THE DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRONIC CONSIGNMENT BIN RECORDING

RECENT advances in cane analysis techniques using Near Infrared (NIR) technology enable mills to measure cane constituents for quantities of between 4 and 6 tonnes cane (depending on crushing rates and NIR scan times). These constituents provide information required for cane payment as well as nutrient information such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). While the current manual consignment system provides sufficient information for cane payment purposes, knowing the location of the harvester when filling each bin is important to gain the full benefit of NIR information. Electronic cane consignment can associate the bin being filled with the position of the harvester at the time of filling via the use of GPS technology. The benefit of electronic consignment will be the ability to provide in-field mapping of cane constituents at a finer resolution than can be achieved via traditional cane consignment methods. There is the potential for this technique to feed back valuable information to growers on the actual yields from where individual bins were harvested, along with the related cane constituents from that harvest location. The data could then be used as a basis for change in on-farm practices such as variable rate application of chemicals and fertilisers. This paper outlines the development of an electronic consignment system and the association of consignment data to NIR data as part of an SRDC project being undertaken by a team of industry participants.