Reduce Labor Costs Associated With Weed Management With Agerpoint Data And Analysis
CHALLENGE
Gain the ability to reduce labor associated with the identification, tracking, and management of areas with weeds
Our client needed a way to easily identify areas of poor weed control, while at the same time decreasing the labor associated in this management process. Historically this process has been a manual inspection on each row by farm employees – increasing time and cost.
In addition, they wanted to have the output (artifact) to be easily usable by farm workers on-site via a mobile device or tablet.
SOLUTION
Collected and combined Agerpoint and aerial multispectral imagery data to create one fused GPS enabled image for easy navigation of identified weed areas
Taking a one-time data collect with Agerpoint and three rounds of aerial multispectral imagery data collected over a one-year span of time, the final product was a map showing exact locations of weeds indicted by defined markers.
The defined weed markers were then categorized by how frequently they returned allowing the identification of weeds that were tolerant to the herbicide used. This categorization allowed our client to focus efforts on those areas with a more advanced weed management protocol. In the past the same weed management practice would have been applied to all weeds, resulting in poor control on herbicide tolerant weeds.
RESULTS
Reduced labor cost by more than 50% due to the collection, processing, and analysis of both ground and aerial imagery data
Not only was the desired result of decreased labor costs realized, the eradication of identified weed areas aided in yield management, and reduced water requirements for affected areas – furthering cost savings and revenue opportunities.
