Using an open source and resilient technology framework to generate and execute prescription maps for site-specific manure application

Abstract

The development of precision farming solutions and the required network infrastructure appear to be progressing at different speeds and levels of deployment. In most of the world's rural areas, where farming takes place, network coverage and infrastructure is at a basic level. However, where digital farming solutions are applied, internet-dependent applications need backup solutions to enable the same or a comparable performance towards maintaining the functionality of the specific practice and ultimately food production. The aim is to avoid regressing to basic practices waiving advantages of established precision farming technologies. Based on a conceptual framework, defined by the authors in a previous work, site-specific slurry application was chosen as a concrete use case to implement and demonstrate fallback options to maintain efficient and reliable application even during internet outages. Initially, the differences between conventional and resilient IT infrastructure were contrasted and investigated. The generation of a prescription map (PM) based on the fusion of multiple parameters, clustered in the domains of soil, yield, and remote sensing, was performed utilizing open-source and offline usable software. For seamless transmission of the generated PMs, a new and innovative hardware platform was integrated into the machinery fleet and working process of a machinery ring (MR), which was acting as a service contractor in the inter-farm slurry application. Interoperability was considered by enabling the executing software to accept PMs of altering origin. The on- and off-line generation of PMs including data fusion, were also compared. Here the multi-parametric approach corresponded to the ground truth data, whereas the PMs generated in an online farm management information system (FMIS), using only one data source, showed deviations in management zone patterns and relative dose rates. In addition, the impact of the lack of online accessible data on the delineation of management zones was investigated and resulted in a switch from the medium to the high dose rate (DR) level in 9.1% of the field's area.