Imagine saving 16% on just one herbicide treatment, thanks to a pioneering green-on-green sugar beet case!
Now, put that into the context of running your farm, where literally every decision to save costs directly impacts your bottom line.
Our client German farmer Friedrich Wenninger reached substantial herbicide savings in sugar beet as part of this highly creative partnership through a prototype precision farming project. . The cooperation represents a huge step towards green-on-green weed management and provides Friedrich with a practical and affordable method of managing weed pressure in crops. In today’s farming economy, with every euro scrutinized for ROI, being able to apply herbicides with greater precision than ever thought possible becomes an absolute necessity.
In Friedrich’s quest for the perfect weed management, the minimum investments were required.
The additional elements, on top of the basic application equipment, are a license for variable rate application and any drone equipped with an RGB sensor capable of autonomous mapping. With these tools, Friedrich got the accurate weed detection analysis without involving expensive multispectral sensors. The result was inexpensive, high-value information that could get herbicide applications fine-tuned across his fields.
Central to this approach was the Agremo AI-driven weed detection analysis and Ag tools with RGB drone-based cameras.
Weeds Could Be Under Control
Weeds pose a substantial threat to sugar beet yields, especially during the early growth stages. Uncontrolled weed growth can reduce yields by up to 70%. To manage this, herbicide applications are typically carried out three to four times throughout the growing season. At the time of the weed detection, Friedrich’s sugar beet crops were in their 31 growth stage also known as the “first node” stage. This is a crucial time in the crop’s development, where leaves have expanded but the canopy isn’t fully closed. This stage is particularly vulnerable to competition from weeds, especially broadleaf varieties, which can overshadow the sugar beet and stifle growth.
Precision Weed Detection and Management
Leveraging Agremo’s Weed AI-driven analysis, each of the three fields was assessed and divided into zones based on weed stress levels – fine, low, and high. These levels allowed for a targeted approach to herbicide application, minimizing the overuse of chemicals while ensuring that the areas most affected by weeds received adequate treatment.
- Field 1: 23% of this field was affected by weeds, with moderate and high-stress areas identified and treated accordingly.
- Field 2: This field had the highest weed density, with 52% of the area affected.
- Field 3: With a total weed-affected area of 2%, the majority of the field (97.53%) fell into the low-stress category, with minimal weed pressure.
“This project shows just how much we can save by focusing on economic efficiency through a variable spraying approach, using just one well-timed herbicide treatment to get the most out of our resources in sugar beet production.”
Cost-Effective Herbicide Application
One of the standout aspects of Friedrich’s approach was the use of a tank mix with metamitron as the primary active ingredient. By utilizing Agremo’s Variable Rate Spraying Tool, he could create targeted application zones across his fields, precisely matching herbicide doses to the weed pressure in each area. This approach allowed Friedrich to save on input costs while maintaining high weed control standards. He used an Amazone UX Super trailed sprayer for increased productivity, with a choice of tank sizes, Super-L2 and Super-L3 booms of up to 21 to 42 meters. This makes this sprayer one of the high-performance options, featuring first-class boom guidance that will go along with the precision agriculture strategy in view of exact application and effective crop protection.
The project demonstrated that investing in simple, accessible technology and adopting a tailored approach to weed management can lead to both economic and environmental gains. For farmers like Friedrich, who are navigating the demands of modern agriculture, this case underscores the potential of precision farming to deliver sustainable results at an affordable price.
The cost of herbicide, based on metamitron, was €35 per liter, with and the application dosage as follows:
- Fine Stress Zones: 1.6 l/ha
- Low Stress Zones: 1.8 l/ha
- High Stress Zones: 2.0 l/ha
With Agremo’s Variable Rate Spraying Tool, our user created 3 zones, assigned rates, and generated Variable-rate prescriptions. This enabled them to apply the precise amount of herbicide where it was most needed, optimizing costs and minimizing waste.
The real processing of Friedrich’s economy in weed management was taken as the main active substance used in the tank mix- metamitron. This allowed us to perform the proper calculation of the cost-effectiveness an herbicide savings in sugar beet and of this precision spraying approach. Agremo Variable Rate Spraying Tool enables Friedrich to address the herbicide application on the basis of weed pressure in his fields, thus herbicide saving a lot on input costs.
Below, we show the actual results and savings that this targeted approach yielded.
“This joint venture case really shows how with precision agriculture, by using herbicide strategically in a single treatment, I reduced herbicide costs by 16.5% and saved 11.5 EUR per hectare. Precision farming has proven to be a valuable tool for balancing cost management and boosting productivity on the farm.”
Field 1 *32.4 Hectares
Field 2 *26,7 Hectares
Field 3 *13,6 Hectares
Overall Results and Impact
In just this one green-on-green herbicide treatment, the use of Agremo’s precision technology produced significant herbicide savings across the sugar beet fields:
To put this in perspective for larger operations, consider the potential savings on a 100 hectare farm:
Estimated Savings on 100 ha* €11.55 = 1,155EUR per treatment
These figures show unequivocally that precision agriculture can have a radically different effect on operations of any size through economizing costs and maximizing returns. Zoned application allowed the farmer to reduce input costs while keeping weed control effective.
Conclusion
The high initial cost of drones for remote sensing often discourages many farmers. Agricultural drones can cost tens of thousands of euros, leading to concerns about their affordability. To tackle this issue, Agremo’s AI models are designed to work with standard RGB data, which helps reduce the upfront investment. For example, the popular Mavic 3 Multispectral drone is priced at around 4,400 EUR. With Agremo’s AI analyses for Variable Rate Applications, this investment can pay off in less than a year, making precision agriculture more accessible and cost-effective.
