmental impacts of farming.

On the one hand, it reduces pollution and runoff, through lower chemical use, minimal overspray, better targeting – because sprays, nutrients, etc., are only used where they are needed.

“Prescription farming” is the new catchphrase for this unprecedented ability to save time, chemicals and money on any farming operation.

A perfect example of the latest technology is Topcon’s CropSpec, with its on-the-go crop canopy sensing, so that chemicals are only applied as needed.

Combine this technology with a weather station, and farmers can ensure they only spray when the conditions are right (whether day or night) – for example, avoiding spraying when wind conditions are not suitable.

Crop canopy sensing offers further opportunities for saving money. In the past, too many farmers have seen profits go “blowing in the wind” through wasted fertilizer, pesticide or water when applying to areas where it is not needed.

With below two-centimeter accuracy, particularly using the latest electric steering technology, the farmer travels on exactly the same track each time; that translates into significant fuel saving with maintaining that single track over many miles of plowing, seeding or spraying. And, the land benefits because less soil is compacted by the equipment wheels.

Further benefits of precision guidance include far more accurate tilling and seeding, so that less soil is disturbed, because farmers are only tilling the exact areas needed.

This also translates to lower time, energy and resource inputs. Machines and implements are precisely controlled to run on exactly the same swathe spacing, so there are no gaps or overlaps.

What does the future hold for precision agriculture?

There are a few key developments, mostly still in their infancy stages, that are truly going to change the face of farming around the world.

User interface improvements: A big factor for farmers will be massive improvements in ease of use of technological innovations.

While all manufacturers develop and promote products designed to achieve essentially the same thing, every manufacturer uses different operator interfaces.

With some systems it is essential to read the manual to figure out how to use it; with others, the system is so intuitive that ease-of-use is apparent, so that operation is possible without having to ever look at a manual.

Telematics: Another big change coming is in the field of telematics – which allows users to remotely monitor critical operating conditions and status of machines – whether in a field five miles away, or on the other side of the world.

Telematics brings together advanced GPS or GNSS technology, wireless communication, and web-based equipment management software to give farmers constant access to key data about all their equipment: operating parameters, location, fuel consumption, speed and direction, potential maintenance issues, and more.

Very soon, farmers virtually anywhere in the world will have access to total farm management systems – from field preparation to harvest – with all specified data monitored around-the-clock.

The addition of telematics to farm operation gives farmers the ability to manage their business from inside their home, wirelessly via computer from a piece of farm equipment, or from a location anywhere in the world (even when they are on vacation!).

All pertinent and specified data available to run their businesses will be literally at their fingertips.

Autonomous operation: Autonomous machine operation, often more popularly (but not entirely correctly) known as remote control, is something we will definitely see in the agricultural industry.

It’s already being used in the mining industry where – as with agriculture – users have access to large-scale sites in which they can fairly easily exclude people from locations where autonomous equipment is operating.

Having said that, autonomous equipment is required to include an array of safety systems to eliminate the risk of accidents if people do stray into a work area.
This is an area in which the global agricultural industry will lead this particular business innovation revolution. The safety issues are much easier to manage and the recognizable benefits and financial returns are apparent.

Autonomous operation combines such technologies as GNSS-based precision guidance, electric steering systems, infrared sensors, gyros and inertial sensors, automated metering, and precise monitoring technology.

Bringing it all together

In the future, farmers will be increasingly reliant on accurate, dependable statistical information, which will then feed into integrated precision agriculture systems to deliver outstanding productivity and crop yields.

In the not-too-distant future, we’ll have a farmer sitting in his farmhouse, looking at his computer and saying to his wife, “Marge, we are going to do the planting today.”

Then he will press the “planting” button and his tractor (or tractors) will come out of the shed, head off to the fields and begin planting the right seed in the right location, in the right quantities for optimum growth, all with minimal human intervention.

And if there’s a problem or a machine breakdown, the farmer will be instantly alerted.

And as those crops grow and mature, we’ll have sprayers and watering equipment driving along in the farm field. It will see that one plant is not as green or thriving as well as the next, so it will apply a shot of water or nutrient as required.

That vision is still a little way into the future – but it is clearly the direction precision agriculture technology is going.

A wide range of off-road vehicles are supported for this autosteering system, utilizing either direct interface through CANbus or ISObus, or the high-performance AES-25 Electric Steering. The system is designed specifically for parallel autosteering operations.

