In a context of constant increase in the cost of fertilizers and phytosanitary products, FS22 now allows you to switch your virtual farm to precision agriculture with the aim of providing the right measurements of nitrogen, lime and pesticides. in your plots. New for this new installment of this free DLC for all platforms: the environmental score.
The environmental score
The perfect score of 100 points will therefore give you two major effects:
- Up to 15% extra yield in the plots concerned
- Up to 10% added value to the resale of your crops
Step 1: Soil analyzes (15 points)
When you buy a plot, the first step will be to carry out an analysis of the soil in order to know precisely its composition, which can vary between loamy sand, sandy loam, loam and silty clay. Each type of soil will not give the same yield and will not have the same need for treatment.
To perform these analyses, you will have two options:
- Make them yourself by renting or buying the ISARIA Scout soil sampler which attaches to a 3 point
- Subcontract them against payment to a specialized company from the PDA
Maximum yield potential depending on the soil:
loamy sand | sandy clay | clay | silty clay |
80% | 100% | 125% | 90% |
Step 2: Management of soil acidity expressed in pH (15 points)
Maintaining good soil acidity in the plot is a mandatory condition to guarantee the best possible yield. It will therefore be necessary to scrupulously configure your lime spreaders to achieve the following pH values:
- Loamy sand: 6
- Sandy clay: 6.5
- Clay: 6.75
- Silty clay: 7
Note that the pH decreases after each harvest:
loamy sand | sandy clay | clay | silty clay |
0.125 | 0.125 | 0.25 | 0.25 |
Step 3: Tillage and type of plowing (10 points)
The deeper you work (ploughing), the more fuel you will need, with the added risk of further erosion of the soil each time it is laid bare. Thus, plowing is penalized and will not earn you any points in your environmental score.
Conversely, simple surface work (cultivator, stubble cultivator, etc.) or direct sowing (with compatible seed drills) will be rewarded with 5 and 10 points respectively.
The seed drills must also be configured to deliver the right seed dosage according to the type of crop and soil encountered. You can either opt for automatic or manual adjustment.
Step 4: Adding organic and mineral fertilizers (30 points)
To obtain the maximum score (30 points) you must both add organic fertilizer (slurry, manure or digestate) and then supplement with mineral fertilizer.
Organic fertilizers, the first step
For fertilizers of organic origin, some slurry tankers in the game are now able to be equipped with a John Deere dosing computer capable of regulating the flow to reach the desired nitrogen target value in the field. Indeed, the rate of nitrogen in the liquid manure is not homogeneous with a fluctuation which can reach 40% in the same ton. The precision dosing module (via an infrared spectrometer) will therefore regulate the flow to deliver the right amount of nitrogen. A new Garant PTR 30.000 ton is also included with this DLC.
Nitrogen inputs from organic fertilizers (manure, slurry or digestate) in Kg/Ha on a plot without cultivation:
loamy sand | sandy clay | clay | silty clay |
40 | 60 | 80 | 60 |
Oilseed radishes will bring you 40 Kg/Ha of Nitrogen if you bury them again in the ground via a cultivator before sowing.
Mineral fertilizers, to supplement during growth
For mineral fertilizers (solid or liquid), you will need to equip yourself with an optical crop sensor to measure the nitrogen requirement in real time during your visit to the field. Attention, for this to work, it is imperative that your crop is in a sufficient growth stage to have green leaves and thus offer greater optical contrast. For grain crops such as wheat for example, the best fertilization period is in the spring.
