Author Archives: OptiSurface Webmaster

Poor surface drainage is costing you money – but optimizing field drainage is the solution
Here’s a recent story published in T&C south… Poor surface drainage is costing you money – but optimizing field drainage is the solution THE recent spate of wet growing seasons has highlighted the impact poor field drainage can have on crop production. Water-logging due to water ponding on the ground surface is common on the…

OptiSurface Used to Improve Potato Production in Finland
Lilja Farms Inc., located in South Ostrobothnia Ylihärmä, Finland, produce about 3 million pounds of potatoes each year. The farm cultivates the land with accordance to sustainable development and give the land more than what they take. Lilja Farms were looking to improve their field surface drainage. OptiSurface Designer was used to calculate the optimized…

Using RTK GPS and OptiSurface software to manage deep and rutted wheeltracks in CTF and raised bed systems
By Tim Neale (Director) PrecisionAgriculture.com.au Email: info@precisionagriculture.com.au , Phone: +61428157208 Presented at the First International CTF Conference 25 – 27 February 2013 Toowoomba Queensland, Australia ABSTRACT Deep and rutted wheeltracks often occur in CTF (Controlled Traffic Farming) systems, as a result of the vertical soil compaction under the track, as well as the improvement of soil…

GPS Coordinate System Check
GPS Coordinate Systems Check Table Figure 1: Use this table to easily check your data points and it’s margin of error. Just click the image to download the formulated-ready to use table for your calculation. Click here to download spreadsheet. Transcript A common question being asked is “Can I survey with any…

High Productivity Pulldozer OptiSurfacing Melonhole Country
Updated 2 Oct 2013 Nev Boland has been busy OptiSurface landforming a 350ha (875 acre) field on the family farm at Moonie Queensland, Australia. “Melonholes are irregular depressions ranging in depth from 30cm to 150 cm deep and 1 to 15m across , which can really spoil your day if you are farming them in rainy…

Co-Founder David Cox receives Precision Farmer Of The Year Award
#OptiSurface Co-Founder David Cox receives Precision Farmer Of The Year Award at #ICPA12 pic.twitter.com/DbxAnNUN

OptiSurface Co-Founder Receives PrecisionAg Award of Excellence
David Cox, the majority owner of Davco Farming, an integrated sugarcane farming operation adjacent to the Burdekin River 24 kilometers west of Ayr, North Queensland, Australia, has been named 2012 Farmer of the Year. According to nominator Graeme Cox, Davco Farming is an internationally recognized leader in state of the art mechanized sugarcane production. Statistics…

Why you don’t want ditches in your field…
A major benefit of OptiSurface is the ability to solve infield surface drainage without infield ditches and still keep earthworks low. In my mind, infield ditches (even shallow ones) are far from ideal. Their negatives include: require maintenance, reduce crop area, increase weeds, reduce machinery efficiency, increase machinery damage (see photo), etc. None of DAVCO’s fields have infield ditches. I wouldn’t recommend them…

Multiple Valleys and Ridges in OptiSurface 2D
The most significant of new feature in OptiSurface Designer Version 1.3 is the ability to incorporate multiple valleys and ridges into an OptiSurface 2D design. This means that for complex topography where you are farming with furrows but you dont want the furrows to drain out each end of the field, you can add ‘valley’…

OptiSurface Designer Version 1.3 Released
The latest version of OptiSurface Designer Software has been released. It is Version 1.3 and has a number of new features and fixes. To see the full list of new features and fixes see: http://optisurface.com/index.php?/release-notes To upgrade to the latest version, contact info@optisurface.com for a download link.