Development of ground based and Remote Sensing, automated ‘real-time’ grass quality measurement techniques to enhance grassland management information platforms
Project information
Development of ground based and Remote Sensing, automated ‘real-time’ grass quality measurement techniques to enhance grassland management information platformsCall: Enabling Precision Farming
Id: 35779
Acronym: GrassQ
Consortium:
No | Partner | Contact | Country | Total 1000€ | Funded 1000€ | Funder |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 Coord. | TEAGASC - Agriculture and Food Development Authority | BERNADETTE OBRIEN | Ireland | 145.0 | 145.0 | Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) |
2 | Maynooth University | Tim McCarthy | Ireland | 100.5 | 100.5 | Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) |
3 | Cork Institute of Technology | Michael Denis Murphy | Ireland | 25.0 | 25.0 | Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) |
4 | SEGES P/S | Frank Oudshoorn | Denmark | 123.0 | 112.0 | Innovation Fund Denmark Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education |
5 | TrueNorth Technologies | Patrick Halton | Ireland | 119.6 | 0.0 | None |
6 | AgroTech A/S | Philipp Trénel | Denmark | 99.2 | 59.5 | Innovation Fund Denmark Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education |
7 | TreeMetrics Ltd | Enda Keane | Ireland | 50.0 | 0.0 | None |
8 | Finnish Geospatial Research Institute National Land Survey | Eija Honkavaara | Finland | 56.0 | 39.2 | Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry |
9 | Production systems Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE) | Jere Kaivosoja | Finland | 51.2 | 34.5 | Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry |
10 | Automation and labour organisation Agroscope | Christina Umstaetter | Switzerland | 77.4 | 50.0 | Federal Office for Agriculture - Bundesamt für Landwirtschaft |
11 | ASCENDXYZ | Peter Hemmingsen | Denmark | 140.0 | 84.0 | Innovation Fund Denmark Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education |
The focus of this project is to develop and enable an intelligent system that will apply precision management to whole farm grassland and grazing systems. The goal is to optimize grass quality, utilization efficiency, and ultimately profitability, with minimal labour requirement and maximum objectivity. To precisely allocate to the cow herd the absolutely correct area of grass, it is necessary to have an accurate ‘real-time’ measure of grass quality (as well as quantity). The research proposed here is new and innovative, in that two very different techniques will be used to derive this grass quality measure, either by automated grass quality data capture by a near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) sensor at ground level or by Remote Sensing image data captured using satellite or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and subsequent predictive modelling. This project provides a unique opportunity for these two techniques to be operated in parallel. The output or product of this research will be the provision of high quality, ‘real-time’, geo-tagged information in the form of herbage mass, and specifically grass quality, through a user friendly software package on a Smartphone App or web-based decision support system (DSS). The grass quality measure will be defined as % dry matter (DM), % organic matter digestibility (OMD) and % crude protein (CP). This latter parameter information (CP) together with the location specific nature of the data will also hold potential for targeted fertilizer application procedures for the future.
GrassQ enabled recent sensing and computational technology developments to be brought together in order to research and develop prototype information services to support improved grassland management. Some of the main potential impacts of this project arise from the cloud-based GrassQ portal where satellite, drone and in situ data and information tools for operational dairy and beef farms can be easily accessed. The GrassQ portal enables researchers, grassland specialists and farmers alike to use the Discovery Module to access free 10m Copernicus Sentinel-2 data or request drone over-flights. Automated work flows allow these datasets to be integrated with in situ data and produce computed estimates of grass metrics such as dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP). Additional vegetation indices maps can be used to assess the biomass and general vitality of grass growth. Additional tools enable in situ data to be uploaded and stored. All of these features are available through an easy-to-use prototype smartphone app. The overall impact of this project is not so much an introduction of yet another website or smartphone app, but the incorporation of these new satellite and drone sensing technologies, coupled with online modules, functions and work flows, into existing national grassland management tools and practices.
- Provision of high quality, ‘real-time’, geo-tagged information in the form of herbage mass, and specifically grass quality, through a user friendly software package on a Smartphone App or web-based decision support system (DSS).
- Precision Livestock Farming