Scientist Foreshadows "Next Major Advance" in Agriculture

(Above: Dr. Henk van Riessen discusses a new crop management system based on remote sensing at the Lee County Extension Office-sponsored East Alabama Cotton Tour, held Aug. 8.)

Auburn, August 15, 2003 --- James Bond has his Q, the easygoing, but slightly absentminded scientist who supplies 007 with the latest advances in whiz-bang wizardry. 

And Southern farmers have their Henk van Riessen, a young, soft-spoken, Dutch-born agricultural scientist whose high-tech gismos may not be quite as breathtaking as Q's, though, by most accounts, they come pretty close.

As an agricultural scientist for InTime, Inc., van Riessen is traveling throughout North Alabama and much of the rest of the Southeast introducing producers to a crop management system based on remote sensing that allows producers to apply chemicals only where they're needed.

He shared his impressions of this new system with more than 100 cotton producers at the 2003 East Alabama Cotton Tour, held Aug. 8 and sponsored by the Lee County office of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

The first step involves a plane flight over cropland during which a digital camera specially equipped with filters collects images of light energy reflected from the crop’s surface.  These filters are especially designed to detect changes in the plant's chlorophyll production and biomass, both key indicators of plant health and vigor.   The maps are color coded to represent seven different levels of plant vigor.

"We classify these images into a scout image ranging from light brown to darkest green," van Riessen said.  "Darkest green indicates the lushest, greenest crop in the field.  The brown that shows up on these maps doesn't necessarily imply bare soil but may indicate the presence of plants that are the least lush."

Producers then can download these digital scouting maps into iPAQ computers or print them out in hard copy for easier reference.  The maps generated by these digital images enable producers to "navigate through their fields to see what their crops are doing and to see what can be done to make them grow better," van Riessen said.

After this initial scouting, digital "plug and spray" maps then can be generated on InTime’s Web site and fed directly into the ground or aerial applicators to provide a level of customized spraying that would have been unimaginable just a couple of decades ago.

"They just turn on the computer on board the spray rig and it decides how much needs to be put out based on a customized prescription," van Riessen said.

"So, instead of a blanket application, you'll be able to use the different colors generated by these prescription maps to tailor your applications to different needs in your fields.

"In some cases, producers may see that some of the taller cotton needs more growth regulator than some of the smaller cotton," he added.  "The big advantage here is that you're tailoring the spray rates to the needs of the crop, allowing the smaller cotton to catch up."

InTime provides prescription maps for herbicides, insecticides, plant growth regulator, defoliant, and even nematicides.  Studies have shown the approach provides up to 50-percent saving in chemical applications and decreased labor costs.

"One of our growers used the system to spray two fields, which normally required one and a half tanks or about 1,200 gallons in all," van Riessen recalled.  "But with our system he used only 727 gallons and saved one trip back to fill the tank. He put the product where it was needed, and by the end of the season he may also end up with higher yields.

"You can't compete with that if you do it yourself."

For this reason, van Riessen believes crop-management programs based on remote sensing technology represents the next major advance in American farming.

But the savings associated with remote sensing systems, van Riessen believes, are going to be reflected in ways other than just chemical applications and labor-saving costs.  Using this system to control Pix applications, for example, will result in the addition of more organic matter to the soil in places where cotton was held back in the past.

For now, van Riessen is concentrating his efforts only on cotton, though he ultimately hopes to develop management systems for other crops as well. 

(Source: Dr. Jeff Clary, Coordinator, Lee County Extension Office, 334-749-3353.)

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