Digitalization implemented in farm machinery - Potato cultivation

[Audio] Welcome at this seminar about digitalization in farming, more specific on potato cultivation and how specialized machinery can be equipped with specific technology to support this. First of all we will do the short introduction on AVR again, to introduce the framework in which AVR as machine manufacturer can play its role..

[Audio] So first of all : what is AVR ? This slide actually nicely explains it. AVR is manufacturer of machinery for potato cultivation. Full liner from field to shed. Our product range covers soil preparation , planting , haulm topping , harvesting and storage equipment – bulk and boxes..

[Audio] Our head office is in Roeselare- Belgium. Engineering department and production of spring and harvesting equipment is done there. We have a production location in the Netherlands, where the storage equipment is build. And a service workshop plus spareparts warehouse in Germany, near Hannover. For sales we work together with machinery dealers and partners all over the world..

[Audio] So as explained we do the full line from soil cultivation and planting in spring. Mechanical weed control in summer. Haulm topping and harvesting during – summer / autumn. And finally the storage equipment to get the goods – in our case mainly potatoes - in bulk storage or boxes..

[Audio] To give you an idea on sales figures. We produce up to 1000 machine units pro year..

[Audio] Those machines are exported all over the world. Here you see a map of all countries in which we have green equipment in the field or shed… main market is the EU- big 5 top producing potato countries. The big 5 consists of France, Germany, UK, Belgium and the Nederlands). But you also find our machines outside Europe : from Canada to Australia. From Argentina to Japan….

[Audio] Our mission is to help our customers store (and sell) a higher percentage of sellable crops, with less input. The machinery are auxiliary tools to the potato cultivation. It's the potato who brings the money to our customers, so search solutions to help our customers organize their cultivation process as efficiently as possible..

[Audio] Now quickly trought the product range. It starts with soil preparation :.

[Audio] Potatoes are growing in the soil, so decent soil preparation to create a good growing environment for the tubers is key (!). A good soil preparation isn't only key for good quality yields but it's also the first stage for a smoot harvest; Don't forget all the soil needs to go through the harvesters and needs to be sieved/cleaned out the crop..

[Audio] Next step is planting the seed tubers.. POTATO PLANTERS.

[Audio] Where AVR offers a range of cup-planters. Key challenges while planting is getting the seed tuber at the right spot, be able to enter the field an the right time (in order to have ideal growing conditions and a long growing period) and add all necessary fertilizing and crop-protection at the right place and in correct dose..

[Audio] AVR also has mechanical weed control machines in the range, these are getting more important recently, since chemical products are getting more and more restricted, because of their impact on the environment. Next step where we have machinery to help is haulm topping..

[Audio] Haulmtopping is important in potatoes for some reasons : To stop growth when seed or table potatoes reached the correct size To stop growth so hardening process can start to have potatoes ready for long storage. And finally just to facilitate the harvesting process….

[Audio] If everything is done properly , last step in the field cycle is to harvest the product. Harvesters can roughly be divided in 2 main groups , more specific trailed harvesters and self propelled..

[Audio] Within trailed potato harvesters we offer different types of machine. Each with its own specific cleaning mechanism, which suit the condition best. Depending on soil type, haulm, variety, desired quality, logistics ….

[Audio] The flagship harvester @ AVR is the Puma4.0. The first puma's revolutionized the concept of 4row self propelled harvesting. This 4th generation was the first connected potato harvester, launched in 2019/20..

[Audio] After the harvest, a new important phase starts. Storing the potatoes before shipment to customer or processing companies..

[Audio] Receiving the potatos from the tipping trailers to get them into bulk storage or boxes is done with our storage equipment range. In this step a last cleaning – separation of material other then potato can be achieved, before the potatoes are put in bulk or boxes for long storage..

[Audio] Al whole range of different cleaning devices and transport belts get the potatoes gentle and safe in their storage place for winter. Potatoes are stored upto 9 months, we are talking living material, so it's important that all steps to get the tubers here happen gentle and efficient..

[Audio] Now we can get back to our subject : Digitalization implemented in farm machinery. I'll guide you through some possibilities using all steps in some sort of yearly cultivation cycle..

[Audio] Every year the farmer needs to make a cropping scheme. So first it's decided on which plots potatoes will be grown. These fields are analysed and base on analysis a cropping strategy can be made. Which kind of soil preparation, fertilizing, planting distance, kind of seeds , etc will be used. So finally when season starts in spring a suitable soil preparation and fertilizing job is done. After that seeds are planted and the growing can be begin. Typically during the season treatment against pests and extra fertilizing can be done. Some area – more areas every year – provide irrigation. In automn harvesting is done … If we look at where we as avr are in a smart agriculture cycle, we see we can provide agronomical information in 2 crucial stages of the process. First of all : in spring we can provide planting data. And 2nd time is during harvesting, also crucial. Yield measurement is the ultimate evaluation of what happened during season. Did I as a farmer make the right decisions? Do I spot differences within or between fields ? Can I link that variety to choices I made during the season? And offcourse : what do I learn for coming seasons….

