Method and system for use of environmental classification in precision farming

Abstract

Methods and software for selecting seed products or other agricultural inputs for planting within an associated land base include dividing the field into regions, providing an environmental profile for each of regions, determining a recommendation of a seed product to plant within each of the regions based on the environmental profile and performance of the genotype of each of the seed products in the environmental profile of the regions, and providing an output identifying the seed product to plant within each of the regions.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 of a provisional application Ser. No. 60 / 689,716 filed Jun. 10, 2005, which application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention provides for computer-implemented methods and related methods to assist a crop producer or agricultural input supplier in selecting and / or classifying agricultural inputs, such as seed products to use in one or more fields, utilizing environmental classification information as well as precision agriculture information and methodologies. [0003] The problem is generally described in the context where the seed products are corn hybrids. The current industry-wide approach to delivering product performance information for use in hybrid selection by producers is to use numerous comparative yield measurements from recent years (primarily the most recent year) and the geography considered relevant...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007] Another object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide a method to assist customers, including producers, in managing risks associated with crop production.

[0017] Yet another object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to increase a producer's confidence in planning recommendations.

Problems solved by technology

Moreover, this approach does not fully take into account environmental and biotic factors important to a hybrid's performance.

Furthermore, this approach lacks the full assessment of the relevance of the information generated by the trials to the relative performance of cultivars (genotype by environment interaction), for example genetic correlations.

In addition, this selection approach does not take into account a producer's objectives for productivity, nor does it allow for objective and specific recommendations of seed products or other crop product considerations, for example, fertilizer types or irrigation needs, for a particular land base so that producers may minimize their risk of unexpected performance occurrences.

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