COURIER

28 Courier 2 | 11 Technology
2 | 11 COurier 29
John Deere’s engineers have even gone
on to equip the mobile lab with further
talents. “Now, the content of components
such as crude protein, starch,
sugar and fiber can also be determined.
It is important to know the nutritional
value of raw feed accurately in order to
be able to feed the animals properly –
especially for dairy farmers,” says Engel.
And the data aren’t just useful for optimizing
feed composition: they’re also
an important source of information for
operators of biogas plants.
Thanks to satellite technology, intelligent
steering systems can position the
machine within the field to the nearest
centimeter. “The machines also communicate
with each other via wireless
technology. This proves its worth if
harvesting involves multiple combines
and transport vehicles, particularly
in poor visibility or when driving at
night,” says the John Deere manager.
Progress in applications and jet nozzle
technologies promote the use of crop
protection products in an environmentally-acceptable
way.
Prof. Ulrich Schurr, a scientist at the
Research Center in Jülich, Germany
The farmers’ work is made easier and
more efficient: The more precisely the
seeders or combines are maneuvered,
the lower the losses for the farmer.
“Already today more than half of all
tractors and self-propelled harvesting
machines are equipped with electronic
applications for ‘precision farming’ – as
our recent industry survey shows,” says
Dr. Bernd Scherer, Managing Director
of the VDMA Agricultural Machinery
Association (the Association of German
Machine and Plant Constructors). “At
the upper end of the power spectrum,
this is even approaching hundred percent.
And this trend will continue to
intensify in the future,” says Scherer.
A question of
droplet size
Bayer CropScience’s crop protection
experts also work closely with machinery
manufacturers around the globe,
supporting them for example in the
development of environmentallyfriendly
spray technology. The application
experts in Friessleben’s group
are trying to reduce water rates by
investigating different jet and droplet
sizes. “Larger droplets greater than
400 microns in diameter are often more
suitable because they cannot be carried
on the wind so easily,” explains the
Bayer expert. His team is working with
sprayer manufacturers to develop such
drift-reducing nozzles. “Crop protection
products have improved greatly in
recent years, such that larger drops are
indeed possible now,” explains the application
expert.
The Bayer application technology experts in Dr. Rein hard Friessleben’s group are working
to develop drift-reducing nozzles. They also aim to reduce water application rates.
But once the right choice of herbicides,
insecticides and fungicides has been
made, the products also need to be handled
correctly. “Crop protection products,
if applied properly, can achieve
yield and quality increases of about 30
percent,” says Friessleben. This is why
Bayer experts don’t just develop robust
and easily-applied solutions; they also
instruct farmers and their staff in training
programs. “In Malaysia, our lowvolume
concept, which can reduce the
amount of crop protection products that
needs to be applied, has already been
very successful,” comments Friessleben.
“It has allowed farmers to apply our
herbicide Basta® in exactly the right
amounts, taking less time than before
to treat their oil palm plantations.”
Meanwhile, sensors detect soil conditions,
plant growth and pest infestation
levels, producing maps that allow successive
growing periods to be compared.
Special sensors linked to satellite systems
register where conditions are too
dry, or where more fertilizer should be
applied. In future, plant physiological
state might even be measurable directly
from space: “If plants become sick, they
also get a kind of “fever”. These subtle
differences in temperature can already
be detected from orbit,” says Dr. Michael
Metzlaff, Manager for Research Collaborations
for Bayer CropScience in Gent.
Persuading plants to reveal
their secrets
But innovative high-tech devices and
sensors can only be used profitably if
the farmer knows how his crops are faring.
For this reason, plant researchers
such as Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schurr and his
team at the Jülich Research Center are
looking very closely at the life processes
of wheat, corn and other crops, using the
most modern methodology. The plant
experts subject leaves, stems and roots
to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI),
which is better known from medicine,
to reveal the plants’ innermost secrets.
“For example, we can follow water and
nutrient flows through the plant and its
tissues,” says Schurr. The advantage of
MRI is that the researchers can examine
the root systems in their natural habitat
in the soil, without digging up the
plant. They use high-throughput screening
to monitor how carbon dioxide and
water are distributed within the plant,
and how environment influences affect
these flows and unsettle the plant’s “system”.
For example, leaves react quite differently
than roots do.
“Plants live in markedly different media:
air, soil and water,” says Schurr. “They
need to take what they need from their
environment as best they can, because
they cannot relocate. They have developed
ingenious mechanisms in order to
survive,” says the scientist. In order to
understand better the interactions of
plants with the environment, the Jülich
team investigates its plants not only in
the laboratory, but also in the field. The
plant experts are able to take advantage
of advances in technology in order to
“shrink” their analytical machines to
portable size, to allow investigation of
wheat plants in the field.
Crops are affected by all
the major mega-trends
Schurr: “In the end, agriculture is about
extracting the maximum yield from
crops. Closer coupling of crop production,
plant breeding and plant management
can improve a lot here.” Meeting
the challenge therefore requires the
targeted cooperation of various experts
– from agronomists, biologists and
mechanical engineers, to chemists and
computer scientists.
Dr. Bernd Scherer, Managing Director of the German VDMA (Association of
German Machine and Plant Constructors).
Intelligent intensification of production –
Interview with Dr. Bernd Scherer
What can bring more precision to the field?
Precision farming brings efficiency improvements that pay for themselves in hard
cash. Fuel and raw materials can be used more sparingly and fertilizers and crop
protection products will no longer be simply piled on: each square centimeter of
the field can be covered selectively, and sensor technology and digital maps allow
specific agronomic requirements to be met across the field.
How can it be ensured that people and machines work together optimally?
To allow all of the new features to be used comfortably and profitably, the current
trend is towards the development of a central control terminal. Intuitive user
interfaces that embrace smartphones and navigation systems are now almost
taken for granted. Moreover, all manufacturers offer training courses and place
value on dialogue with farmers and contractors. But the machines also have to
talk to each other, so that the tractor-device combinations work smoothly. This is
why we, as an association, commit ourselves to standardized interfaces.
Giant machines or small field robots – where does the trend lie?
“Autonomous machines” are moving towards the center of focus in the development
departments. What is also becoming apparent, however, is a trend towards
integrating more autonomous control systems into conventionally-designed farm
equipment and tractors. But against a backdrop of increasing working widths and
power requirements, robot technologies are probably only suitable at the moment
for niche applications, such as the analysis of the state of the crop.
What will agriculture have to deliver in the future?
Society is becoming increasingly aware of the importance of the agricultural
sector in addressing global challenges: a massive change in dietary habits, especially
in the emerging economies, coupled with higher protein intake, mean that
food demand will increase dramatically. Similarly, energy and mobility needs are
changing, and this also affects agriculture and draws it into the question of climate
change mitigation. Global supply bottlenecks can only be dealt with through
intelligent intensification of agricultural production: networked machines, automated
documentation and precise cultivation and harvesting processes provide
the technical tools needed for an agriculture that is suited to the future.
But it’s not only the food issue that will
present a strong challenge to agriculture
– climate change and the increasing use
of biomass will also be important factors
in the future. “Crops are involved
or affected, either directly or indirectly,
by almost all of the mega-trends,” says
the Jülich plant expert. “It is important
that we create plants that are adapted to
particular types of use – be it with a high
nutrient content for good food or with a
large biomass yield for optimal energy
utilization,” Schurr explains. Because
industry uses renewable raw materials
more and more to establish green material
flows and to obtain bio-based materials
and fuels. The expectations made
of agriculture in the future will be are
considerable – and diverse. t
Caroline Zörlein