Automatic section control has been saving farmers money for nearly ten years by reducing overlap while applying product. This has been enabled by having finer control over the machine and implement and through machine guidance. If a farmer desires to be more productive, he/she should consider two mid-sized planters instead of one very large one. Larger planters have longer setup time and are more difficult to transport.
Additionally, it should not be assumed the two planters are the same width. Field shape could make it possible where a smaller planter could be more efficient in specific field areas where a larger planter is more efficient in the middle. Given p/a ratios of many farmers’ fields, two mid-sized planters or spryaers have higher field efficiency than one larger machiner and are able to cover more acres per hour. Custom applicators are likely to devote multiple machines to the same field at the same time and can benefit from shared coverage map technology.
Seven different fields had simulated planting operations performed with two planting units in the field at the same time. Each field was run twice, once without coverage map sharing between the planting units and once with coverage map sharing enabled with the goal of calculating the amount double planted area in each field. With seed costs, the seed savings per acre was determined for each field.
As with any farm investment, it is important that there are economic advantages to making the purchase. The study demonstrated there are tangible economic benefits to investing with annual acre requirement, which would be attained by farmers for a five year payback. The seed savings per acre is dependent on the field size, perimeter and the shape irregularity.
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APPENDIX A: EMBEDDED VBA EXCEL MACRO CODE A.1 Scenario Builder Macro
Sub ScenarioBuilder() r = 1 For B = 0 To 10 For C = 0 To 10 For D = 0 To 10 For E = 0 To 10 For F = 0 To 10 For G = 0 To 10 If (B / 10) + (C / 10) + (D / 10) + (E / 10) + (F / 10) + (G / 10) = 1 Then
ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Scenario").Cells(r + 1, 1) = "Scenario" & r ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Scenario").Cells(r + 1, 2).Activate ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Scenario").Cells(r + 1, 2) = B ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Scenario").Cells(r + 1, 3) = C ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Scenario").Cells(r + 1, 4) = D ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Scenario").Cells(r + 1, 5) = E ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Scenario").Cells(r + 1, 6) = F ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Scenario").Cells(r + 1, 7) = G r = r + 1 End If Next G Next F Next E Next D Next C Next B End Sub
A.2 GoalSeek Macro Sub GoalSeek()
For R = 3 To 8010
ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("NPV_Breakeven").Cells(R, 30).Activate
ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("NPV_Breakeven").Cells(R, 43).GoalSeek Goal:=0, _ ChangingCell:=ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("NPV_Breakeven").Cells(R, 30)
Next R
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APPENDIX B: ADDITIONAL GS3 2630 SCREEN CAPTURE PAIRS Figure B.1 and Figure B.2 were captured within seconds of each other while collecting data on the GS3 2630 displays. This pair is an example without Coverage Map Sharing.
Figure B.1 Planting Unit 1 without coverage map sharing
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Figure B.2 Planting Unit 2 without coverage map sharing
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Figure B.3 and Figure B.4 are screen captures from the GS3 2630 displays while collecing data. In these screen captures, coverage map sharing was enabled.
Figure B.3 Planting Unit 1 with coverage map sharing enabled
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Figure B.4 Planting Unit 2 with coverage map sharing enabled