Sensor technology for Precision farming

Offentlig prosjektsammendrag

Yara provides not only crop nutrition, but also solutions and tools for modern farming that allow the farmer to increase yields, while securing sustainability and reducing the carbon footprint. Sustainable agriculture requires the best farming practices possible to be applied. Yara aim to increase productivity and maximize farm profitability, while minimizing environmental harm. Modern agriculture is based on scientific knowledge, but farmers also need improved management practices. Yara combines the best from both worlds by offering digital solutions that allow resources to be used more efficiently, while maintaining or increasing yields and decreasing harm to the environment. Yara’s mantra in fertilizer application is to add the specific nutrients needed for the crop, in exactly the right amount, at the right time. A key concern is that too much nutrient, more than the plants can take up, is wasting money and harming nature. Yara has developed the N-sensor enabling the farmer to measure crop nitrogen requirement as the fertiliser spreader passes across the field and variably adjusts the fertiliser application rate accordingly. In this project, the target is to develop new sensor technologies, that potentially can enable the farmer to measure a broader spectrum of nutrients as well as biomass. These technologies can have a very high impact on farmers yield as well as for sustainability and reducing the carbon footprint from agriculture.