[Audio] How can we define smart farming. If we look at the context of farming – definitely arable farming, it's all about working with living material in outside conditions. That's means subject to nature's forces (climate) , subject to pests and diseases , working with specific soil types … And the goal is to maximize a quality yield while optimizing input use and minimizing environmental impact. So it's all about doing the right thing at the right time, and reacting in the best possible way to external influences. Let's see how didgitalization can help achieve this….

[Audio] These are the steps which can be discussed. Let's start..

How can smart – precision – digital agriculture help?.

[Audio] Let's start with fields, this is not really AVR area so we will not go into detail..

[Audio] First of all mapping fields and document them. Long term information about fields is a great first input to know how to cultivate the plot. Historical information about crops – fertilizing – etc is a base for decisions to take. More specific some examples : Mapping fields and preparing planting strategy – drawing spraytracks and most optimal pathway to plant a field. Soil scans to analyze the starting conditions – as a base to optimize pH ; make variable rate maps based on water availiablity – shades - … ….

[Audio] Fertilizer : fertilizing while planting is something AVR can help with, before planting not, so again some examples but not into detail..

[Audio] Based on the soil scans some variable rate fertilizing can be done. Think @ optimizing pH- rate within field by applying lime as efficient as possible. Fertilizer spreaders and slurry tanks these days are also equipped to cope with variable rate… And with sensor-camera technology (slurry) to create real as applied maps for nutrients..

[Audio] Next up is the planting. Here we as AVR can provide machines. Based on before described field mapping and soil scans which can lead to the maps providing the most efficient navigation within the field and to variable rate maps for number of seeds and/or fertilizing while planting ….

[Audio] the AVR planter needs to respond accurately to what these digital maps sugest/provide : First is Section Control : where no overlap in planting happens. Every tuber is placed at the right spot, no false spots or double spots are allowed. Spray tracks : in potato cultivation (mainly on 75cm row spacing) spray tracks are made where no potatoes are planted to create "paths" for sprayers. Within and next to these spraytracks the availablity of sunlight, water and nutrients is higher,bringing more potential for growth. Research showed that planting 15% denser in these rows gives brings same quality/sizes, but with more seeds planted, this means higher yields in these areas, which reclaims the yield loss of not planting in spray tracks. Next possible step are variable rate maps based on shady areas. If a field has tree-areas it's possible certain zones in the field have less sunlight so less growing potential compared to other areas. Varying planting density can increase the % of sellable crop (right size) over whole field. What technology is needed in the machine to obtain this?.

Cup planter. Cup planter Potato planting – cup technology Every planting element individually hydraulically driven ISOBUS compatible for Section control Variable rate.

[Audio] Section control makes sure the planting elements shut off at the correct moment. In this way making sure nog seed are spilled, and so minimizing inputs. The hydraulic motor per row makes sure a precise shut off is possible..

[Audio] Second advantage of having the hydraulic motor for every row is : More precise variable rate (in theory area's of 75 cm working width are possible) iso 3m with 1 motor. and more common : to be able to plant more seeds in the areas around the spraying tracks, where more light and other resources are available for the plants. Not only row 2-3 – the "A" area in the picture - in the spraying track pass can be planted more densily But now also row 1 or 4 from the pass next to the spraying track (area "B" in the picture) can be planted in the same way....

[Audio] This is made possible thanks to ISOBUS compatibility. Thanks to this technology the planter can receive information from GPS system which define which action needs to be taken. In that way spray tracks and section-lines can be activated. But also variable rate can be applied. This not only for seed density (planting element motors) but also in some planting combination voor fertilizer and or microgranulates..

[Audio] Here you see which combinations can be made..

[Audio] Action done while planting can be sent to AVR Connect for exact information on when and how the job was done. Exact timing of planting : I can imagine this can easily be linked to weather information , and is important for further follow up during the season of crop performance But also some indication about quality of the planting job : more specific : misser control – rdiging hood pressure – fuel consumption – and as applied information for powders and seeds….

[Audio] Our cupplanters are equipped with miss control sensor for every planting element. During planting this gives alarms in tractor in case of problems. But this information is also send to avr connect. In that way a map can be made with a "corrected planting density" for each area in the field. This is interesting information with regards to further actions to be done and/or to understand why certain events happen during growing season. But also to evaluate yield information. Bad yield can be linked to soil conditions but also on problems during planting offcourse….

