A UNIQUE 'marriage' has been announced between farming advice specialists, Hutchinsons, and pharmaceutical giant, Bayer, and their respective precision farming platforms.

The collaboration, they said, will make the transfer, sharing and analysis of digital data faster, and more efficient using seamlessly merged data coming from Hutchinsons' Omnia and Bayer's FieldView set-ups. This synchronised approach will allow for an increased knowledge base and improved decision-making.

Many farmers already use precision farming tools, such as yield mapping, field records and weather forecasting, but cite the lack of communication between precision platforms as a hindrance to accessing and evaluating data. That leads to question marks when making strategic and tactical farm management decisions.

This new hook up between two giants in this field will allow growers to do more with the data they are already generating, not only by improving crop management for optimised yield and returns, but also shaping farm strategy for a more sustainable business, they said this week.

Bayer’s Max Dafforn said the collaboration was logical, given the synergies between the two platforms. “Omnia’s precision agronomy tools, combined with FieldView’s data capture makes the analysis of variable rate applications quicker and more effective.

"Effectively, users will have streamlined data collection and the ability to overlay yield data with variable rate application information quickly and accurately. Farmers will be able to utilise their data to generate cost of production maps within Omnia and make better management decisions.”

Oliver Wood, an ag-tech specialist with Hutchinsons, said the shared data will allow farmers to focus on key areas of husbandry. “Cloud-syncing Omnia and FieldView data will help growers visualise and analyse data more effectively, giving new insights on crop management strategies and operation effectiveness. This will help improve poor performing field areas, or identify alternative uses.”

On a practical level, once the linkage between the two platforms is in place, field boundaries will be synchronised, eliminating the need for manual file transfer, or double inputting of data. For instance, yield data, captured real-time in FieldView, will import automatically into Omnia, eliminating the inconvenience of dealing with different yield file formats, saving significant time.

Omnia's paid for 'Precision Agronomy' platform is already in use on over 4000 UK farms, covering 1m ha and users will be able to trial FieldView from the beginning of June providing sufficient time for the set-up and familiarisation with the platform, enabling data flow for harvest 2021.

One enterprise benefitting from both platforms, is GH Hoyles, of Long Sutton, Lincs – an early adopter of the Omnia platform, last season it started trialling Climate FieldView.

The entire farm was mapped using Omnia, including non-cropped areas and assistant farm manager, Henry Richardson, used it for variable rate seed, fertiliser planning, and mapping PCN areas, which is partly managed by variety and increased fertiliser rates.

He said it was easy to operate: “It’s seamless. The Plant Vision scanner worked perfectly with our sprayer, allowing us to detect changes in biomass and highlight potential problem areas.

"We also use these NDVI images to create fertiliser plans in Omnia. Likewise, the Connect App linked up perfectly with the drill to plan and implement variable rate drilling.”

He said connectivity between the two platforms would make variable rate applications easier. “Our success has been built on trialling, evaluation and benchmarking to refine farming practice, and that needs to continue with the challenges that lie ahead and continuing weather volatility. Simplified data sharing between Omnia and FieldView will allow us to evaluate any field area efficiently and accurately, helping us improve management decisions.”

A core appeal for him was the ability to map and quantify areas most suitable for Countryside Stewardship Schemes and for ensuring that he kept on top of legislative paperwork for the likes of NVZs. It had also helped with real time decision making on crop storage management and accurate assessment of irrigation of potato crops, he added.

Further integrated functionality is planned for the future. This will increase access within the two platforms extending the benefits across the farm, adding enhanced field insight to further refine crop management decision making. The package already works with data from the likes of Class Telematics and MyJohnDeere.

The full Omnia 'Precision' package, with all bells and whistles added, costs from £5 per ha per year, while Bayer's FieldView costs £300 per year on subscription, while hardware costs typically cost £280-£600 on a one-off basis. Omnia users are being offered a free trial period of Fieldview for a limited period.