Web design by Lewis McKerrow 2011

Historically farmers knew the basics about the interaction between crops and soil. Plants like a soil pH of between 6.0 - 6.5, the pH in soils goes down every year due to a number of reasons, acid rain, crop removal, fertiliser use. To correct this we have to add lime to the fields periodically, historically this was done approximately every 5 years at a rate of 2 tonnes per acre. Plants also need Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium as their main nutrition, again this was historically applied at a standard rate with cattle manure and artificial fertiliser.

Nowadays science has taught us that not every part of a field will be the same, through laboratory analysis we can accurately determine the nutrient status of the soil. We also now know accurately how much a particular crop will use and remove. We can now add GPS technology into the equation to sample many points within a field and draw up an electronic application map to allow a tractor computer to apply inputs such as Lime, N, P, K variably to the areas that need more or less nutrient. We can then go back to these sample locations to check that the balance has been improved a few years later.