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Using GeoAgro CPlanner to connect with the NRCS

Start date: Monday, February 13th, 2012
Duration:  6 hs total, distributed in 2 hs per week, during a 3 week period.
Fees: This course will be free of charge for Technical Service Providers, as part of NRCS/GeoAgro Cooperative Agreement
Pre-requisites: Have a USDA level 2 eAuthentication account or be in the process of obtaining one (learn more about level 2 eauth accounts)

Description:

Freely available geospatial tools and a wealth of information resources are becoming available at less cost, resolution and quality, creating opportunities for crop managers to achieve more effective farm management, reduce operating costs and improving services for producers.

This course will help participants make the most out of these resources, and apply them in their everyday crop management tasks.

Who should attend:

Agricultural retailers, Consultants, Producers, and representatives for an agricultural business, educational institution or government agency. It's not required to have computer expertise and previous Geographic Information Systems knowledge.

Goals

At the end of the course, Participants will be able to make the most out of these resources, applying them in a number of farm management operations, such as:

  • Creating the farm layout, using imagery, topo maps, soil survey, and other available land resources.
  • Create and edit geographic data to accurately represent your farm information, and share with others.
  • Collecting data from the field with GPS, or planning field visits for directed sampling or scouting exact locations.
  • Navigating maps in the field, with a GPS enabled smartphone or notebook, to review limiting factors or other site specific decisions.
  • Using different remote sensing products for supporting farm decisions.
  • Carrying out common crop management tasks such as record keeping, grid sampling, creating variable rate prescriptions, or analyzing yields.
  • Query and analyze farm data to support decision making, such as doing yield analysis by management zone.

The course exercises will be developed using freely available tools:

  • GeoAgro GIS, a simple to use GIS specifically designed for Agronomic applications. Agronomic features reviewed during the course are implemented in this tool, such as creating the farm layout, collecting data from the field using a GPS, navigating maps in the field, using remote sensing effectively, and carrying out common crop management tasks such as record keeping, creating prescriptions, or analyzing yields - learn more ›
  • Google Earth, a general web based GIS browser, is used as a tool to share agronomic information within your farm team - learn more ›

GeoAgro GIS and Google Earth work together to assure implementing agronomic features, together with distributing information in a simple way.

 

Sample Farm data:

Course participants work on sample fields data, for a hands-on experience.

The provided sample datasets include a variety of information, ranging from basic layers such as soils, topography and background imagery to processed remote sensing data, such as Vegetation Index for field scouting, Productivity maps for delineating field variability or Chlorophyll maps for N applications, for instance.

 

Participants can follow this instructor-led online course from their desktop. Using the Internet, Web conferencing software, and various online resources (videos, tutorials, quizzes), they build skills through a learning experience which combines lectures with self-paced practices, working on sample farm data.

Weekly modules comprise:

  • One-hour Webinar presentations delivered during a six-week period, starting on February 10th, every Thursday at 3 pm eastern time. There are presentations scheduled on Thursdays Feb. 10th, Feb. 17th, Feb. 24th, March 3rd, March 10th, March 17th.
  • Webinars can be attended live, and are also recorded for later review. 

 

What are the benefits of this methodology?

  • Convenient access to instructor-led online training courses — no need to travel.
  • Hands-on practice working on your farm data or case studies data.
  • Ability to ask questions, get answers, and participate in group activities. Class time is divided between presentations and hands-on exercises. You communicate with the instructor and other students using the telephone and chat.
  • Downloadable course materials, exercise data, and a course certificate of completion.

Dr. Harold Reetz, Ph.d

Dr. Harold Reetz, Ph.D., has 40 years of experience in applied agronomy, focusing on high yield cropping systems,  precision farming technologies, and on-farm research. He was one of the founders of the Certified Crop Adviser program and ahs been active in it development and implemen tation, serving a term as International CCA Board chairman in the early 1990s.
Dr. Reetz recently retired after 28 years with the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), where he served as Midwest Regional Director, and Director of the Foundation for Agronomic Research (FAR). He currently serves in several part-time positions, including Executive Director of the Agricultural Drainage Management Coalition ADMC), Acting Executive Director of the International Society of Precision Agriculture (ISPA), and as a consultant to IPNI and to the Conservation Technology Information Center, where he is directing field work and data management for the Indian Creek Watershed (Livingston county, IL) involving demonstration and evaluation of nutrient best management practices for improving water quality leaving the fields in the watershed. See complete bio...

