SR9219 - Real Time Web-based Data Management System for Agriculture Solutions

This project was funded by OMAFRA through the 2009 New Directions & Alternative Renewable Fuels Research program.

Lead researcher

Dr. Michael R. Duncan, Chair of Visualization Sciences, Niagara College

Objectives

To help agricultural growers make effective real- time decisions by providing them with current farm-specific information. We intend to put real-time farm location-specific weather, micro-climatic, and plant health information into the hands of the farm manager. Information such as field specific rainfall forecasts, disease pressure maps, and yield/ quality maps will help with operations and field management as well as with mitigation of risks or problems.

Expected benefits

This proposal will assist agricultural growers to improve their operations by providing them with digestible information delivered in real-time derived from remote-sensed data specific to their field and crop. Niagara College will develop a general methodology or framework for implementing field tested and calibrated algorithms called a 'channel'. The channel will combine complex remote sensing inputs with analysis and deliver simplified outputs that the farmer can use easily. Examples will include farm specific rainfall and frost forecasts, as well as identifying zones within farm fields where different growing conditions exist.

The ability of the individual farmer or farm manager to receive customized information in real time about the conditions within his/her farm field, will enable fast response to emerging conditions, help solve potential problems, manage farm inputs such as fertilizer more efficiently, and ultimately increase competitiveness in the global marketplace.

Results

Student research assistants from Niagara College and researchers from OMAFRA successfully developed:

• a software tool for precision agriculture data management that is currently in the pre-commercialization stage.
• a new soil sub-categorization technique, called 'Digital Soil Mapping (DSM)', which will enable farmers to define 'management zones' within their fields.

The software tool is an image segmentation algorithm that can be used for a number of purposes:

• to define management zones
• to take forest inventory
• to track the progression of algae blooms in Ontario waterways (typically due to agricultural runoff).

Digital Soil Mapping (DSM) is a relatively new technique in soil science. DSM is being practiced in areas like sub-Saharan Africa to define farming areas and to help local farmers become self-sufficient.

Ontario famers can apply the same techniques to better understand crop variability within fields and to improved farm management practices that can address different zones within farm fields. Benefits of improved management practices include:

• reduced costs to the farmers
• improved farm yields and crop quality
• lessening of the impacts of farming on the local environment
  

Related information

• Other projects which were funded through the 2009 New Directions & Alternative Renewable Fuels Research Program
• The Alternative Renewable Fuels Research and Development Fund
• The New Directions Research Program