The new paradigm of precision agriculture

Automated steering systems have been widely deployed in advanced economy countries and on large farms to improve agricultural productivity. However, technological and price barriers have constrained a wider adoption. In addition, the Covid-19 pandemic has triggered awareness of the need to secure the food supply and relocate it closer to the final consumer.

The decline in the availability of human resources in the agricultural sector is also a critical issue that accelerates the need for mechanisation in this industry.

Producing more with autosteer

The latest generation auto-steering systems allow all size farms an access to high-performance yet affordable retrofit kits to upgrade their old or new tractors to optimise their work efforts, reduce input costs and fuel consumption and achieve the main goals of sustainable agriculture, specifically:

• Increase farm income because greater accuracy means fewer trips to the field, which reduces fuel, fertiliser and labour costs.
• Promote environmental stewardship by optimising tractor operation in the field and reducing soil compaction, which can make it more difficult for seedlings to emerge and limit water and nutrients in the soil.
• Improve the quality of life for farm families and communities. Operator efficiency and safety are improved as auto-steer systems eliminate steering work and allow them to focus on the tractor, implements and field.
• Increase production for human food needs. Reducing overlap improves crop yields, increases land use rates, and prevents crowding of plants competing for water and nutrients.

Automated steering retrofit kits for tractors are payback in no time.

Cutting edge technology

CHC Navigation’s Precision Agriculture Division, one of the world’s fastest growing geomatics companies in the recent years, has made significant strides toward the democratisation of automatic steering systems for farms of all sizes.

Powered by local, network or satellite RTK corrections, the GNSS+INS terrain compensation technology provides hands-free accuracy of ±2.5 cm over any terrain. The advanced controller ensures centimetre RTK accuracy in seconds, provides smooth autosteering and long-term repeatable accuracy. To gain flexibility and not limit the use of the equipment to a single farm vehicle, the systems were designed according to users’ requests to be easily moved from one tractor to another in less than 40 minutes as the farming season changes.

Special focus has been placed on the software user interface for controlling field operations. The software supports multiple guidance patterns to accommodate common field configurations in different parts of the world, including straight AB, A+, pivots, irregular curve and headland turn. It eliminates guidance errors and overlapping passes in the field. Aimed at both experienced and first-time users, the software also features real-time remote technical support from local dealer’s help desk.

To support the rapid growth of its Agriculture Division, CHC Navigation opens dealership opportunities to precision farming professionals in several countries and regions.