Finesse Field Fertility - 7

By Dan Crummett
Progressive Farmer Contributing Editor

Precision farming is built on soil sampling, which, from the beginning, has been low-tech: A human pushing a probe into the ground and retrieving a core. That may be changing. Machines are coming, and they promise more consistency, more accuracy and more speed than mere humans can give.

At least two companies with new soil-sampling technologies are marketing products that automate the soil-sampling process.

The Falcon 5000, from Falcon Soil Technologies, uses a ground-driven, rotating, hollow, stainless steel drum with one or two patented, Teflon-coated stainless steel probes. They range from 3 to 10 inches long, depending upon the desired sample depth being measured.

"The drum is 5 feet in diameter and takes a sample every 7.5 to 15 feet, depending upon whether it is equipped with one or two probes," said Allan Baucom, Falcon's CEO. "The operator pulls the machine with a tractor, pickup or four-wheeler over the grid or zone to be sampled for whatever number of cores the operator chooses. A cab computer terminal or tablet guides the driver over field maps. GPS records where he takes samples."

Baucom said the Falcon machines can be operated from 8 to 12 miles per hour and can take 40 uniform, repeatable cores per minute.

CONSISTENT PRECISION

"More important, the last sample taken each day has the same depth accuracy, validation and repeatability as the first sample taken, giving a consistent quality, which complements the other technology of VR [variable-rate] management," Baucom added. "Quality and accuracy of the sample are the reasons for moving to automated sampling. Time and labor savings are a secondary benefit."

Baucom said soil cores collected from each zone are stirred by the drum's rotation into a homogenous mixture. It can then be sampled, bagged and stamped by an onboard UPC coding machine and recorded for longitude and latitude location, in case the sample needs to be repeated.

ANOTHER CONTENDER

Using auto-steer and GPS technology, soil sampling can be repeatable, said Jeff Burton, president of AutoProbe Technologies. Customers can pull his machine through a field at 5 to 7 mph while it takes a sample consisting of 27 insertions per acre in only 45 seconds.

"Our patented machine is in its third generation, with prototypes dating back to the 1990s, and features a single-tracked chassis pulled behind a tractor.

"As the track moves over the ground, the soil probe is pushed through the track into the soil with up to 1,000 psi [pounds per square inch] force for a full 6-inch core. As the probe retracts and moves up and across the top of the track, the soil is removed from the hardened steel probe and transferred pneumatically to the cab of the tractor, where the operator collects and bags samples, and records their field location," Burton explained.

AutoProbe takes a core every 8.5 feet or 17 feet, depending on probe configuration.

"By collecting a large number of cores in the grid from repeatable locations, we can get a much more accurate view of soil fertility than we can with people pulling samples by hand 30 feet around a single point," he added.

The large number of samples gives a 90% confidence level in analyzing the fertility of a given area, Burton said.

Both companies currently market primarily to crop consultants and farm-supply companies, which can leverage cost of the machines over many acres. Prices range by model, from $49,870 to $59,900.

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Editor's note:

This is the seventh in DTN/The Progressive Farmer's series on Finesse Field Fertility, helping farmers fine-tune how to feed their crops and get the most value from every input and practice.

(ES/CZ)

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