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Spraying specialist, HARDI, has launched its groundbreaking new product, GeoSelect, which the company says will help farmers fight weed problems in their paddocks while saving significant money, chemical, labor and water at the same time.
The technology was developed in-house at HARDI Australia’s headquarters in South Australia by a team of experts in the organisation’s Innovation department, who spent over two years developing, fine- tuning and testing the product.
GeoSelect is a new system which enables centimetre perfect herbicide application and can reduce spraying costs by as much as 90 per cent.
GeoSelect reduces herbicide use and saves time and money by utilising spatial data collected by drones to plan all aspects of sprayoperations.
HARDI Australia Chief Executive Officer Bill Franklin said GeoSelect was a radical departure from existing data-linked spray technology, which relied on real-time connection to boom-mounted cameras.
“When you use GeoSelect, you know exactly where and how you should spray before you enter the paddock,” he said. “You will know how much chemical to use, where the target weeds are in each paddock and which areas might not need any spray at all.
“With GeoSelect, you will save on labour, fuel, ground compaction and machine depreciation. It’s more environmentally sustainable and helps reduce herbicide resistance, because you are only applying the exact dose where it’s needed.
“Information and results gathered from spraying operations is retained as metadata to inform future spraying.”
GeoSelect was developed for Australian agriculture and conditions at HARDI Australia’s headquarters in Adelaide, SouthAustralia.
GeoSelect is an app-based system that can be displayed on a screen in the cab or any mobile device. It works with HARDI’s H-SELECT nozzle technology to precisely coordinate four different nozzles at each nozzle body, one to spot spray and three others to rapidly switch between nozzle combinations to maintainthe required dose set point across a wide, turningboom.
Growers can source spatial data from their own drone or use a contract drone service or satellite data and HARDI canhelp growers to set up data inputs from their chosen drone source.
Using real-time metrics, GeoSelect makes strategic adjustments to the target droplet size via the in-cab control panel to better suit environmental conditions.
“GeoSelect automatically adjusts for boom deflection and changes in ambient conditions and is robust and accurate in any environment,” Mr Franklin said. “Application accuracy is retained at standard speeds of 25-30 kph and when spraying at night, opening up many more opportunities for spraying when it’s needed.”
Unlike prescription mapping systems, GeoSelect is not restricted by farm size. Boom width is also scalable to suit grower’s needs, in contrast to conventional systems which require one camera to be mounted alongevery metre of the boom’s width.
“GeoSelect takes spraying accuracy and efficiency to the next level, helping growers to achieve maximumefficiency for every dollar and minute they spend on spraying,” Mr Franklin said.
Contact Bryan Crane on 00427 752 200 for more details
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