There are two types of sensors (of the ISARIA brand) available at the store:
- Passive: to be mounted on the cab mirrors (via the tractor configuration) and can only be used during the day in daylight
- Active: to be installed on the front 3 points and having its own light source which can thus operate day and night
The right nitrogen dosage for each crop
The nitrogen value needed for each crop (in Kg/Ha):
Culture | loamy sand | sandy clay | clay | silty clay |
Corn | 140 | 180 | 200 | 160 |
Barley | 120 | 140 | 180 | 120 |
oat | 80 | 100 | 140 | 100 |
Cotton | 80 | 100 | 120 | 100 |
Colza | 140 | 180 | 200 | 160 |
Sunflower | 60 | 80 | 120 | 80 |
Soybean | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Sorghum | 100 | 120 | 160 | 140 |
Corn | 120 | 160 | 200 | 180 |
Potato | 100 | 120 | 160 | 140 |
sugar beets | 120 | 140 | 180 | 160 |
Sugar cane | 120 | 160 | 200 | 180 |
Herbe | 50 | 55 | 65 | 65 |
Poplar | 120 | 160 | 140 | 140 |
Grape | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Olive | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The remaining nitrogen value is updated after each harvest (in Kg/Ha):
Culture | loamy sand | sandy clay | clay | silty clay |
Corn | 0 | 20 | 20 | 0 |
Barley | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
oat | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
Cotton | 20 | 40 | 20 | 20 |
Colza | 0 | 20 | 20 | 0 |
Sunflower | 20 | 20 | 40 | 20 |
Soybean | +40 contributed by crop residues | +40 contributed by crop residues | +40 contributed by crop residues | +40 contributed by crop residues |
Sorghum | 20 | 20 | 40 | 20 |
Corn | 20 | 20 | 20 | 40 |
Potato | 20 | 20 | 40 | 20 |
sugar beets | 20 | 20 | 40 | 40 |
Sugar cane | 20 | 20 | 40 | 60 |
Herbe | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
Poplar | 20 | 40 | 20 | 20 |
Grape | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Olive | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
In summary, you will therefore first have to go through your plot with organic fertilizer (manure, slurry or digestate) and only then complete the nitrogen needs when the crop has reached a few growth stages with mineral fertilizer.
Step 5: Weeding management (30 points)
When you activate the Precision Farming mod, the weeds will appear in clumps and no longer uniformly throughout the plot. The best score will be achieved by using smart herbicide spraying only where weeds are detected and not across the entire field. This smart spray will initially only be available with the new John Deere (DLC partner) R732i PowrSpray equipment. Optical sensors coupled with artificial intelligence will control the distribution selection of the phytosanitary treatment only where it is necessary. The benefits are twofold: savings on the product and less impact in nature. Conversely, if you spray the entire field without distinction, the score will only be 15 points.
You may also have the option of using mechanical weeding (with a weeder, hoe or rotary hoe) but the score will only be 20 points due to soil degradation (erosion, compaction, regrowth, surface dryness) and higher fuel requirements.
Finally, doing nothing about weeds will still give you 10 points (lowest score) but at the expense of performance.
List of new vehicles and equipment that comes with the DLC
Among the novelties you will find the John Deere R732i PowrSpray trailed sprayer with selective spray technology that only activates certain nozzles located above the weeds, the ISARIA Scout and the ISARA PRO Active (optical nitrogen sensors in crops) as well as the Kotte Garant PTR 30.000 ton. Two RTK stations can be placed on your farm to improve the efficiency of Giants workers.
- John Deere Gator
- John Deere R732i Powerspray
- ISARIA PRO Active
- ISARIA PRO Compact
- ISARIA SCOUT
- Kotte Guarantor 30.000
- Building with RTK antenna
- Hangar with RTK antenna
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is this DLC compatible with other maps than those provided by Giants?
Yes, the DLC will apply a generic breakdown of the different floor types if the map is not prepared specifically by the modder. You can therefore already play without difficulty with your favorite cards.
- For modders, how to make equipment or maps even more suitable for precision farming?
Giants provides modding instructions in two PDFs embedded in the DLC ZIP file which you will also find below.
Preparation of vehicles
Map preparation
- Is a new save needed? What are the impacts of Precision Farming on a game in progress?
It is not specified by Giants but it is recommended (according to our experiences on FS19). Be careful, however, when you install Precision Farming on a current game because all your yields will be halved until you have done the soil analyses. So remember to do all your harvesting before installing the DLC.
- Are there any incompatibilities with other mods?
Yes there are problems with a lot of scripts (Guidance Steering, Trailer Axle Blocker, Park Vehicle, Bale Count System, manual attach, Tardis, Real Dirt, …) but it's mainly related to the 1.4 update which had take place at the same time as the release of the DLC.
Precision farming back on FS22
Footnotes
If you were already used to playing with the Precision Farming DLC on FS19, you will quickly find your marks because the new features are ultimately few (environmental score, nitrogen sensor and selective spraying). For new players, this is an opportunity to renew the gameplay and discover the new technologies at work in this agriculture seeking to combine both good yield and environmental protection.