The X20 console provides farming operators with technological tools to combat the increasing cost of fuel, chemicals and fertilizers and the need to ensure improved  environmental control. It is a completely integrated controller with modular extensions designed to control every aspect of agricultural system management including, spraying, seeding, spreading, fertilizing, autosection control, variable rate control and the all new CropSpec crop canopy sensor.

Orders are now being accepted for the new system.

The new kits are available for standard row crop tractors, articulating tractors, track tractors, sprayers, combines and windrowers.

Available kits include: CIH, Fendt, John Deere, New Holland, Buhler, RoGator, Gleaner, and MacDon

This new RTK module includes both an internal, spread-spectrum 915 MHz modem for receiving data from a radio base station and a US GSM cell modem for receiving data from cellular data networks such as CORS or TopNET.

CORS networks provide a tremendous cost saving alternative for operators needing RTK correction and the number of available networks is increasing.  Since these capabilities are now built into the AGI-3 RTK system, users do not have to purchase additional hardware or modules in order to use CORS networks or GSM.

GSM functionality can be activated by purchasing a data plan and SIM smart card from a GSM service provider.

Existing AGA3677 RTK modules cannot be upgraded to include GSM support. For current users choosing to upgrade by replacing with the new AGA3928 module, firmware installed on the GX-45 console must be version 2.02.18 and version 3.3A5 on the AGI-3 receiver.

CropSpec is currently available for delivery to the global agriculture market in limited numbers with mass market introduction in early 2010. TPA is a business unit of Topcon Positioning Systems (TPS).

Working with Topcon's core competency in optics and in cooperation with Yara International (the world leading manufacturer of nitrogen-based fertilizers), Topcon engineers designed CropSpec as a powerful crop canopy sensor. The Topcon system utilizes a two-sensor system (left and right side of the cabin) that allows a farm operator to monitor plant conditions and apply fertilizer and other inputs only as needed.

"This system will help revolutionize and simplify variable rate applications," said Michael Gomes, director of agriculture business development. CropSpec sensors measure spectral reflectance using light from pulsing laser diodes focused on the plants. The reading can be correlated to measure chlorophyll content, which is closely linked to nitrogen in the plants. Scanning the crop creates a map to indicate relative canopy vigour.

The information can then be analyzed to determine crop areas that need treatment, construct prescription maps for later application, or immediately provide variable rate application enabling variable rate application in real time.

CropSpec, Gomes said, "allows farmers to perform real-time analysis of crop needs and meet those deficiencies immediately as they are traveling through the field. In other words, variable rate fertilizer applications are performed at the same time actual nitrogen readings are taken, based upon crop need."

Used with Topcon's X20 console (System 200), CropSpec links to Topcon's Maplink program, the industry's leading variable rate control (VRC) program for liquid sprayers or granular spreaders. The sensors measure nitrogen levels and Topcon's X20 controller executes that prescription immediately, controlling the output of fertilizer in one pass.

"This provides the benefits of variable rate application," Gomes said, "in a simple one-step process, reducing the complications typically associated with VR and can reduce both cost and waste associated with blanket fertilizer application.

"The return on investment of CropSpec is extraordinary," Gomes said. "It is possible to pay for the technology in a single growing season from the savings in fertilizer costs, coupled with the benefits of providing the correct amounts of fertilizer where it is needed most.

"The sensing method is non-contacting, non-destructive, and provides consistent and repeatable readings, enabling the comparison of data from week to week or year to year," he said.

CropSpec enables farm operators to work day or night with an "ease and versatility unmatched by any other technology," Gomes said. The compact system mounts on the tractor roof out of harm's way, eliminating the need for a boom-mounted sensor, reducing the potential for sensor damage as the machine is operating within the field.

CropSpec features two basic operation modes: a read/record mode and a fully automatic mode giving the operator a number of choices about how the variable rate application is determined from the sensor readings. Other features of the CropSpec system include a greater sensor to crop distance (2-4 meters) and a larger sensing footprint that covers more crop area per pass. Rather than viewing the crop from directly overhead, CropSpec's oblique sensor view, in combination with the large footprint enables more stable measurements in row crops at earlier growth stages.

CropSpec is coming to market after an extensive 18-month product qualification and competitor comparison testing. This global testing program consisted of systems being tested in the world markets by recognized industry leaders and scientists and at the Topcon agricultural test sites in Livermore, California; Concordia, Italy; and Adelaide, Australia.

TPA is the only precision agriculture manufacturer using its own test facilities that allow not only controlled and repeatable testing, but also hardware and software tests and validations on various tractors models and implements.

"Topcon can run these qualification tests 24 hours a day on three different continents at the same time," Gomes said.

