How Can Variable Rate Fertiliser and Sensor Technology Improve UK Crop Yields?
- Jack Harris
- Mar 14
- 8 min read
Updated: Mar 17
Improving yields and reducing waste are essential for maintaining a healthy and profitable business. Small gains accumulate and lead to better margins, higher-quality crops and more efficient businesses.
Is Variable Rate Fertiliser New?
In modern UK agriculture, variable-rate fertiliser application has been revolutionizing crop management for many years, helping farmers maximize yields, reduce waste, and improve sustainability.
With the rise of advanced sensor technologies like the Fritzmeier ISARIA, farmers can now apply nutrients with pinpoint accuracy, ensuring that every part of the field gets precisely what it needs.
But how exactly does variable rate fertiliser work, and why is sensor technology such a valuable resource for British Farmers?
The Problem with Uniform Fertiliser Application
Traditionally, fertiliser has been spread at a fixed rate across entire fields, assuming that all areas have the same nutrient needs.
In reality, soil conditions, crop growth, and nutrient requirements vary significantly even within a single field. This results in:
Over-fertilisation, leading to nutrient runoff and environmental harm.
Under-fertilisation, causing poor crop growth in certain areas.
Wasted inputs, increasing costs for farmers.
The Solution: Variable Rate Fertiliser
Variable rate fertiliser technology enables farmers to adjust fertiliser application rates based on real-time field conditions. This precision farming approach uses data-driven insights to ensure that crops receive the right nutrients in the right amounts, improving both yield and sustainability.
Sources for variable rate fertiliser can vary, with each having its unique benefits as well as some drawbacks in some cases.
Data could be taken from:
Soil scans
Satellite imagery
Hand samples
Drone imagery
Yield maps
Tractor-mounted sensors like the Fritzmeier ISARIA
What is the Fritzmeier ISARIA?
The Fritzmeier ISARIA PRO Active and ISARIA PRO Compact are sensors primarily designed for real-time crop analysis and fertiliser optimization but can be used for a wide range of work on the farm.
The ISARIA PRO sensors scan crops as the tractor or sprayer moves through the field, measuring parameters like biomass, chlorophyll content, and crop health.
This data is then used to adjust fertiliser rates on the go, ensuring that every part of the field receives the ideal nutrient levels.
ISARIA PRO Active
The flagship of the ISARIA PRO sensor range, comprising of two active sensors which can work day or night, this powerful tool can determine crop biomass and chlorophyll content to maximise variable rate fertiliser application efficacy.
The ISARIA PRO Active can also take into account historical data for the field, like yield data, soil data and satellite imagery.
These factors are used to influence the live variable rate application as the ISARIA PRO Active will know what yield potential is possible in any given area.
Using ISRIA CONNECT, the online platform from Fritzmeier, this historical data can easily be sent to the terminal for use in the field.
Learn more about ISARIA PRO Active here.
ISARIA PRO Compact
Small and compact, suitable for smaller businesses who want to start the journey of variable-rate fertiliser.
Specifically designed for daylight use with built-in solar radiation sensors to adjust according to lighting conditions.
Quick and easy to install and ISOBUS compatible, it's never been easier or more affordable to start applying fertiliser in the correct place at the correct dose.
Use to scan fields whilst doing other passes like spraying, or use for variable rate fertiliser applications live on the go.
How Sensor Technology Like the Fritzmeier Isaria Improves Variable Rate Fertiliser Efficiency
Fritzmeier has decades of experience and partnerships with trusted educational and scientific institutions to fine-tune algorithms and push the progression of sensor technology.
The use of historical data like yield maps and yield potential maps allows the ISARIA PRO Active to determine nutrient requirements with a higher level of accuracy ensuring each area of the field is treated with the correct amount of fertiliser.
Real-Time Crop Monitoring – The ISARIA sensors continuously scan crops, providing instant feedback on nutrient needs. This can be used for live variable rate fertiliser applications, or to scan as you're going through the field for other applications to build a high-quality picture of how fields are progressing.
Sync scans and as applied maps back to ISARIA CONNECT, the online platform from Fritzmeier. This allows better recording of as-applied data and also allows for gathering of data to be used in future applications.
Optimized Fertiliser Application – Fertiliser is applied only where and when needed, reducing costs and improving efficiency.
