Author Archives: Ed Foronda
OptiSurface Newsletter – Jan 2016
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How To Optimize Sports Field Surface Drainage
The flexibility of OptiSurface Designer was recently highlighted in the design of a cricket field in Queensland, Australia. The survey and design was carried out by Larry Laurence of BMS Laser Sat. Thanks to Larry for the great photos. The resulting surface looks perfect. Existing Topography Designed Topography Final design showing a smooth surface, with a…
How to Improve Farm Profit With GPS Landforming – OptiSurface in Press
OptiSurface Software has created over 400,000 acres of GPS landform designs around the world. Here are the top 8 things we have learned. Water is king. 80% of yield variability & profit loss is due to too much or too little water. Yield maps show this. Focus on optimizing water management first. Ponding kills…
GPS Used To Design Field Drainage
by Ron Lyseng – 23 July 2015 The laser beam and tower-mounted RTK are already becoming obsolete as 3D GPS takes over the task of designing field drainage systems. The topographical accuracy of GPS has evolved to the point that land-forming and surface modification can be performed with less earth movement and lower costs compared…
Save Money: Move Less Soil, More Water – OptiSurface in Press
Achieving good drainage doesn’t always require massive amounts of soil movement by Ron Lyseng – 23 July 2015 The cost to move soil for a surface drain ranges from $1 to $3.50 per cubic yard, depending on soil type and the distance the soil needs to move. That means a drainage plan that involves moving…
The Benefits of Reshaping Fields
OptiSurface is a GPS land-forming design software that global sales manager Preston Marthey says involves field topography and three dimensional imagery. “We use high-accuracy GPS to control the blade height of earth moving machines.” OptiSurface was designed by an Australian farmer who was trying to fix ponding issues in his fields. Marthey says the farmer,…
Drone Video Checks OptiSurface Landforming Result
This video shows how OptiSurface fixed the drainage problems of this field. Neighboring fields clearly show water logging issues in the area, while this field have fixed them up. Few remaining ponded areas can be seen in the video which are discussed in the Post Operation Analysis section below. Special thanks to Justin Fleck of…
Using a Design Subzone for Taildrain Design
There is often a need to take surface runoff away from a optisurfaced field in a controlled manner. An example is a taildrain at the lower end of the field. The taildrain maybe required to flow in one direction where as the basic OptiSurface design at the lower end of the field could run in…
OptiSurface, revolutionary field drainage software
Water logged soils have cost producers millions in Western Canada over the last five years. Even temporary water logging can cause up to 100% yield loss depending on the crop and length of time under water. There has been a trend towards more site-specific tile drainage and even land leveling to fix drainage problems. While in…