yield decline precision farming

[alanarientiziech]

I sent a video to try an address this. Will it matter, can’t say. But I tried.

thanks!

[LittleWatt]

I sent a video to try an address this. Will it matter, can’t say. But I tried.

thanks!

I don’t know if my video will specifically address what you have going on. I can’t duplicate what I don’t know. I looked through my fields, made some notes, did a little research, and made an educated guess based on what my fields showed, what my Environmental Score was, and what might cause the issue. I do everything in Precision Farming exactly as it’s been posted by Giants, including mulching and rolling.

[LittleWatt]

Just finished tested two oat fields. One field I did everything according to Precision Farming guidelines and what Giants added to the most recent patch, which is mulching and rolling adding a 2.5% yield bonus each for an additional 5% yield.

On the other field I replaced the Spot And Spray with a hoe as a regular weeder wouldn’t work.

The results for the by-the-book PF field: I maintained the field score of 97. Nitrogen and pH are perfect. But I’m taking a yield penalty of 6-9% depending on the soil type.

On the other oat field, where I took a hoe to the weeds: my field score dropped 7 points to a 90 overall, my global Environmental Score dropped 1 point to a 98 overall. Nitrogen and pH are perfect. I have a 100% yield.

So, I think it’s confirmed that using the Spot and Spray damages yield but maintains Environmental Score. Now, since the entire purpose of using Precision Farming is to maintain an environmentally sound farming practice, I think a maximum ES is more important than the lower yield.

Now for the cheat: if you wish to maintain your yield and your ES, you can run the Spot And Spray after you’ve used a mechanical weeder. The yield will stay at 100% and your Environmental Score will get a boost.

I’m going to send this information to Giants as part of my bug report.

[alanarientiziech]

Just finished tested two oat fields. One field I did everything according to Precision Farming guidelines and what Giants added to the most recent patch, which is mulching and rolling adding a 2.5% yield bonus each for an additional 5% yield.

On the other field I replaced the Spot And Spray with a hoe as a regular weeder wouldn’t work.

The results for the by-the-book PF field: I maintained the field score of 97. Nitrogen and pH are perfect. But I’m taking a yield penalty of 6-9% depending on the soil type.

On the other oat field, where I took a hoe to the weeds: my field score dropped 7 points to a 90 overall, my global Environmental Score dropped 1 point to a 98 overall. Nitrogen and pH are perfect. I have a 100% yield.

So, I think it’s confirmed that using the Spot and Spray damages yield but maintains Environmental Score. Now, since the entire purpose of using Precision Farming is to maintain an environmentally sound farming practice, I think a maximum ES is more important than the lower yield.

Now for the cheat: if you wish to maintain your yield and your ES, you can run the Spot And Spray after you’ve used a mechanical weeder. The yield will stay at 100% and your Environmental Score will get a boost.

I’m going to send this information to Giants as part of my bug report.

you can also spray herbicide with standard sprayer right after the sowing (which is callled pre emergent spraying) and then cheat spray the spot n spray herbicide (those are the most time effective, standard spray 25 km/h and you will need only a bit spot n spray to get the bonus) and get max EV score and yield

[LittleWatt]

Brainstorming here: it might be possible to run a mechanical weeder just a little on the field. Then run the Spot And Spray over the entire field. Basically do the reverse of the entire field with mechanical weeder followed by a strip with Spot And Spray, which doesn’t even use herbicide. The same concept of fixing a broken weed score on a grass field. Since grass doesn’t grow weeds, but may show a hit on weeding, just running the sprayer on the field fixes the weed penalty.

Might be worth trying on the next planting.

[LittleWatt]

Just finished tested two oat fields. One field I did everything according to Precision Farming guidelines and what Giants added to the most recent patch, which is mulching and rolling adding a 2.5% yield bonus each for an additional 5% yield.

On the other field I replaced the Spot And Spray with a hoe as a regular weeder wouldn’t work.

The results for the by-the-book PF field: I maintained the field score of 97. Nitrogen and pH are perfect. But I’m taking a yield penalty of 6-9% depending on the soil type.

On the other oat field, where I took a hoe to the weeds: my field score dropped 7 points to a 90 overall, my global Environmental Score dropped 1 point to a 98 overall. Nitrogen and pH are perfect. I have a 100% yield.

So, I think it’s confirmed that using the Spot and Spray damages yield but maintains Environmental Score. Now, since the entire purpose of using Precision Farming is to maintain an environmentally sound farming practice, I think a maximum ES is more important than the lower yield.

Now for the cheat: if you wish to maintain your yield and your ES, you can run the Spot And Spray after you’ve used a mechanical weeder. The yield will stay at 100% and your Environmental Score will get a boost.

I’m going to send this information to Giants as part of my bug report.

you can also spray herbicide with standard sprayer right after the sowing (which is callled pre emergent spraying) and then cheat spray the spot n spray herbicide (those are the most time effective, standard spray 25 km/h and you will need only a bit spot n spray to get the bonus) and get max EV score and yield

BTW, sorry for all the confusion earlier in the post.

[b101uk]

well its definitely related to medium weeds that result from direct drills 1 month after sowing, spot spraying them gives the yield penalty.

so we have the absurdity that cultivating with a normal depth cultivator, then sowing, then applying herbicide by spot spraying is somehow more environmentally friendly than direct drilling and then using a hoe on weeds, despite using a hoe causes significantly less fuel burnt and ground disturbance than cultivating, and is significantly less chemicals placed on the land than than spot spraying, or the additional steps of stone removal or rolling caused by normal depth cultivators.

