PROTEIN blending in the paddock is now a commercial reality with on-the-go harvester sensing technologies, yet uptake is slow says a developer.
Next Instruments chief executive Philip Clancy said while prototype real-time protein sensors were introduced to Australian paddocks more than 15 years ago, adoption of commercial monitors had been limited.
“The market place has been very slow to take it up,” he said.
The Next Instrument grain protein sensor was developed in 2003 with the current CropScan 300H On-Combine Analyser released commercially in 2013.
Mr Clancy estimated there were 200 of the current sensors fitted for this year’s harvest.
The CropScan 300H is a near infrared analyser and measures protein, oil and moisture in grains and oil seeds as they are harvested.
Mr Clancy explained the sensor worked by trapping grain in a remote sampling head as it travels up the clean grain elevator.
“Light passes through the sample of grains and is collected by a fibre optic cable on the opposite side,” he said.
“The light is transmitted back to the NIR spectrometer located inside the harvester’s cabin.”
Mr Clancy said a touch-screen PC located in the cabin computed the protein, oil and moisture of the grains and presented the data in real-time paddock maps, trend plots and bin-by-bin tabulation.
“The CropScan 300H can be fitted to all major brands of modern combine harvesters as long as they are in good working order,” he said.
Mr Clancy said he was unsure why there was a low uptake, citing lack of confidence following early models not working well, as a possible reason.
Mr Clancy said the company had case studies from growers throughout Australia showing the profit benefits of the technology.
“One farmer was able to monitor protein levels as the bin filled and switch to a lower or higher protein section of the field until the bin average reached 13.5 per cent,” he said.
“He reported that every load was accepted as APH1 grade which at the time attracted a $30 a tonne premium.
“This practice generated an estimated additional $40,000 in grain payments.”
Compared to the uptake of yield monitors, Mr Clancy said the information provided in real-time from a protein monitor had more uses.
“Yield mapping has been around for more than 20 years, yet hardly has had a significant impact.
“You can get the information but you can’t do anything with it at the time of harvest.”
Mr Clancy said a major use of real-time protein mapping was to maximise protein grade payments.
“With protein measurement you can make decisions on-the-go which will generate profit,” he said.
Mr Clancy said protein measurement could be used both tactically and strategically to make profit.
“The tactical is purely planning,” he said.
“You blend it bin-by-bin, you can mix in the field or you can take it off farm and load into silos so you are segregating with the information coming off the header.”
“The strategic is all about the agronomy side, about the use of future nitrogen.”
Mr Clancy said Next Instruments, as a self-funded Australian company, was currently looking for investors so it could expand.