Who are RTK Farming Ltd?
RTK Farming Ltd was founded by a group of farmers based in South Cambridgeshire who have joined together to make a robust and affordable GPS RTK network. Its principle ideals are to create one of the first RTK networks in East Anglia that is cost effective and most importantly, does not limit the individual farmer to small areas of coverage; ensuring that as far as is possible every field has reliable coverage the whole time. This is achieved by using a network of base stations and repeaters. The network is never stretched to its maximum limits but instead has built in overlap so that if one base station is temporarily lost another one will compensate. Unlike many other signal providers, by using a Trimble signal RTK Farming Ltd customers are not restricted by brand or colour of machinery they control as Trimble Precision Agriculture equipment has been designed to be as universally compatible as it is technologically possible.
Why do you need RTK Farming?
- ACCURACY - Using a RTK you gain accuracy of +/- 2cm. This means that that your overlaps can be reduced to 0.33% on all machinery passes (this compares to approximately 4% using manual techniques).
- REPEATABLITY - By upgrading to a RTK network signal you will be guaranteed year on year repeatability. Using standard GPS auto-steer equipment using a global correction signal, vehicles can drift between 0.5 - 1.5m, but with RTK this simply does not exist. As a result a 'Controlled Traffic Farming' system can be utilised, minimising soil compaction, improved soil structure and subsequently reducing tillage.
- SAVINGS - With absolute accuracy on all machinery, fuel costs are dramatically reduced as well as a substantial increase in work efficiency. It has been shown that the potential savings would be £19/ha on seeding and fertiliser applications alone (ref: HGCA Research Review 71).
- REDUCED DRIVER FATIGUE - By using a GPS auto-steer system driver fatigue is reduced substantially improving the operation of the equipment.
- INPUT TARGETING - By having RTK GPS systems, variable rate applications can be applied, tailoring the requirements of the growing crops to their needs.
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