Data driven agriculture —The opportunity
A picture tells a thousand words; today, through remote sensing and cyber infrastructure, a similar picture can give us millions of data points. Sunrise AG and Grow the Energy Circle have identified opportunities to fully develop precision farming practices within the irrigated regions of southern Alberta. By integrating aerial image remote sensing and geographic information systems with controlled variable rate irrigation systems, water and fertilizer use can be managed more efficiently, and land productivity can be increased by an estimated 20%. This can be enabled through data management and systems integration – Data Driven Agriculture or DDA.
DDA creates an opportunity for agriculture producers to be true stewards of the valuable resources we are using by having access to real time growth production data, to derive real time prescriptions that can responsibly apply inputs when and where required in season. The opportunity is to produce a better quality, higher net yield crop that benefits the entire value chain; the producer, processor and in the end the consumer, and habitant of the planet.
In 2012 Grow the Energy Circle Ltd (Growtec) initiated its 2020 Vision: Reduce crop inputs by 20% Increase NET yield by 20%. Achieve this by the year 2020!
To achieve this 2020 vision and goal, Growtec sought out the innovative production solutions experts in new precision ag technology and agronomy Sunrise AG. Guidance was sought from Together Sunrise AG and Growtec recognize the tremendous potential of precision tools presently available and originated Data Driven Agriculture. A full team of innovators and specialists in the fields of agronomy, variable rate technology, cyber infrastructure, analytics, processors and customers are required to accomplish the realization of a successful DDA program.
