REMOTE DIGITAL MAPPING FOR SITE-SPECIFIC WEED MANAGEMENT

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN ELECTRONICS AND COMPUTERS ARE FOSTERING PRACTICAL PRODUCTS FOR MAPPING AND SPATIAL CONTROL OF CROP PRODUCTION VARIABLES. HARVEST YIELD MAPS, FIELD POSITIONING, AND ON-THE-GO AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL RATE AND BLEN CHANGES ARE BEING OFFERED TO AMERICAN AND WESTERN EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. ACCESS TO ACCURATE SPATIAL INFORMATION DERIVED FROM AERIAL INFORMATION HAS BEEN DEMONSTRATED BY ARS AND OTHER RESEARCHERS. THIS PROJECT WILL STUDY THE FEASIBILITY OF USING VIDEO GENERATED MAPS OF WEED INFESTATION IN WHEAT AND N DEFICIENCY IN SUGARBEET FIELDS IN A NEAR-REAL-TIME LAND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM. VIDEO SCENES WILL BE OBTAINED, REGISTERED INTO MAP CONTROL AND CONVERTED TO A DATA FORMAT RECOGNIZED BY THE LAND-TRAK SYSTEM. THIS NEW ELECTRONIC MONITOR/CONTROLLER SET OF PRODUCTS, MARKETED BY MICRO-TRAK SYSTEMS, PROVIDES A NEW, MORE PRECISE LEVEL OF SPATIAL APPLICATION CONTROL OF AGRICULTURAL CHEMICALS.