3D PAWC and constraint mapping

The project is a GRDC-funded project called 3D PAWC and constraint mapping (UOS2206-009RTX).

It is a collaboration between the University of Sydney (USYD) and Precision Cropping Technologies (PCT) AgCloud, which will result in software for creating 3D maps of key soil constraints (e.g. sodicity, salinity, and pH), depth to soil constraints, and plant available water capacity (PAWC) for fields using soil test and precision ag data (EM and/or gamma radiometrics), as well as publicly-available datasets (e.g. satellite imagery). It will also create a free national product of maps of these soil properties.

As part of this project the project team are sampling 75 farms across Australia to showcase the approach in different environments, but also explore how the quality and usefulness of the soil maps varies between locations. The project goal is that outputs from this project can be used to inform management decisions on variable rate application of inputs and ameliorants.

What the project team needs:

 

• Access to existing on-farm digital agriculture data (if any) such as yield maps, soil sensing data (e.g. EM, gamma), soil moisture probes, weather stations and soil test results;
• Up to 1000-1500 hectare of cropping paddocks where we will sample

What you will get

• Soil sampling of 25 soil cores at 4 depths (0-15 cm, 15-30 cm, 30-60 cm, 60-100 cm);
• Results of soil laboratory analysis for all layers which will include particle size fractions, organic carbon, pH, electrical conductivity, exchangeable cations, gravel (where applicable);
• Results of soil laboratory analysis for 0-15 cm and 15-30 cm layers will include key soil nutrients (e.g. Nitrogen, Phosphorus);
• 3D digital soil maps of soil water holding capacity and individual soil constraints for the sampled area created by state-of-the-art machine learning approaches;
• Identification of future sampling locations for improving the digital soil maps;
• Access to PCT AgCloud for the duration of the project to view the digital soil maps.

For more information click here. 

Express your interest in being involved in this project here.  

 

Website: New digital ag innovations to map soil constraints in 3D
For more information download this document