Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

GPS Corrections and Their General Uses

After many years of precision agricultural use, many questions still exist of what is the correct correction for each operation.  I have listed the corrections available and a brief description of their uses.

Wide Area Augmentation Signal (WAAS) –

Accuracy: < 6-8”

Initialization/Convergence: Standard*

This free service provides performance suitable for agriculture applications in which accuracy and repeatability are not of the highest concern. It's most popular for broadacre crop spraying and tillage applications.

Omnistar XP-

Accuracy: 3-5" (8-12 cm)

Initialization/Convergence: Standard*

An OmniSTAR® service for high-performance broadacre spraying and land-tillage applications in which the vehicle will be operating in areas with open views of the sky at all times. OmniSTAR XP requires a convergence period at startup.  Omnistar XP is most popular for boom shutoff systems on sprayers and tillage applications.

Omnistar HP-

Accuracy: 2-4" (5-10 cm)

Initialization/Convergence: Standard*

An OmniSTAR® service suitable for high-performance broadacre seeding, spraying, and harvesting applications in which the vehicle will be operating in areas with open views of the sky at all times. OmniSTAR HP requires a convergence period at startup.  Omnistar HP is popular for broadacre planting, spraying and harvest solutions.

Trimble’s RTX-

Accuracy: 1.5" (3.8 cm)

Initialization/Convergence: Standard*

The new Trimble® CenterPoint™ RTX™ Correction Service delivers GNSS enabled, repeatable 1.5" (3.8 cm) corrections via satellite or cellular network directly to your receiver anywhere in the world. CenterPoint RTX works with the built-in GNSS receiver in your existing Trimble FmX® integrated display, CFX-750™ display, or AG-372 GNSS receiver.  Trimble’s RTX is becoming increasingly popular with cash crop planting using row controls, side dressing, no-till operations, small veggie crops where size does not dictate RTK investments.

RTK Base or Cellular-

Accuracy: < 1" (2.5 cm)

Initialization/Convergence: < 1 minute

CenterPoint RTK is well suited for row-crop planting, strip tilling, land leveling and other water management applications in which the best horizontal and vertical accuracy is required.  Repeatable accuracy is available anywhere, with cellular/base station systems.  Advancements in base station technologies now allow for no line of sight restrictions, and distances up to 20 Miles.

Agricultural GPS systems are no longer about straight lines, it is about intregration into your operation, your future plans and increasing profitability.  Data acquisition, yield mapping and variable rate application are all becoming main stream to today’s farmers.  Without properly installation, calibrated and training you will not be able to maximize your investment.  Ensure you make the right choices, your yields will thank you.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Paul Smith is the owner of Northern Equipment Solutions and based in Central Ontario, Canada. Providing Quality Potato Equipment, Precision Agriculture and Other Advanced Equipment, Northern Equipment Solutions ensures that your profits and yields are maximized. www.northernequipment.ca or sales@northernequipment.ca

Views: 425

Comment

You need to be a member of Ontario Agriculture to add comments!

Join Ontario Agriculture

Comment by Iain Robson on January 2, 2013 at 11:55pm

Awesome, thanks very much Paul.

I will look into it. For a small initial investment, it could improve yields, which would be huge.

Also, the new website looks great.

Comment by Paul Smith on January 2, 2013 at 5:52pm

Generally WAAS is a good starting point for any precision purchase, it can cover some of your less accurate requirements on the farm including some planting, sprayering, manure application and fertilizer spreading all areas where accuracy will have very positive returns in quality and reduced costs of inputs

Comment by Iain Robson on January 2, 2013 at 2:40am

Great post Paul. 

Which one would you suggest for a starter gps?

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

Ukraine-Russian Peace Deal Impact on Grain, Fertilizer and Energy Markets

A peace framework that reduces geo-political tensions in the Black Sea region would likely exert downward pressure on crude oil prices.

Ontario government invests $1.5 million in Morrisburg's Alinova Canada Inc. plant

Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Vic Fedeli was in Morrisburg on Tuesday to announce a $1.5 million investment in Canada’s first non-GMO soy milk powder processing plant. Alinova Canada Inc. is a joint venture between Japan’s second largest soy milk producer, Marusan Ai, and Ontario-based David J Hendrick International Inc. (DJHII) valued at $23.9 million. The facility in Morrisburg, located at the former Homestead Organics site, is still being retrofitted and is expected to open early in 2026. Once it is fully operational, the plant will process food-grade soybeans from Eastern Ontario farms into powder for use in soy-based products. The operation is expecting to ramp up to eventually produce over 1,200 metric tonnes of soy milk powder per year. Putting South Dundas on the map for agri-food processing and innovation, DJHII founder Hendrick said he expects to eventually hire 15 staffers for the plant and has already started onboarding, sharing kind w

Ontario Secures $24-Million Agri-Food Investment with New Soymilk Powder Plant in Morrisburg

Ontario’s agri-food sector is set for a significant boost as Alinova Canada Inc. invests nearly $24 million to build the country’s first non-GMO soymilk powder processing plant, a project expected to create 15 jobs and strengthen the province’s export capacity. The provincial government announced the investment Monday, positioning it as a strategic move that will expand domestic processing capacity and reinforce Ontario’s reputation as a global supplier of soy-based ingredients. “Alinova Canada’s investment is a vote of confidence in our province’s manufacturing capabilities and in our world-class workers,” said Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. “With their new Morrisburg facility, Alinova is onshoring key processing capacity from Japan for Ontario’s agri-food supply chain, creating good-paying jobs, and driving long-term economic growth in Eastern Ontario.” Alinova is a joint venture between Japan’s second-largest soymilk producer, Marusan Ai, an

Advancing Sustainability Solutions Through Collection Audits

One of our duties and responsibilities as Recycling Ambassadors for Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Council (SWRC) was to travel around the province and spread the word about proper drop off for oil, antifreeze & diesel exhaust fluid containers. We have learned that a farm can produce dozens of these containers every year, as well as hundreds of other plastic containers, like pesticide and fertilizer jugs. We saw this first-hand when we joined Cleanfarms for two projects in June 2025: a Rinse Rate Study and a Seed, Pesticide & Inoculant (SPI) Bag Audit. We had the opportunity to meet Cleanfarms Program Advisors, Tammy Shields and Serena Klippenstein in Naicam, SK, at Curtis Ltd. We split into two teams for efficiency and got to work. One team examined the SPI bags, and the other examined the rinse rate for chemical jugs. In the SPI bag audit, we sorted, counted, and weighed different materials – multi-layered paper bags, low density polyethylene (LDPE) bags, and polypropylene (PP) totes.

Interesting Facts About Our Agriculture Industry

The province of Newfoundland and Labrador is home to over 300 different farms. Farm Cash Receipts were $163.9 million in 2023, up 9.8% from 2022. The largest crop commodity is Greenhouse and Nursery, accounting for 6.1 per cent of total Farm Cash Receipts. Value of vegetable production remained unchanged at $7.0 million; the top two vegetable crops in 2023 were turnips and potatoes. The top five crops in 2023 accounted for 71 per cent of all vegetable sales; they are as follows: potato, turnip, carrot, cabbage and pumpkin. Farm Cash Receipts for fruit production rose 13.0 per cent in 2023 to $1.9 million; with strawberries being the highest valued crop at $0.9 million. In terms of berries, strawberries are the largest in terms of value, cranberries are largest by volume produced and blueberries are the largest by area of production. The province has ten commercial apiculture (beekeeping) operations producing a variety of honey and beeswax products plus providing pollination services fo

© 2025   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service