PhosAgro and Exact Farming have unveiled a digital system for monitoring the effectiveness and controlling the application of mineral fertilizers. The companies estimate that the new digital field monitoring system could have an impact of up to RUB 500 million per harvest per 100 000 ha. of farmed land.
The system uses digital satellite monitoring, making it possible to see fields in their entirety from the ground. The automated system can monitor the condition of crops, allowing for the adjustment of mineral nutrition based on remote sensor data, an analysis of vegetation spectral indices, meteorological data and information from farms.
Information on the nutrient contents of different fertilizer grades is input into the system using NFC tags on PhosAgro’s fertilizer packaging. The tags can be read by a mobile app, which transmits the data to the Exact Farming satellite agronomic monitoring system and links a particular fertilizer to specific geo-coordinates. Analysis of data on the results of the use of mineral fertilizers in dozens of Russian regions will make it possible to automate the selection of mineral crop nutrients for various combinations of crops and agrometeorological conditions.