[LittleWatt]

I don’t have stones on, so I can’t verify the yield impact. Stones are not given a yield bonus percentage, so their impact would have to be bugged. If you read the explanation about weeds in the PF Help it explains why Spot Spraying is more environmentally friendly overall. And I never cultivate my fields. I’m sitting on 3-100 score, 2-98 score, and 1-97 score fields. My overall ES is 99. All on one map. I’m taking the yield penalty for the weeding because I won’t add the mechanical weeding then Spot Spray exploit until Giants gets back to me saying it’s intended that way. Mulching makes sense as you’re making use of the organic material left on the field. Rolling makes sense as you are keeping seeds from being removed by natural occurrence.

[b101uk]

I don’t have stones on, so I can’t verify the yield impact. Stones are not given a yield bonus percentage, so their impact would have to be bugged. If you read the explanation about weeds in the PF Help it explains why Spot Spraying is more environmentally friendly overall. And I never cultivate my fields. I’m sitting on 3-100 score, 2-98 score, and 1-97 score fields. My overall ES is 99. All on one map. I’m taking the yield penalty for the weeding because I won’t add the mechanical weeding then Spot Spray exploit until Giants gets back to me saying it’s intended that way. Mulching makes sense as you’re making use of the organic material left on the field. Rolling makes sense as you are keeping seeds from being removed by natural occurrence.

But the problem is the currant absurdity:
you can (loam):
A:

• 1: mulch

• 2: cultivate at normal depth (the depth that creates small stones)

• 3: sow.

• 4: roll

• 5: spot spray

• 6: fertilize

which is 6 individual passes and get 125% yield and 100 ES

vs.

B:

• 1: mulch.

• 2: direct drill.

• 3: roll

• 4: spot spray

• 5: fertilize

which is 5 individual passes and get ~117% yield and 100 ES

vs.

C:

• 1: mulch.

• 2: direct drill including fertilize

• 3: roll

• 4: hoe weeds

which is 4 individual passes and get 125% yield and ~92 ES


the absurdity being the last method C burns the least amount of diesel, makes the fewest passes and put ZERO herbicide on the crops or on the ground, and would be the most environmentally friendly, as extra yield of 8% means 8% LESS fields need planting relative to B, and less fuel and chemicals than A, yet is penalised the most in ES.

its like the precision farming DLC is just marketing for JD sprayers with spot spraying, rather than ES being based on practices that burn the least fuel, use the least or no chemicals, and produce the most yield (as less yield is more fields that need planting and thus more fuel burnt by extension of less yield when looked at at a global scale)

[LittleWatt]

Yes, I hear you on the total passes. To me this is poor execution of the Precision Farming DLC. Instead of PF completely overwriting the base game field prep and yield bonuses, it’s mixing and matching the two. They are fighting each other, basically. And I mentioned all of that in my message to Giants.

I’ll add one more issue, the inability to properly fertilize without chemical fertilizers. You can’t get a maximum ES by using organic fertilizers because they only fertilize the soil. I tried running my slurry spreader twice on a canola field and ended up over fertilizing and taking a hit.

Spot Sprayer makes perfect sense to me. Occasional spraying of herbicide in locations with weeds, no soil destruction from heavy implements. Probably less fuel usage than dragging a hoe through the ground. I don’t know though as I’ve never actually done any farming outside of a game. Seems like there must be a reason Giants has calculated a more environmentally friendly approach to spot spraying over mechanical weeding. Is it because weeds can grow back thus requiring another weeding session if herbicide isn’t used? I have no idea.

Logically, the fewer passes would be better, but I don’t know how that equates to mimicking real-life as the game attempts to do.

[LittleWatt]

Received a reply from Giants. They are sending my video and test results to the QA team.

[alanarientiziech]

Logically, the fewer passes would be better, but I don’t know how that equates to mimicking real-life as the game attempts to do.

the faster you do the things, the better is, for example: the sowing window in australia is very tight, the big bud 747 was built to pull a very big seed drill, I dont know why all these enviromental bla bla bla (tractors doesnt even have smoke!), there is not noblest behavior than produce food to the world eat!

[Honkyfarmer_v1010]

My head hurts, this shouldnt be such a chore lol

[LittleWatt]

My head hurts, this shouldnt be such a chore lol

We are getting it all worked out. I think most importantly it’s a game trying to duplicate real life with ones and zeros. Can’t be done, so imagination plays a big part.

The only game impacting snag is the weeder situation. This may or may not get fixed, and if it does, it may be months. It comes down to choice, really. Play the best environmental farmer you can and lose some yield. Or go more yield at the expense of the environment. Or, cheat and get the best of both worlds. No wrong way to do it when the developers are leaving the QA to the players.

Not specifically directing this toward you.

[Honkyfarmer_v1010]

Logically, the fewer passes would be better, but I don’t know how that equates to mimicking real-life as the game attempts to do.

the faster you do the things, the better is, for example: the sowing window in australia is very tight, the big bud 747 was built to pull a very big seed drill, I dont know why all these enviromental bla bla bla (tractors doesnt even have smoke!), there is not noblest behavior than produce food to the world eat!

Because the big brains dont want us producing food the .most efficient (fast and most yield) way. They will sacrifice yield for the environment at any cost.