[Audio] Another example : Hydraulic pressure on the ridging hood is a good indication for soil type. Difficult condition will ask for more pressure on the ridging hood to have a nice ridge. So these maps can allmost be seen as soil maps. But again this can also be important information to compare with crop quality after the season. Was the firmly pressed ridge a good thing or do the area's with less compacted ridges more succesfull?.

[Audio] From planting to harvest 2 main focus points for farmers : Irrigation and crop protection….

[Audio] Irrigation = making sure the right amount of water is available for optimal crop growth. Nature can influence this in both directions : No rain – drought period : here smart irrigation systems are availabe -> important to minimalize water loss Too much rain – floods : correct drainage needs to be obtained to save the crop Crop protection.

[Audio] In potato cultivation main crop risk is Phytophtere infestans. A rigourous sprayins scheme is normally necessary to prevent infection from happening. Since monitoring systems exist which follow where infections have started in a certain region, combined with weather forecast and field weather station information , precise advise can be given for exact spraying times , doses and products..

[Audio] Harvest is the final evaluation – the result of what happened during the season..

[Audio] Harvesting the potatoes at the end of the season is looking at the result of all actions taken. For the tools available we will focus now on self propelled Puma harvester. A potato harvesters takes the ridges with soil, clods, stones and potatoes and a series of cleaning and transport mechanisms bring potatoes to the bunker. If we want to have a geospatial evaluation of the yield, we need to measure on the machine. If we want to product as clean as possible we have to measure on the bunkerfilling band. Depending on conditions the product will be as clean as possible there. In difficult harvesting conditions it's possible that still some soil and clods will be present in the measurend product. We'll talk about that later..

[Audio] The first system we will discuss is the yield measurement system on AVR Puma..

[Audio] The option yield measurement consists of wheighing cells mounted underneath the bunker filling web. You see in the picture where in the machine. It's the last step before the bunker, so before unloading and so best chance to having a clean product so a pure/correct measurement. Because honestly in se it is a stupid system. It just measures everything which passes this web. It doesn't know if it's measuring potatoes – clods – stones – soil – carrots … It just gives you back a weight and time so this can be allocated to a certain geolocation. So this is based on a wheight measured by the weighing cells, considering a speed of the web (measured with speedsensor), a time interval from point of intake in machine to the bunkerfill web (about 23sec) and a speed and working widht of the harvester to show a Ton/ha value….

[Audio] Some important remarks : to link the weight to a correct position in the field it's highly recommended to install a GPS system with RTK correction on the harvester. So a precise measurement can be guaranteed. Just look at the maps mad with and without correction signal and you will understand it will be very difficult to have correct indication of weight if work passes cross so you will have double weights and missing values ….

[Audio] Also important to note is that the system is designed to display yield maps in AVR Connect. What does this mean in practice? You don't have a "real live mapping or indication" while harvesting. The gathered data needs some postprocessing and is then attributed to a field. We can show data and make a map based on a "harvesting trip" during a certain time. But again it is adviceable to have a field prepared in the AVR Connect system, so all data can be automatically attributed to a certain field. Here you see on top fields created by a customer. At the bottom a resulst of a yield map..

[Audio] How does it work? Step 1 is calibrating the system. That's done by pressing "null" – similar to known weighing scales – then the bunkerfilling web will turn for 30s and so a zero weight measurement is done. In this way soil sticking to web or differences in tension of the web can be eliminated. If desired you can add an own estimation in the system of tare you are harvsting. Since this is allmost impossible to do and will probably vary in the field depending conditions, it's really difficult, so adviced is to not do this. But rather do a correction afterwards in the avr connect system for the whole field (if you have official weights of trucks storing the potatoes for example.d Step 2 : harvest !.

[Audio] Extra calibration is possible by weighing tipping trailers if a weighing machine is available at the farm. By weighing trailers and giving correct weight the correction factor will be refined and measurement will be more correct. Don't judge the system on precise kilograms. Seeing and discovering differences in the field also have big value..

[Audio] We do have a live indication but that's just an instant value in ton/ha so it's a value which varies a lot while harvesting. Remember to have a look afterwards in AVR Connect to see a full map and discover insights on what was harvested in the field..

[Audio] Most important is visualisation in AVR connect. Here you see a heat map of ton/ha for each zone in the field. So more or less fertilize zones can nicely be seen. It's possible to change the scale to have more detail in certain interval settings. You can nicely see that at the sides of the field the yield is less then the middle. It's upto the farmer now to see what the reasons can be. Are it wet spots or dry spots? Something went wrong with the planter? Several reasons can be tought off to give an explanation..

