TerraMap Gold is a new soil nutritional and management service from Hutchinsons that combines the most comprehensive soil analysis with the most accurate soil mapping.
“TerraMap Gold is a premium service of TerraMap that will interest growers who want an even better understanding of why the soil behaves like it does and its influence on crop performance, allowing for the most informed soil management decisions to maximise farm profitability,” Hutchinsons’ head of soils, Ian Robertson, said.
The launch of TerraMap by Hutchinsons in 2019 revolutionised the way soil nutrient mapping was carried out; TerraMap uses gamma-radiation detection technology to deliver resolutions of over 800 points/ha, providing high definition mapping of all common nutrient properties, pH (for example trhe percentage of clay, sand and silt), soil texture, organic matter and CEC as well as elevation and plant available water.
The TerraMap methodology collects data in two very simple steps: scanning by driving a lightweight, all-terrain-vehicle fitted with the sensor over a field; and then taking soil samples to allow for each scan to be used to create the individual map layers.
“The difference with TerraMap Gold is that once the mapping is done, the system collects much more detailed soil samples, analysed through the Hutchinsons’ Healthy Soils Gold soils analysis, rather than the standard soil sample analysis,” Mr Robertson said.
The Gold Level soil test is a proven service that offers an in-depth soil analysis of all the key macro and micro soil properties and forms the basis of the Hutchinsons’ Healthy Soils Service.
“31 different elements are analysed by the Gold soil test, making it an ideal partner for the high-resolution data of TerraMap,” Mr Robertson added. “The benefit of this increased level of data collection is the ability to make much more highly informed decisions about how to manage the soils more effectively.”
The TerraMap Gold test includes:
- active (water) pH
- buffer pH
- soil texture
- organic matter
- organic carbon
- P, K and Mg indices
- Boron, Manganese, Iron, Copper, Zinc, Molybdenum (total), Cobalt, Chloride and Sulphur (sulphate)
- total reserves of P, K, Mg, Ca, Na, S and Mo
- exchangeable cations (Ca, Mg, K, Na, H)
- cation exchange capacity
