Precision Farming: Introducing The Environmental Score System

13 Avril 2022

When the Precision Farming Free DLC releases for Farming Simulator 22 on April 19th, we introduce an environmental scoring system. You will learn, how environmentally friendly and sustainable your farm actually is. The factors calculating your personal score will also affect the crop value. Find out more below and get ready to make your farm more sustainable!

The Precision Farming Free DLC is a project initiated by John Deere and funded by EIT Food, Europe’s leading Food Innovation Initiative. Co-funded by the EU, it is meant to highlight sustainable technology in agriculture. 

What The Environmental Score Means For Your Farm

The environmental score indicates whether you are growing crops in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way. The score ranges from 0 to 100 points - the default state being a neutral score of 50 points. You can gain or lose points for your score based on the way you farm. Depended on the score, you can gain up to 15% more yield for your crops - or lose up to 15%.

The total score for your farm is calculated based on various factors. Those apply to every field you own. If you zoom into your map, you’ll see an individual score for each field. Check which fields need better management to raise your total environmental score! Let's take a look at the factors...

Environmental Scoring Factors 

The total score (100) for each field, and therefore for your whole farm, is based on nitrogen levels, pH value, weed control, soil sampling and tillage. Only by taking care of all those factors, you can access the full potential (meaning yield) of your crops and score a perfect 100. 

15 points for soil sampling

Soil sampling your fields will give you a lot of information about the soil - it's the basis for sustainable farming. Soil sampling automatically increases your score by 15 points. You can take samples manually with the ISARIA Scout, or buy a soil map from a service provider in the menu - for a fee, of course. 

10 points for reduced tillage

Tillage also affects your environmental score. Deep tillage like ploughing burns a lot of fuel, digs up weed seeds to the soil surface and makes the soil susceptible to erosion. So, ploughing  basically means a major penalty for your environmental score, as you won't receive any points.

Shallow tillage saves fuel, reduces erosion and is rewarded with five points. Minimal tillage and direct seeding will be rewarded with the maximum score of 10 points.

30 points based on nitrogen levels

This score changes depending on fertilization. The maximum score (30) can only be reached, if you use the manure sensor for organic fertilization AND the crop sensor for the mineral fertilizer application.

Over-fertilization will decrease the score, because the excessive nitrogen will leach and pollute the groundwater. Under-fertilization also decreases the score, because you won’t reach the full yield potential so that the crop takes less CO2 out of the atmosphere. The nitrogen score will only be updated after the harvest.

15 points based on pH value

Maintaining an optimal pH is a prerequisite for sustainable farming. You can only reach the full yield potential if the soil has the right balance for nutrient storage and mineralization. If the pH value is too high or too low, it will decrease the score. The pH score gets updated after the harvest.

30 points for weed control

The full score (30 points) is reached by using spot spraying technology. That way, you perfectly control weeds through minimum usage of herbicides while reaching the optimal yield. To use spot spraying technology, you will have to use the John Deere R732i PowrSpray, which is introduced with the Precision Farming Free DLC.

  • If you mechanically control the weed (with a weeder or hoe), you can still gain 20 points. The score will be lower because of soil degradation (compaction, erosion, new weed germination, loss of soil moisture) and higher fuel usage.
  • If you spray the whole field with your sprayer, you lose even more points and get only 15 in total. You will receive the full yield for your crops, but without herbicide reduction by using spot spraying technology, you will lose half the points you can gain through weed control.
  • If you don’t control your weeds at all, you get the lowest score (10 points), because this has a very negative impact on yield and increases the long-term weed pressure. This is not helpful to feed the growing world population and therefore not efficient or sustainable.

Precision Farming Releases April 19th!

The Precision Farming Free DLC will be made available through the official ModHub on PC and consoles for Farming Simulator 22 on April 19th. See the complete list of features, below. 

Precision Farming Features in FS22

* Returning features based on Precision Farming for Farming Simulator 19

Goals and Members of the Collaboration

The EIT Food funded project aims to provide knowledge regarding sustainable farming technology. Implementing Precision Farming in the global video game phenomenon Farming Simulator is one of EITs multiple steps to increase awareness.

Various other partners from the European Union are part of the project: The University of Hohenheim (Germany), the University of Reading (UK), Grupo AN (the largest cereal cooperative in Spain) and the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of Polish Academy of Sciences cooperate to promote the technology.

Downloaded more than one million times, the first version of the Precision Farming DLC for Farming Simulator 19 proved a great success.

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