Pairtree Plus
4 November 2021
Like many farmers, brothers Fraser & Hamish Bligh have digital devices, maps and services from different suppliers that don’t ‘speak’ to each other on their cotton and wheat farm in the Darling Downs. Pairtree Plus overcame this problem by ‘integrating’ all of their data sets so critical information from disparate sources can be visualised and analysed together.
EM (electromagnetic) survey maps, PCD (plant cell density) and NDVI (normalised difference vegetation index) satellite images, John Deere tractor telemetry, including yield maps and spray application data along with a local weather station & rain gauges, channel and dam height sensors, soil probes, state government river & groundwater data are all combined into a single log in Pairtree dashboard.
Added to this are detailed historic and forecast weather, Spraymate spray forecasting, mapping tools and live grain & livestock prices.
“It’s really allowed us to look at all of our data in a new way and make the most of it,” says Fraser Bligh. “One example is the ability to overlay different map layers – so we can see EM maps and PCD satellite images over actual yield maps and soil probe data and build that up over time so we can see what’s happened and can sit down with our agronomist and work out how to improve it.
“We can create variable rate fertiliser maps based on that information. It’s the savings in knowing exactly how much and where to put the fertiliser and water and the fact that we’ll be able to build up an accurate picture over coming seasons and years with all the data stored. It gives you more confidence in those decisions.”
Fraser Bligh
Thanks to Pairtree, Fraser & Hamish can also monitor and maintain dam water storage and irrigation harvesting licence usage to ensure optimum water usage and application time, driven by soil moisture probes and weather forecasts. They have the ability to understand evaporation and water reduction in the dam which correlates with pumping and then seepage can be determined.
Data stacking shows yield map on left of white line and PCD map on right. The line can be scrolled back and forth and a series of images is built up over time and can be played. The dots indicate different IoT devices and the one inside the white target – in this case a soil probe – is displayed in the graph.
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