Wade Bidstrup

OptiSurface Newsletter – 2019 June

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Welcome to the June 2019 OptiSurface Newsletter.

I’m doing a road trip in the Midwest US and Canda during July and attending the Info Ag Conference. If anyone is near the area and would like to meet up, email us at support@optisurace.com and give me a call.  See the map below showing the tentative route.

We are excited to announce we are developing a new product called Opti.Farm that will take our concept of farm optimization to a much higher level. We are looking for farmers and advisors to help guide its development.  Please express your interest at www.opti.farm.

In our News are some OptiSurface activities around the world.

The Design Of The Month demonstrates a case study why we believe OptiSurfacing your fields is often the highest ROI farm improvement farmers can do.

The Feature Of The Month shows the special subzone Ridge and it’s uses.

If you have any problems or questions please reply to this email or call me on +61 405-686-425 (Australia) or Preston on +1 870-340-2020 (USA).

Regards
Graeme Cox & The OptiSurface Team
DAVCO OptiSurface
Mobile: +61 405 686 425   Skype: graemejcox
Web:  www.optisurface.com
News: www.twitter.com/OptiSurface
“Celebrating One Million Acres of Optimized Agricultural Earthworks”


P.S. If you haven’t taken advantage of OptiSurface yet, we’re offering a special service where we will take your topographic data for a field and conduct some FREE analysis and design.  Go here to find out more: http://www.optisurface.com/nlt/

News Of The Month

From our Twitter and Facebook feeds.

Billy Beaudry‏ @Beaudrybilly Mar 24

Beau défi celui-là mais fier du résultat! (Nice challenge, but proud of the result!) This one was a good challenge but @OptiSurface definitely made it easier and better!

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OptiSurface‏ @OptiSurface Mar 27

VIDEO CASE STUDY: How to optimize centre pivot topography to boost crop yield. See http://www.optisurface.com/nevada-pivot/ for more details. https://youtu.be/s7Uexmgilco via @YouTube

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InfoAg 2019‏ @InfoAg Apr 30

@OptiSurface will be exhibiting at booth #36 in the Precision Ag Tech Center at #infoag2019http://ow.ly/cEbw50slXz6

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OptiSurface‏ @OptiSurface May 14

OptiSurface in Action. Freshly OptiSurfaced field in North Queensland being planted to sugarcane with precision. #precisionag https://youtu.be/ecMRgXvzF28 via @YouTube

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OptiSurface‏ @OptiSurface May 30

OptiSurface is touring the USA Midwest: Graeme & Preston are touring this route and attending the Info Ag Conference. We want to meet you if you are near this route or going to the conference. Email us at support@optisurface.com or call to meet.

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Design Of The Month

Queensland Grain Drainage
230% Return on Investment
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The problem in Wade’s words:

“I can lose half my crop to ponding in wet years.”
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In more detail, this is how Wade explained the problem in the photo above.
“In the foreground you’ll see there is a field with mungbeans in it, of which the 200m or so at the end of the field have been drowned out by the water that is still lying there.  If you look across to the right of the photo you can see some corn stubble.  Where this corn stubble ends is where the paddock of mungbeans also ends.  The mungbean paddock and paddock with the corn stubble in it has not been Optisurfaced.  There is a straight line along this boundary where the water lays in the foreground and where it is not laying in the background.  The paddocks in the background used to be an extension of those in the foreground, except to say that water used to lay even worse than the background paddocks than the end of the paddocks in the foreground.”
“Prior to the fields in the background being Optisurfaced you would have seen water laying in the field starting where it is in the mungbeans and extending probably 3/4 of the way to the trees at the very end of the photo.  It would have stayed like that for weeks after this photo this taken. I can lose half my crop to ponding in wet years. Needless to say I was ecstatic to see zero water laying in the field I Optisurfaced, especially when I had this direct comparison with the mungbean field.”

Existing Topography
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Existing Drainage Analysis
The Drainage Analysis fills all depressions in the field and then calculates the flow path based on the Existing Topography.  The analysis was calculated with small furrows and beds 50 mm (2 in) high on a bearing of 188° from north or parallel to the east boundary.
The small furrows represent the micro beds and furrows created by machinery traffic and planters which dramatically affect surface drainage on low sloping fields like this one.
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Yield Map
In 2012, the yield loss was estimated at $600/ha, translating to about $70,000 loss for the whole field.
Overlaying the Ponding Map with the Yield Map produces a remarkable resemblance in Figure 3. The gaps in yield map show no yield, the red area show low yield while the green area show the higher yielding areas.
The high correlation between the low/zero yielding areas and the worst ponding areas is obvious.
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Proposed Topography

An OptiSurface 2Way design was generated for the field with a grades of 0.05% to 0.50% promote drainage. A smoothing of 100 m/% was also applied to promote more uniform infiltration of rainfall. The planting direction was also changed to follow the direction of the north boundary instead of the east boundary.

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Proposed Cut/Fill Map
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Earthworks

Volume of Cut: 11,010 m3 or 14,400 yd
Volume Of Fill:  9,270 m3 or 12,125 yd3
Average Cut Depth: 17 mm or 0.67 in Average Fill Depth: 18 mm or 0.71 in
Average Cut per Area: 94 m3/ha  or 50 yd3/acre

Cost
$250/ha for 117 ha = $29,250 ~ $30,000


Client Testimonial
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For more details, see the case study here.

Feature Of The Month

Ridge Subzone

Overview: This is a special type if subzone that behaves like a barrier, preventing water to flow to the subzone.  It can also apply different design parameters.  Note: The ridge subzone should ideally extend to just outside the boundary zone and go back from one side of the boundary to the other to work well.  Only effective when used OptiSurface 2Way and OptiSurface 4Way.

Displayed by:
Menu: Tools > Landform Design > Draw New Zone > change Subzone Type to Ridge

Appearance:
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Refer to the Design of the Month above for an example.

The ridge subzone was added to the natural high point of the field to reduce the earthworks and facilitate OptiSurface 2Way design better. All water falls away from the ridge as shown below.

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Refer A Friend

Give a friend $200 off OptiSurface and get rewarded with $200 Amazon Gift Card yourself!  Start Here.

Classifieds

We have clients looking for experienced earthmoving operators in Africa, France, Australia and USA. If you’re interested, contact support@optisurface.com

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DAVCO OptiSurface Pty Ltd, 70 Bosun Pde, Gold Coast Queensland 4214, Australia — Unsubscribe

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