As part of the smart farming project, a software-based potato yield model that has been developed jointly by agridata centre Agrimetrics and the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) is aimed at giving farmers reliable predictions on a crop’s likely yield and value via their smartphones.
PotatoSize, an app that has just been released following a joint venture between the James Hutton Institute, James Hutton Limited and Agrovista, claims to offer the opportunity to replace the laborious riddling and counting procedure used to estimate tuber sizes with a simple automated analysis of an image of tubers obtained from the test dig.
The developers claim that using these devices to collect information about planting date and emergence along with field images of the crop canopy taken with the phone’s camera can help growers get a better idea of what is happening under the soil.
“This type of analysis is a vital component to allow growers to manage burn down/haulm destruction strategies to ensure market requirements are achieved,” said Lewis McKerrow, Agrovista’s head of precision technology.
He said the mobile app allows quick and easy assessment of crop statistics, including crop weight in 5mm size bands, estimated crop weight per area (eg t/ha) and an easy-to-read bar graph of size bands. He added: “This level of detail provides growers with the information they need.”
source: scotsman.com
