Farmers’ Experiences with GNSS-Based Tractor Auto Guidance in Adana Province of Turkey

Year 2018, Volume: 35 Issue: 2, 172 - 181, 29.08.2018

Muharrem Keskin Yunus Emre Şekerli Sait Muharrem Say Mustafa Topçueri

https://doi.org/10.13002/jafag4421

Cited By: 3

Abstract

Auto Guidance (AG) systems offer many advantages for farmers including more accuracy, more efficiency and agricultural input savings. The adoption of AG systems is increasing in many countries. Also, their adoption rate is rising in Adana province and in other regions of Turkey. The aim of this study was to assess the experiences and satisfactions of 55 out of about 110 farmers who used AG systems in Adana using face-to-face interviews. A large portion of the farmers (34.5%) had a land area of 200-300 ha followed by 50-100 ha (23.6%). The most common (49.1%) GNSS signal correction method was RTK + CORS + GSM which requires annual subscription fee. Participant farmers used the AG system mostly in tillage (98.2%) followed by planting (47.3%) and fertilization (29.1%). Most of the problems (83.3%) they faced were related to hardware. The biggest benefits provided by the system were creating straight soil ridges (98.2%), flexible working hours (92.7%), time-savings (80.0%), fuel savings (80.0%) and labor savings (50.9%). The majority of the users were "Very satisfied" (81.8%) and "Satisfied" (16.4%) with the system. However, 96.4% of them did not use other Precision Agriculture (PA) technologies and the greatest reason (54.5%) was that they did not have any knowledge about them; thus, farmers need training on other PA technologies.

Keywords

Auto guidance, precision agriculture, survey, Adana, Turkey

References

• Berk A (2013). Processor driven integration of small-scale farmers into value chains in Turkey. Agrarian Structures Initiative. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
• Erickson B, Widmar DA (2015). 2015 Precision agricultural services dealership survey results. Purdue University. West Lafayette, Indiana, USA, p. 37.
• Ess D, Morgan M (2003). The Precision-Farming Guide for Agriculturists. Deere & Company, Moline, Illinois, p. 138.
• Fehr BW, Gerrish JB (1995). Vision-Guided Row-Crop Follower. Applied Engineering in Agriculture, 11(4): 613-620.
• Grisso R, Alley M, Groover G (2009). Precision Farming Tools: GPS Navigation. Virginia Cooperative Extension. Publication No 442-501. p. 7.
• Groover G, Grisso R (2008). Investing in GPS Guidance Systems? Virginia Cooperative Extension Publication. No: 448-076. 10pp.
• GTHB (2014). Adana Province Agricultural Investment Guide (Adana Ili Tarımsal Yatırım Rehberi) (In Turkish). Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (GTHB), Turkey. p. 35.
• Kanicki D (2016). Report Suggests Driverless Tractor Sales Could Reach $31B by 2024. https://www.farm-equipment.com/articles/13226 (Accessed to web: 04.01.2018).
• Keskin M, Sekerli YE (2016). Awareness and adoption of precision agriculture in the Cukurova region of Turkey. Agronomy Research, 14(4): 1307-1320.
• Keskin M (2013). Factors Affecting the Adoption of Precision Agriculture Technologies and the Usage Rate of These Technologies in the World. Journal of Agricultural Machinery Science (in Turkish), 9: 263–272.
• Keskin M, Görücü Keskin S (2012). Precision Agriculture Technologies. Mustafa Kemal University. Publication No: 35. Antakya, Hatay, Turkey, 212 pp. (in Turkish).
• Keskin M, Sekerli YE, Kahraman S (2017). Performance of two low-cost GPS receivers for ground speed measurement under varying speed conditions. Precision Agriculture, 18: 264-277.
• Leonard E (2014). Precision Ag Down Under. www.precisionag.com/guidance/precision-ag-down-under (Accessed to web: 04.01.2018).
• Reichhardt (2012). Auto Guidance System Brochure. Reichhardt, Sabin, MN 56580, USA. www.reichhardt.com (Accessed to web: 04.01.2018).
• Reid JF, Zhang Q, Noguchi N, Dickson M (2000). Agricultural automatic guidance research in North America. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 25: 155–167.
• Say SM, Keskin M, Sehri M, Sekerli YE (2017). Adoption of Precision Agriculture Technologies in Developed and Developing Countries. International Science and Technology Conference, 41-49, 17-19 July 2017, Berlin Germany.
• Schafer RL, Young RE (1979). An Automatic Guidance System for Tractors. Transactions of the ASAE, 46-56.
• Silva CB, Moraes MAF, Molin JP (2011). Adoption and use of precision agriculture technologies in the sugarcane industry of Sao Paulo state, Brazil. Precision Agriculture, 12, 67–81.
• USDA (2015a). Agricultural Resource Management Survey: US Peanut Industry. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Highlights. No 2015-1, p. 4.
• USDA (2015b). Agricultural Resource Management Survey: US Rice Industry. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Highlights. No 2015-2, p. 4.
• Verma L (2015). China Pursues Precision Agriculture on a Grand Scale. Resource Magazine, 22: 18–19.
• The Hale Group (2014). The Digital Transformation of Row Crop Agriculture. AgState Electronic Survey Findings. December 2014, p. 53. www.halegroup.com.
• Topcon (2016). Hassas Tarım Sistemleri Katalogu (Precision Agriculture Systems Catalogue). Paksoy Teknik. Ankara. 23 pp.