Iowa State University and FluroSat, a leader in agronomic decision support and remote field sensing, have announced their collaboration through a research project to advance predictability of nitrogen management.
The collaboration is structured around the APSIM model as both FluroSat and ISU are using this crop simulation framework. ISU as a member of the APSIM Initiative, brings expertise on cropping systems modeling and experience on modeling nitrogen in United States environments. FluroSat brings advanced remote sensing capabilities and analytics at the sub-field level. With ISU’s knowledge and resources, the goal is to advance the science of informing in-season Nitrogen management decisions.
This application, available only through the FluroSense cloud platform, will bring together ISU’s new advances in modeling soil water availability in the Corn Belt and FluroSat’s implementation of the APSIM crop modeling simulator. This integrated approach will eliminate the cumbersome and costly steps of in-field sampling and data entry, enabling daily, one-touch nitrogen prescriptions to ensure maximum accuracy and yield in crop management.
Step by step, FluroSat has been building the world’s most automated end-to-end agronomic decision platform by integrating access to remote sensing, weather and soil information, incorporating leading scientific crop models, and establishing two-way integrations with major agronomy-focused farm management systems.
“When it comes to nitrogen and yield management,” said Anastasia Volkova, FluroSat founder and CEO, “it is probably the most time-sensitive but also data-intensive agronomic decision that often takes place in a matter of days or even hours after looking at a weather forecast and deciding to make an application. The time-pressing nature of this decision calls for automation—not only of importing field history into the modeling tool, but also pre-setting the model with the right local soil water and nitrogen parameters, so when the user needs the nitrogen recommendation, it is ready to go.”
Iowa State University’s research has improved the performance of the APSIM model for U.S. environments, especially with regards to simulation of rooting depth and crop yield response to precipitation, both key features for N cycling and management. Recent publications have demonstrated the high prediction and explanatory power of the model in the USA. The ISU team that includes professors Sotirios Archontoulis and Michael Castellano bring experience and expertise in modeling, crop and soil science.
“We are very excited to collaborate with Flurosat and see our state-of-the-art methods reaching agricultural community. This collaboration brings a unique opportunity to explore the combined power of cropping system models and remote sensing at scale,” Archontoulis said.
As a result of this collaboration, already this season, FluroSat’s customers will get access to advanced nitrogen management tools through FluroSat’s agronomic analytics engine FluroSense.