Niagara College Crop Portal

Precision agriculture: smart farming software 

 

CHALLENGE

Investment in precision agriculture equipment is significant across Ontario; however, the agronomic, and geographic information science (GIS) areas are lacking research to demonstrate a return on investment (ROI). Farmers need a way to input their data and process it to allow for smarter decisions in their business and promote better outcomes for yields and quality.

SOLUTION

Niagara College built a web system called the Crop Portal to house and process farm data layers (yield, as applied, topography, etc.) into digitized maps that are compared and contrasted to support ROI and determine best practices. With this data inputted into the software, a farmer or consultant can see the high and low points in a field, know where the water run-off is and also be aware of which areas in a field consistently produce the best yields from year to year.

Funders: Agricultural Adaptation Council (AAC), Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE), NSERC, Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), Growing Forward 2. Collaborators: 20 grain farmers, 8 agronomists/Certified Crop Advisors/agricultural consultants, and OMAFRA team members Nicole Rabe, Land Resource Specialist; Ian McDonald, Crop Innovation Specialist; and Ben Rosser, Corn Specialist.

READ THE STORY HERE