WA farmers now have a way to view a map of their farm which contains plant and soil sample data. Unveiled at the Dowerin Field Days event last month, the custom-made CSBP app, FERTview, is a product of CSBP’s alliance with Google.
As a local and dominant fertiliser supplier, CSBP ‘s goal is to assist Australian farmers by giving them a new way to monitor their paddocks’ performance. Its tie up with Google is part of a rising focus on precision agriculture and associated technology – a field currently receiving billions of dollars in investment outside Australia.
The app consolidates collected soil and plant data from CSBP customers with Google maps data and platform. This includes biomass readings that are paddock-specific.
Google Earth Engine has been tapped by CSBP for exclusive use in Australian agriculture. The technology has also been targeted for philanthropic organisations and research as it can show changes in climatic conditions.
CSBP’s General Manager of fertilisers, Charlie Perkins, said the company is committed to investing in adding value for customers to help them use fertiliser more effectively as a way to increase productivity.
CSBP sold over a million tonnes this year to June 30, making it the first time since 2008 for the company to hit the mark.
As per Mr. Perkins, the FERTview app will help farmers plan fertiliser applications, manage spatial and yield data, and view crop rotation info, historic fertiliser application rates, and historic peak season satellite imagery – all of which will help them understand how each paddock is doing in terms of performance.
The CSBP prides itself in being part of the few agricultural companies globally that has access to Google’s spatial processing engine.
The app aims to pave the way for better decision-making across farms by allowing customers to interact with their data. The tool may also be used for zone mapping in the future, allowing customers to use their machinery’s variable rate technology to distribute fertiliser more efficiently, in accordance with their historical and current farm data.
CSBP currently estimates precision agriculture tool users within WA growers to be at 2 to 3 percent – a number that is significantly lower compared to other leading agricultural nations.
Article originally posted as: CSBP, Google map way for farms