LandView Systems of Edmonton has added a
visual component to computer record keeping.
By using aerial photographs of the land, this software can measure the size of fields, sloughs, creeks, ditches, roads, farmyards and hilltops. These measurements can later be used by LandView DSS Pro software to make precision farming maps through satellite tracked global position systems.
If farmers feel they don't need the advanced functions of DSS Pro, they can use FarmView Record Keeper to record field histories and plan fertilizer and chemical applications as well as crop rotations.
Software buyers must also pay LandView to make computer scans of aerial photographs of their farmland. The software then uses these digital maps for basic record keeping to more advanced precision agriculture applications.
The software is quite refined. Loading is easy and demonstration versions work with few errors.
Being able to see individual fields on the computer screen makes it simple to reliably speculate about the results of different management strategies.
The programs offer many of the features found on other land management software. However, what puts LandView above some other programs is the ability to create field maps and the visual guidance the image provides. These can be important tools for farmers who prefer to take a map to the field or who rely on others to operate machinery or who hire custom applicators.
FarmView can record nearly every aspect of field activities from fallow to fall applied fertilizer. Easy-to-use menus allow users to select problem areas of a field, such as weeds and salinity, and calculate their size. They then use the program to review past strategies and plan for the future.
Included in the database program are areas to record weather notes, crop production comments and other production information. Users can prepare a budget with a feature that allows the comparison to actual results at year-end.
Crop production data can be viewed as an overlay above the aerial map so producers can see the effect of their planning year by year.
While the program is a great way to track history, its more advanced sibling is probably the long-term moneymaker. At $2000, LandView DSS Pro costs more than FarmView, but it can accept global position system data. This allows growers to analyze field data from GPS-equipped combine yield monitors, fertilizer and spray applicators and someday protein and oil content monitors. This information in overlays above actual field maps may help growers see the effects of management decisions within the same year.
LandView DSS Pro is aimed at agronomists and larger producers. It contains soil sampling data fields, fertilizer blending and application analysis, yield analysis, economic threshold analysis and prescription mapping functions that provide data for computer-assisted metering of seed, fertilizer and pesticides.
Without the farm equipment to attach to DSS Pro, it isn't possible
to see if all the features will function. But if they work as
well as the company's other programs do in the demonstration versions,
they should be a hit with many larger producers looking to break
into fully automated field metering. DSS Pro shows potential as
a farming tool of the next decade. The price may put off some
producers, especially since LandView charges to convert aerial
photographs into digital files. However, that is a one-time expense.
