Rise of the techno farmer

Digital technology and innovative machinery is enabling producers to run their operations more efficiently and quickly, while cutting costs. Christi van den Heever and Danie Viljoen, production managers at Graaff Fruit, show Glenneis Kriel how some of this technology works on their farms.

Rise of the techno farmer
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Farm production managers of Graaff Fruit, Danie Viljoen and Christi van den Heever, are continually searching for new technology to improve their production efficiency. The first thing Danie does in the morning is to look at his iPad to see how the irrigation is running at Lushof near Prince Alfred, where he is the production manager.

He explains that all the farm’s irrigation decisions are based on IT Measure technology. A total of 24 soil moisture probes covering 220ha of the farm give continuous readings at depths of 20cm, 40cm, 60cm and 80cm to show how much water is available to the trees.

The information is sent via a radio signal to a central server accessible by cellphone or other devices at the IT Measure website. Data is colour-coded for easy interpretation. Red, for example, indicates a problem that needs urgent attention.
They also use Fruitlook satellite technology to measure irrigation efficiency.

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Air Pro Fertiliser Spreader
One of Danie and Christi’s favourite technologies is the locally produced new Air Pro fertiliser spreader. “Of the many precision fertiliser spreaders on the market, the Air Pro is the only one that can spread fertiliser on ridges as well as on a flat surface,” says Christi, who is production manager at Romansrivier near Wolseley.

“With other spreaders, the fertiliser tends to shoot straight into the wall of the ridge, especially when working uneven surfaces. The Air Pro uses a fan powered from the PTO to blow the fertiliser onto the ridge.” This applies fertiliser very accurately. Calibration is based on wheel circumference, instead of PTO or tractor speed, to determine the fertilisation rate. The spreader can also band-place the fertiliser in an 800mm-wide strip on the tree’s root zone.

Danie estimates that Lushof has cut its annual fertilisation bill by almost 10% due to the spreader’s greater accuracy and efficiency in both volume and placement. Although the spreader has resulted in significant labour savings, its true value lies in the effect of its application accuracy on tree and fruit production.


Danie Viljoen, production manager at Lushof, can check farm irrigation via his cellphone.
 

Danie explains that over- and under-fertilisation both negatively affect tree growth and fruit development. “Applying too much fertiliser wastes money and disturbs the tree’s fine production balance, from plant vigour to sugar content and shelf-life of fruit.”

DieselPlus
Danie’s latest experiment is a technology called DieselPlus. Developed in Spain, it consists of hardware – a fuel pump and unique digital identifier tags – and software that enables fuel consumption measurement and tracking from an office computer. Danie uses his iPhone and iPad to keep track of the fuel even when away from the office.

He explains that the administrator can register a different user against the tag that was assigned to him, along with the vehicle he is responsible for. Should this user be responsible for more than one vehicle, this field will be left open so that the user can physically enter the identification number of the vehicle he is using when he refuels it.

“There are systems such as this that can be bought as an add-on to use on a farm’s existing pump, mixing old and new technology. The system we use is a complete system, from the pump to the measurement of litres per vehicle and litres in the tank.

“The pump delivers 80l/ min, which means that a 60l bakkie tank can be filled in less than a minute and a truck tank in less than three minutes.” The programme saves time and significantly improves administration accuracy.

“In the past, we had an administrator who had to write down the names of the users, the volume of fuel used to fill a vehicle and the time that the vehicle worked (the odometer reading) so that the fuel consumption could later be calculated,” Danie recalls.

“With DieselPlus, an administrator becomes superfluous. A user only has to swipe his tag and key in the odometer reading at each tank filling.

“Another advantage is that it allows the administrator to monitor what happens to fuel on a farm. This encourages responsible use, because each user is accountable for his fuel consumption and irresponsible individuals can be quickly identified.” In a recent example of such a discrepancy, one of the tractors on the farm was found to be running at 8,21l/h while two other tractors carrying out essentially the same tasks ran at 4,7l/h each.

Danie says that this discrepancy could have been due to inaccurate readings, the removal of fuel from the tractor, or the tractor being used for spraying, increasing its fuel consumption. The most logic explanation was that the hours were entered incorrectly when they started using the system.

The programme records the fuel remaining in the farm’s 14 000l fuel bulk tank every 20 minutes. “In the past we took readings with a dipstick,” Danie recalls. “People sometimes forgot to do so, with the result that we could end up with no fuel in the middle of the season and have to wait two days for a supply to be delivered.”

So far, Danie is satisfied with DieselPlus. However, one problem is that the tank readings tend to be inaccurate in very hot weather. The tank expands, which causes readings to be lower than they should be. In addition, the density of the fuel changes depending on ambient temperature. The company that developed the technology is addressing these issues.

Proven and popular for years

Although shade netting has been used in South Africa for decades, producers are increasingly using it to protect high-value crops from weather phenomena such as hail, sleet, sunburn and wind. Romansrivier has 60ha under netting to protect peaches and nectarines from the southeaster. 

The nets are transparent at the apex to allow sunlight to penetrate without hindrance. The sides are white. Christi explains that micro-irrigation used under the netting helps to cool down the micro-climate, reducing the trees’ vulnerability to sunburn.

It is difficult to quantify the value of the nets with those on other farms, as the micro-climatic conditions on various farms differ. However, Christi says that nets have enabled Romansrivier to produce peaches and nectarines on an area of the farm where it would have been unprofitable without this protection.


Christi van den Heever using the DieselPlus pump, which can refuel a 60l bakkie in less than a minute.

Convenient Tag System
Farm Costing Solutions is another useful IT tool used on both Lushof and Romansrivier. With this system, each worker clocks in and out using a personal tag, helping to take the drudgery out of labour administration. The tag system can also be used for piece work during the harvest: each labourer wears a digital ID wrist bracelet and swipes it on a reader when emptying a basket of picked fruit.

Farm Costing Solutions makes wage calculation considerably easier. It can also be used to track labour efficiency for different variables. For example, Danie can see the cost of labour and the number of work hours that are being spent on each orchard, crop and cultivar.

Phone Danie Viljoen on 023 313 3104 or email him at [email protected].
Phone Christi van den Heever on 023 231 0833 or email him at [email protected]