Author Archives: PageBloomer

Help Wanted – Science Extension Manager

June 2019

We’re not quite sure what to call the job: science manager, extensionist, project manager, consultant? We know it offers diverse activities and needs excellent communication skills and practical knowledge of horticulture and technology. For the right person, this is a role with considerable potential to grow.

At Page Bloomer Associates we care about sustainable land and water management. We are looking for someone to help identify and lead research projects and extension activities across a variety of issues and regions.

Since the dawn of the new millennium, we’ve been providing progressive, pragmatic and independent services through projects and consultancy. A key feature of our work is close collaboration with end users, researchers and developers. We talk about “linking thinking from the farm out”.

Our clients are both private and public including individual farmers, levy bodies, industry, research organisations and local and central government. We are proud to power LandWISE Inc, providing management and project services and running their annual conference.

If you have passion for smarter farming, a background in research and extension, and want a key role in a small dedicated organisation, we’d like to chat with you!

There is a brief Job Description here>

Fit for purpose accuracy

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SBAS GPS for Horticultural Farm Management

This project investigated potential improvements in GNSS positioning accuracy using satellite based augmentation (SBAS) in various farming environments in NZ.

Put simply, SBAS is a system with a network of known land-based control points that provides correction signals to GPS units via satellite. The US equivalent is WAAS, the European equivalent is EGNOS.

The project focused on testing the SBAS Technology, comparing it with commercial systems currently available (at different levels of accuracy). Through insights gained from growers, the economic benefit SBAS could bring were assessed.

Vegetable growers view RTK-GPS as the Gold Standard and use it where precise positioning has value. Uncorrected signals are suitable for some applications but sub-metre is preferred. Handheld devices are often tried and generally rejected after disappointment, losing potential benefits of better management if better location data were available.

High accuracy RTK-GPS on both tractor and implement keeps weeders in correct position

Apple growers appear slower to adopt GPS technologies because they identify a gap between very expensive and unwarranted RTK-GPS and cheap inadequate alternatives. Part of the reason is trouble getting good signals when working in large trees. The SBAS technology offers fit-for-purpose guidance and logging that could change the way growers use positioning technologies to enhance management and profitability.

Using several alternatives, we tested SBAS technology for both static point location and kinematic guidance. Static location is beneficial for recording points of interest such as diseased plants, weeds and harvest bin location. Kinematic guidance allows growers to track operations such as spraying, ensuring no missed or double ups.

We tested a few systems at the MicroFarm. Black and yellow rings are RTK-GPS points, blue and white lines are runs using our Arrow100 with SBAS , green line is a Bad Elf with SBAS and the yellow line a smartphone GPS. Lots of trails: what do you see in these?

Yellow dots = RTK GPS
Blue lines= EOS Arrow 100 SBAS
Green line = BadELF SBAS
Yellow line = Smartphone GPS

The project is one of a number funded under a joint Australia/New Zealand government initiative through the Australian CRC for Spatial Information and LINZ.

This project was completed on behalf of LandWISE Inc.

Contributing partners:
Page Bloomer Associates Ltd
GPS Control Systems Ltd
Hectre Group Ltd

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We have just updated our website and are now using postings as well as static pages. We have introduced the ability for readers to post comments and hope you’ll use the site for discussion. One key hope is that this will help improve the quality of resources we provide here.

As always, let us know of glitches or other problems.

Vineyard Frost Protection Calibration

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We have posted guidelines and worksheets to help growers calibrate their overhead frost protection systems.

The calibration uses buckets (collectors) arranged in series on adjacent rows to measure the application rate and the uniformity of application along the cordon. In essence; set out the buckets, run the system for a set time, measure what’s collected and do some sums. Shouldn’t be too hard?

Please do let us know how you get on though. We’ve had a quick try, but it is only when lots of people try to follow our guidelines, and gain experience, that any niggles show up.

See: /resources/overhead-frost-protection-calibration