Corn cultivation is increasingly moving towards an agronomic management based on digitalization in order to increase productivity and sustainability. Farmers in fact are taking advantages of all those tools that belong to Agriculture 4.0.
The interest is growing (and not only for corn), as well as scientific publications on the subject. Some of the most appreciated technologies are crop monitoring with satellites and drones, forecast models for pest and diseases, variable rate maps for sowing, field mapping.
Agricolus’ solution for corn
Agricolus provides farmers with a specific solution for smart corn cultivation: MAYSDSS.
What are the digital tools that add value to the agronomic management?
The different vegetation indices such as vigor, chlorophyll and water stress, allow the monitoring of each phase of the life cycle. This data collection is essential for a crop as demanding in terms of nutrition and water as corn.
The forecast models of irrigation, fertilization and phenology are able to inform the user about the real needs of the crop taking into account the environmental parameters of the field.
The models related to pest and diseases support farmers in fighting adversities such as Ostrinia nubilialis, Helicoverpa armigera, Diabrotica virgifera and Agrotis ipsilon. The prediction of the development of the various insects in different stages (egg, larva, pupa, adult) becomes important to monitor and carry out operations at the right time.
Other important features are geolocated smart scouting, management of automatic traps, register of crop operations and soil analysis, connection with weather stations.
What’s in the future?
Agricolus is involved in some projects that focus specifically on corn (such as monitoring and prediction of mycotoxins), whose request comes from many producers and associations; others are cross-crop projects that use different technologies, such as satellite data, to analyze the soil texture.
The outcome of these researches will have a great impact also for the agronomic management of corn.