[Audio] Export options for further analyses are available. Excel files, CSV files, a shapefile and geojson. When AVR connect is linked to other farm management systems like jd link or dacom , the data can be automatically forwarded to those systems. By exporting data , further analysis by farmer, or agronomist, advicing companies or research groups can be done..

[Audio] The first system we will discuss is the yield measurement system on AVR Puma. This system was introduced to the market end of 2024. It provides interesting information on sizes of harvested product. This being an important quality factor for potatoes. Think french fries , we need as much length as possible. For table potatoes certain sizes are paid better then others. Seed potatoes are also cultivated to obtain certain size classes..

[Audio] This system is based on camera technology. It recognizes potatoes in a product flow apart from clods and or stones. The recognized potatoes are the measured. Length and width are defined. With this data a statistical matrix data set is formed with time stamp so can again be linked to a certain geospatial position..

[Audio] If we look at the hardware we see a "box" is mounted on the bunkerfilling web. This to protect the system from dust and varying light conditions. Within this box e stereocamera is mounted and some led lighting, which create consistent light for correct measurement conditions. Also build in the electrical cabinet is an industrial PC for direct processing of the data..

[Audio] How does the system work? So we mounted a stereovision camera at fixed position above the sieving web. We now the angle in which the camera sees. This camera takes every x seconds a picture. Based on web speed we make sure the pictures don't overlap and we don't have gaps between pictures in that way ensuring a complete measurement is done. All product is seen and no double measurement is done. So now we have the pictures. What's next?.

[Audio] These pictures show a top view of everthing what's underneath. Is sees the same as a huam eye. So the toplayer of product passing the camera; if potato flow is very high and layers exist, only the top layer is measured. Still this gives a very good statistical value of the total crop quality. Then the system needs to recognize potatoes in the picture. This is done with a AI created algorythm. This system still has updates every time we see 'new varieties' or 'new conditions'. The system has 3 classes of recognized potatoes. Green means the system defined the object as a potato, it's free to measure so it is sized (!). Blue : the system defines an object as being a potato but can't measure because overlap or not visible enough to measure. Red objets are defined as potatoes but are not fully in the picture so again a measurement can not be made. So for all green potatoes a bounding box is defined..

[Audio] Here you see an example of potato+clod sample and how the system colours it. you see clods and or haulms are not coloured at all, it nicely shows the system doesn't take into account all material other than potato. And if you look at the blue potatoe in the middle of the picture the system was confused in this situation where 2 tubers where overlapping..

[Audio] So green potatoes get a bounding box. This bounding box is a "best fit" rectangle which can be drawn around the tuber. This rectangle's longest side is the length of the potatoe, shortest side is the width. Width can be seen as the 'size' or 'caliber' of a tuber. A value often referred to in potato business. This data since it all has a timestamp can be allocated to field, but even a very specific location in the field. In this way some representations are possible..

[Audio] How is the data presented?. How is the data presented?.

[Audio] First of all you have heat maps. So geospatial data. What's shown in these maps? A percentage of potatoes with a certain width (can be chosen). For example if for french fries you are paid for potatoes bigger than 40mm , it's very usefull information knowing if certain areas in the field scored higher in % compared to others. Or for seeds if you are aiming for a widht of 35-45mm it's the opposite : here it's important knowing where potatoes grew to big for example..

[Audio] Second heat map shows the length of the potatoes which score above the first boundary. So if you selected 40mm up, now you will have the length of all 40mm up potatoes in certain areas . This can be really intersting information vor selection purposes. If you are looking for as long possible, think long french fries, this gives you this value..

[Audio] Third representation is a Matrix where you see the measurements for a certain field. This will give you a quick 'cloud' in which sizes most harvest crop can be allocated. In this example you see big differences. A nice percentage is over 60mm in width. But also less then 45mm is over 30%. So geospatial analysis will be necessary to see if this can be appointed to certain conditions in the field or if it is a heterogenous harvest all over the field..

[Audio] Some final remarks on this system : It gives a nice statistical overview of harvested potato sized ! Width and length ! Only potatoes are measured so data is only on potatoes no measurement errors are made there, as opposed to weighing system, where it's possible that badly harvested parts of the field measure high yield, since soil is more heavy then potatoe. BUT beware ! There is also no information on amount of clods or soil, that's off course the dream to have a precise estimation on tare so a corrected yield measurement could be done like that. System sees a top view , so at high yields, full sieving webs the camera doesn't measure every tuber, so again it's a statistical indication for what's harvested in the field..

[Audio] That's about all I got for now. I hope you got some interesting insights how technology on machinery combined with digital information can bring agricultural practices forward. And please stay tuned via socials to follow what we launch next. For any questions or proposals for collaborations, please contact via e-mail..

Thank you for your attention!. Any questions? [email protected].

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