Ed Di Pollina, M.Sc.

Ed DiPollina, specialized in project management and GIS consulting for agricultural and environmental applications, with over sixteen years of experience in the field. He has successfully leaded the introduction of Information tools applied to conservation planning in the US, through a partnership between the USDA NRCS and GeoAgro, as well as facilitating the introduction of precision farming in South America.

Ed holds a Master in Science degree in GIS awarded by the ITC - Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation, University of Twente, Netherlands, and a Bachelor in Science degree in Civil Engineering awarded by the Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina.
 

Dennis Godar – Certified Crop Adviser, USDA NRCS Technical Service Provider

Dennis Godar is an Agronomist, Conservation Specialist and Environmental Assessor. Dennis is also a Technical Service Provider for NRCS having written over 500 Nutrient and Pest Management Plans and nearly 250 Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans for NRCS programs. He is the Operations Director for ManPlan Inc, a company that specializes in writing Nutrient Management Plans for CAFO’s and NPDES permit holders and also provides on-going record keeping services. Dennis is the lead developer for a web-based database program, ManPlan® that has been deployed as a tool for CNMP development and record-keeping. (www.cnmp.net).

Dennis has a Bachelor of Science degree in Agronomy and Agricultural Economics from University of Illinois and a Master of Arts degree in Environmental Studies and Risk Assessment from University of Illinois at Springfield. He also serves as Chair for Natural Resources and Environment Working Group of Illinois’ Council for Food and Agricultural Research, (C-FAR).

Prior to working in his present career position, Dennis had over 20 years experience in farming and swine production and 5 years experience in Sales Management for an Animal Nutrition Company.

 

1. Introduction – Geospatial technologies for farm management

  • Objectives of the course
  • how to use the e-learning system, how to use the knowledgebase (www.wikiagro.com).
  • GIS basics: What is a GIS? What is georeferenced information? 
  • Why are geospatial technologies important for farm management? - GIS, GPS, Remote Sensing, Guided equipment, and other technologies.
  • Overview of geospatial technologies that  will be reviewed used during the course – GeoAgro GIS, Google Earth, remote sensing products. 
  • Overview of data collection devices that will be reviewed during the course – GPS, tablets, and smartphones devices 
  • Install GeoAgro GIS & Google Earth
  • Create a Project and add initial data for your State or Region

 

2. Setting up your farm GIS project

  • How is information projected in a map? / What type of data is used in a farm GIS?/ Standards used in GeoAgro GIS and Google Earth
  • Digitizing or importing field boundaries
  • Adding Imagery, web soil survey and other Land Resources Information to your project
  • Working with layers
  • Search, Explore, measure and query your maps 

 

3. Creating, presenting & sharing your farm information

  • Using drawing tools to create your farm layout 
  • Communicate with maps, using symbology and labels
  • Creating commonly used maps – soils, topo, fields, etc.
  • Printout your maps or export as images
  • Export/import information in different formats.
  • Exchange layers or entire projects in single files
  • Share farm information using Google Earth

 

4. Collecting data from the field with GPS and mobile devices

  • Planning field visits
  • Planning soil sampling - directed soil sampling and grid sampling
  • Bringing GPS data from the field into the farm GIS
  • Using smartphones, tablets or notebooks to navigate farm layers in the field


 5. Using remote sensing to support farm management

  • Review farm history using information from previous crop seasons (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index - NDVI) 
  • Using NDVI for Monitoring crop health, scouting, and yield estimations
  • Using Chlorophyll maps for in-season Nitrogen applications and evaluation of protein content
  • Using Productivity maps to manage crop Management  zones in an economically efficient and environmentally manner
  • Review of other remote sensing products

 

6. Site specific management tools 
  • Precision farming overview
  • Define the data structures that best fit your needs
  • Working with test strips for on-farm research
  • Creating grid sampling layers
  • Creating prescription maps for variable rate applications
  • Yield analysis tools