Better Crop Yields – Healthier crops lead to higher yields and improved profitability. Because the ISARIA PRO range of sensors applies the right amount of fertiliser to suit the best potential yield for that area, fertiliser waste is reduced.
Environmental Benefits – By applying fertiliser only where it's needed and where it can be used most efficiently farmers will reduce excess nitrogen runoff and lower the farm’s carbon footprint by improving nutrient efficacy.
Easy Integration – The ISARIA system is compatible with modern farm machinery and works seamlessly with GPS guidance systems allowing less downtime and more productivity.
Not a One-Trick Pony
One of the great features of the Friztmeier ISARIA PRO Active and ISARIA PRO Compact sensors is the ability to be used for different applications on the farm, helping farming businesses justify investment in the technology.
Users of Fritzmerier ISARIA
Josef Höckmeier
Hallertau, Bavaria
Crops: Grassland (fodder and biogas plant)
Agricultural area: 400 ha
ISARIA PRO Active
“In Hallertau, we manage a farm with around 400 hectares of agriculture, animal husbandry and our own biogas plant.
Because we are very much in the red zone under the new fertilization ordinance, we have decided to invest in site-specific fertilization in order to increase the efficiency of nitrogen.
With the ISARIA PRO Active plant sensor in conjunction with our slurry tank plus NIR sensor, we have the opportunity to use nutrients even more efficiently on our fields. We have been working with yield potential maps for three years now. The combination of yield potential maps and ISARIA PRO Active plant sensor has proven successful for us. Through the maps, I can see the history of recent years and, with the help of the ISARIA PRO Active sensor, the current situation. ”
Phillip Krainbring
Wanzleben-Börde, Saxony-Anhalt
Crops: rapeseed, maize
Agricultural area: 440 ha
ISARIA PRO Compact
“As early as autumn at the end of the vegetation, I drove through the fields with the ISARIA PRO Compact to measure the nitrogen uptake in rapeseed.
I made fertilization maps from the scans.
This allows me to see which areas have absorbed more or less nitrogen and which areas are receiving a little more or less fertilizer. This enables me to better distribute the fertiliser over the area and use it effectively. The more I study it, the more valuable I find this tool. But it doesn't replace my work. I have to look carefully at the maps and decide how to adjust my fertilization and why - do the poorly developed areas get more or less fertilizer? Once you have decided on a fertilization strategy and everything is set, the spreading process is almost automatic. ”
Conclusion
With variable-rate fertiliser application and advanced sensor technology like the Fritzmeier Isaria, UK farmers can take precision farming to the next level. The benefits are clear: higher crop yields, lower costs, and a more sustainable future.
Utilise the Fritzmeie ISARIA for a wide range of applications to maximise returns and gain better high-definition insights into crop health and potential.
Ready to Upgrade Your Farm?
If you’re looking to maximize efficiency and profitability, now is the time to invest in smart fertiliser application technology. Check out the latest precision farming solutions and start optimizing your yields today!
How does the ISARIA plant sensor work and which parameters can be measured?
With ISARIA PRO Active and ISARIA PRO Compact, ISARIA offers farmers two reliable sensors for site-specific management. The two sensors differ in their measurement technology. The ISARIA PRO Active is an active plant sensor because it actively irradiates the plant population with its own light source. The ISARIA PRO Compact, on the other hand, uses sunlight as a light source and does not have its own light source. This is why we speak of a passive measurement principle. A passive plant sensor depends on a reference (irradiation sensor on the roof of the tractor), which is used to measure the intensity of solar radiation. This allows the reflection of the plant population to be measured regardless of irradiation conditions (e.g. cloudiness).
Both plant sensors measure the red and near-infrared light reflected by the plants in the same way while crossing the plant.
This reflection correlates very strongly with biomass and the N supply of plants. Based on these values, the optimal application quantity is then calculated in accordance with the chosen strategy and transmitted directly to the attachment.
In principle, ISARIA plant sensors allow you to measure either the nitrogen supply status of the plants or the biomass growth of the stock.
Depending on the state of development and the application carried out, the appropriate index can be selected. In early development phases and smaller plant populations, very good results can be achieved with the biomass measurement value. In later development phases and when stocks are dense, biomass-based measurement values can no longer differentiate the stocks from one another. Here, the N supply then provides reliable measurement values.
How does the sensor calculate the amount of application and how quickly does the transfer to the attachment work?
What are the advantages of sensor data compared to satellite maps?
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