A Web-Based Application Leveraging Geospatial Information to Automate On-Farm Trial Design

TL;DR

This paper introduces a web-based tool that uses geospatial data to automatically design on-farm experiments, improving trial efficiency by accounting for local variations and complex factors.

Contribution

It presents a novel framework that integrates soil, topography, and historical data to automate and optimize the design of field experiments.

Findings

Framework effectively incorporates geospatial data for trial design.

Automated approach reduces trial costs and improves accuracy.

Enhances understanding of primary factors amidst farm variability.

Abstract

On-farm sensor data have allowed farmers to implement field management techniques and intensively track the corresponding responses. These data combined with historical records open the door for real-time field management improvements with the help of current advancements in computing power. However, despite these advances, the statistical design of experiments is rarely used to evaluate the performance of field management techniques accurately. Traditionally, randomized block design is prevalent in statistical designs of field trials, but in practice it is limited in dealing with large variations in soil classes, management practices, and crop varieties. More specifically, although this experimental design is suited for most trial types, it is not the optimal choice when multiple factors are tested over multifarious natural variations in farms, due to the economic constraints caused by the sheer number of variables involved. Experimental refinement is required to better estimate the effects of the primary factor in the presence of auxiliary factors. In this way, farmers can better understand the characteristics and limitations of the primary factor. This work presents a framework for automating the analysis of local field variations by fusing soil classification data and lidar topography data with historical yield. This framework will be leveraged to automate the designing of field experiments based on multiple topographic features