Olds College Centre for Innovation (OCCI) has partnered with Farm Credit Canada (FCC) on a research project focused on the Crown corporation’s AgExpert Field farm management software involving nutrient management practices.
These are an important consideration for producers, ensuring they are following 4R nutrient stewardship practices. One way to ensure crops receive the right source of fertilizer, at the right time, at the right place, and at the right rate is through variable rate fertilizer application with seeding. In partnership with FCC, Olds College is evaluating their current management strategy of using Multiyear Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) zones as one component to ensure farmers maximize their crop potential. NDVI is a measure of plant health and density calculated from satellite or drone imagery. Healthy, dense vegetation has a high NDVI value, while bare soil or unhealthy plants have low values.
Real-world data is being gathered from the Olds College Smart Farm (OCSF), which is a living laboratory for crop, livestock and agricultural technology research spread over 3,300 acres. Within field 15/16, which has been utilizing multi-year management zones for several years, researchers are testing the crop performance within a management zone. Normal operations (variable rate fertilizer) are being compared to a trial strip that has a status quo or flat rate prescribed amount of fertilizer within the same zone for a side-by-side comparison of yield. Researchers are also using this approach in the Smart Farm's Delong East field, which was removed from pasture in 2023 and included within the project's cultivated cropping practices. The OCCI team has developed Multiyear NDVI management zones and is testing if the management zones would benefit crop production.
The Olds College Centre for Innovation (OCCI) evaluated whether the current variable rate (VR) fertilization strategy at the Smart Farm provides agronomic and economic benefits compared to a fixed-rate fertilization program. This discussion has been ongoing for many years, seeking to uncover new insights that could justify the more informed use of variable rate in both environmental and economic terms.
The project focused on two production environments: Field 1516, an area that has long been managed using VR, and Delong East, an area recently converted from pasture to annual cropping. Management zones were defined using multi-year NDVI data, and side-by-side strip trials were used to compare variable rate and fixed-rate fertilization within each zone.