Topcon continues to "push the boundaries of agriculture technology and is continuing to produce high-accuracy equipment to assist the farmer with crop management to maximize farm profits," he said.

More information on CropSpec is available on the TPA website at:
www.topconpa.com/products/application-control-systems/system-200/cropspec

Rod Haarberg, North American TPA sales manager, said, "Marty's experience in the precision agriculture industry and knowledge of applications will be key in the continued development of the agriculture business in Canada and will be of great benefit to all Canadian dealers."

He said Cook, who has more than four years experience dedicated to the precision agriculture business, will work out of Winnipeg, Manitoba and will coordinate directly with the Topcon Precision Ag offices in Olathe, Kansas.

Topcon Precision Agriculture (TPA) has released a new electric steering product, the AES-25.

Rhett Schildroth, TPA engineering director, said, “The AES-25 is an accurate steering system that does not intrude into the operator’s working area or alter the steering wheel position. There are no external components that could interfere with normal day-to-day operation within the cab.”

The AES-25 is fully compatible with Topcon’s new System 150 or the field-proven System 200 (X20 console).  The patented new system provides “supreme performance and control previously thought possible only with hydraulic systems,” Schildroth said. “The AES-25 is much more than assisted steering, it’s an advanced solution for all platforms from basic steering to those striving for high-accuracy results.”

Combined with System 150 or System 200 (X20), the AES-25 provides solutions from basic autonomous through real-time kinetic (RTK). Schildroth said, “This allows the farmer to start with the accuracy needed for particular jobs, then step up to RTK with confidence they will achieve full 2cm accuracy. With Topcon’s multiple satellite capabilities, inertial sensors, and full terrain compensation, the AES-25 offers unparalleled positioning and control.”

System 200 (X20) features GPS+ capability, using signals from both GPS and GLONASS satellites. System 150 with G3 technology receives signals from all available satellites. More satellites means higher accuracy, maximum uptime, and 24/7 round-the-clock operation.

Schildroth said, “Not only does the AES-25 give precise steering control, but provides a viable alternative to hydraulic steering systems. For the farmer who wants a simple console but precise steering performance, System 150 with the AES-25 provides row crop steering without hydraulics.  With a quiet, high-torque motor, the AES-25 provides silent operation and reverse steering, an exclusive feature within electric steering systems."

The AES-25 provides:

• Quick, simple installation;
• Easy transfer from machine to machine; and   
• Automated tuning.

For existing owners of X20 consoles with any GPS make or model, the AES-25 provides high accuracy auto guidance. Using the ProSteer ECU and cabin harness, an optional wheel angle sensor can be added for greater stability in challenging conditions (another Topcon exclusive).  The entire system can be truly customized for any farm operation.

“Topcon continues to push the boundaries of technology, and is continuing to produce high-accuracy equipment to assist the bottom line for the farmer,” said David Frick, TPA Australian national sales manager. “I can guarantee you we stand behind our products, which ultimately means we stand behind the farmer. This rugged product gives you options and accuracy, and that means value.”

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Topcon Positioning Systems (TPS) today announces a strategic partnership between TPS and AGCO Corporation, Your Agriculture Company, (NYSE: AG), a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment. The partnership will provide high-performing machine control, machine management and precision farming technology products and services to the global agricultural machinery market. Innovative and industry-leading products will reach the market faster by combining AGCO's equipment, customer base and agricultural industry knowledge with research and development from TPS.

"The AGCO and Topcon partnership is a strategic initiative designed to help AGCO deliver on its vision of providing high-tech solutions for professional farmers feeding the world," said Martin Richenhagen, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of AGCO. "The strength of AGCO's brands of agricultural equipment combined with Topcon Positioning Systems' proven technology products will provide numerous benefits to farmers looking for the latest products to make them more effective, efficient, environmentally responsible and ultimately, more profitable."
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System 150 is a complete autosteering solution with multiple constellation capability, allowing the use of GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo. The receiver includes completely integrated inertials and steering control for fast, smooth response. Flexible accuracy options include WAAS, EGNOS, Omnistar VBS/XP/HP and RTK. 

The console features a 5” high visibility screen with day/night modes and on-screen indicators for area applied, speed, row, and satellite information. Other functions include automatic coverage mapping and optional variable rate control with autosection control for up to ten sections.

System 150 is lightweight and portable and features simple on-screen setup, making it simple to move from vehicle to vehicle.

This 32 page high-quality catalog represents Topcon's extensive range of products and technologies that increase the productivity of the world's farmers.

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