Farming Simulator 22 will have Precision Farming DLC that will contain one of essential feature crop sensors. If you want to obtain optimal and sustainable nitrogen fertilization you will be in a need of buying sensors to measure the actual nitrogen needs of your crops in real-time during the application of the fertilizer.
The Precision Farming Free DLC is a project initiated by John Deere and funded by EIT Food, Europe’s leading Food Innovation Initiative. Co-funded by the EU, it is meant to highlight sustainable technology in agriculture. It releases on April 19th for PC and consoles.
Crop Sensors For Nitrogen Fertilization
Both biomass and nutrient content of crops vary across each field – seasonally, too. To manage the content of nitrogen in your crops, you need to measure it and apply fertilizer accordingly. Using a crop sensor helps you to reach the highest nitrogen score in your overall environmental score. If you don’t use crop sensors, your yield will be lower in some parts of the field.
Crop sensors and the software running in the background calculate the amount of nitrogen that is needed to release the crop’s full yield potential and display the results on a nitrogen map applied to every field – you can see the map in the menu. Based on that map, all fertilizer spreaders will then automatically apply the correct amount of fertilizer.
Types of Crop Sensors
Two sensors are available. One is “active”, the ISARIA PRO Active, and one is “passive”, the ISARIA PRO Compact. The active sensor is mounted in front of your tractor. It has a pulsing light source and can be used day and night.
The passive PRO Compact sensor is mounted on cab mirrors and requires daylight to function – you can’t use that one at night. After installing the DLC, it will be available at the dealership as a configuration for all tractors.
Sensors can only be used, when the crop has enough green leaves for the sensor to detect differences. For grains, like wheat for example, the best time to use a sensor is during the mineral fertilizer application in spring.
