GPS precision tested in local fields

Mark Reimers
Tribune reporter

Tom Roorda lets the GPS-based control system on his tractor determine straight rows during a test of the technology west of Lynden last Friday.

LYNDEN -- Global positioning just got as small as one inch for some local berry growers who are in the process of testing equipment guidance systems.
  Real Time Kinematic (RTK) guidance technology has been in use for several years among corn, potatoes and wheat growers in other parts of the country. Designed with a one-inch margin of error, some of the current technology got a test in Whatcom County last week.
  Precision GPS-based technology was also one of the topics on a Berry Innovation Tour locally on Feb. 18.
  Greg Ebe, a Ferndale potato grower, said the unique feature of the RTK system is the use of a base station, mounted either on a tripod or another fixed platform, which helps correct, in real time, errors caused by the movement of the guiding satellites.
  Ebe, who recently installed the AutoTrac system from John Deere, said that berry growers are still in the early stages of testing. Ebe has loaned his RTK-equipped tractors to Matt Maberry, owner of Curt Maberry Farms, in order to explore the possible benefits.
  Maberry said it is hard to say at this point what will be the greatest selling point for the system since raspberries are a unique crop.
  Tom Roorda, an employee at the berry farm, spent Friday afternoon hilling and marking raspberry rows in one of Maberry’s fields on Loomis Trail Road. He said the system definitely has perks for the operator.
  “We used to have to measure it out by hand,” Roorda said. “We would set the end posts and just aim for it with the tractor.”
  With RTK, Roorda can simply preprogram row widths into his system then take his hands off the steering wheel.
  “This is where you get your book out,” Roorda said.
  With more comprehensive use, a field’s boundaries can be programed into the machine and it will manage more details, such as when to stop for a turn.
  Since the technology is not optimized for use on berry fields, uses are still somewhat limited.
  Eldon Vander Ploeg of Lynden’s Farmers Equipment Co., which markets the AutoFarm system, said comprehensive use of RTK technology for berry growers has not quite arrived yet.
  “The more progressive growers are, the more in tune they are with this technology,” Vander Ploeg said. “But can you make it pay?”
  The answer to that question depends on how soon the technology improves and becomes more flexible, Vander Ploeg said.
  “The reality is that it doesn’t lend itself to berries as much as other crops,” he said. “Everyone wants to get their rows straight because you can’t change a field after planting it.
  Vander Ploeg said the future uses of RTK technology will no doubt increase, since changes often come as rapidly as personal computer upgrades.
  “Some will try to make it work and others will wait and watch,” he said.
  Drew Schinderle, service manager at North Washington Implement Co. in Lynden, agreed that it is a learning experience when trying to harness RTK for growing berries.
  Schinderle was on hand with Maberry to test the technology on Friday.
  “It’s easy to see how it helps corn and potato growers,” Schinderle said. “You can get up to eight extra rows of corn per acre with RTK just by straightening out the rows.”
  One area that Schinderle is exploring with Maberry is fertilizer tracking. The goal would be to use sprayers and harvesters equipped with AutoTrac systems to get a more accurate correlation between fertilizer application and productivity.
  The system could also prevent overlap and get more even results, Schinderle said.
  Working with Ebe’s RTK equipment has already shown possible savings in labor costs, not only because of the eased workload on drivers, but also because they can go longer, possibly into the night hours on some jobs and have fewer chances for human error.
  “We stayed out way longer than we normally could have on Friday,” Schinderle said. “And also, how accurate are you after 20 hours of doing the same thing?”
  Large investments by berry farms may not happen right away, since growers will need to weigh the costs against other possible areas of development, Vander Ploeg said.
  “You can’t just decide to do it,” he said.  
  E-mail Mark Reimers at reporter@lyndentribune.com.