A soil analysis system is provided for an agricultural vehicle and includes a sensor apparatus, a controller, and a display device. The sensor apparatus includes a location sensor configured to determine a location of the agricultural vehicle; and an infrared sensor configured to collect infrared spectra from soil at the location. The controller is configured to determine a soil type based on the location; select at least one nutrient calibration curve based on the soil type at the location; analyze the infrared spectra according to the at least one nutrient calibration curve to generate at least one estimated nutrient value for the soil at the location; and generate display commands representing the at least one estimated nutrient value. The display device is configured to generate a first display representing the at least one estimated nutrient value based on the display commands.

Depth of penetration of a soil coulter is detected using a sensor being mounted on the side of the disk adjacent the edge such that the sensor as the disk rotates is located above the surface of the soil during a first part of its rotation and is located below the surface during a second part of its rotation. The sensor issues a signal which changes in response to whether the sensor is above or below the soil surface which is received by a controller which calculates from the signal a first time when the sensor enters below the soil surface and a second time when the sensor departs the soil surface and calculates from the first and second times the depth of penetration of the coulter in the soil. The system can also detect variations in depth indicative of a value of surface roughness.

Depth of penetration of a soil coulter is detected using a sensor being mounted on the side of the disk adjacent the edge such that the sensor as the disk rotates is located above the surface of the soil during a first part of its rotation and is located below the surface during a second part of its rotation. The sensor issues a signal which changes in response to whether the sensor is above or below the soil surface which is received by a controller which calculates from the signal a first time when the sensor enters below the soil surface and a second time when the sensor departs the soil surface and calculates from the first and second times the depth of penetration of the coulter in the soil. The system can also detect variations in depth indicative of a value of surface roughness.

An agricultural planting or seeding implement that includes a ground engaging tool that forms a trench in a field. The ground engaging tool includes a blade that forms the trench. A first conduit couples to the blade. The first conduit deposits agricultural product in the field. A sensor couples to the ground engaging tool. The sensor generates a signal indicative of a soil property of the field.

Systems, methods and apparatus are provided for monitoring soil properties. An example control and monitoring system for an agricultural implement having a plurality of row units includes a reflectivity sensor, a camera, a processor, and a monitoring device. The reflectivity sensor generates a reflectivity signal related to reflectivity of soil worked by the row units. The camera captures images of a seed trench opened by an opening assembly of the row units. The camera is disposed on a shank extension forward of seeds being deposited in the seed trench by the row units. The processor is configured to calculate a statistical variation in the reflectivity signal and the monitoring device is configured to display one or more of the images captured by the camera and a representation of the statistical variation.

A system for sensing characteristics of a trench in a soil surface during planting operations. A trench opening assembly opens a trench in the soil surface as the trench opening assembly moves in a forward direction of travel. A trench closing assembly disposed rearward of the trench opening assembly closes the opened trench with soil. One or more sensors may be disposed on an appurtenance disposed in said trench configured to provide characteristics of an area of the open trench or an area of the trench closed with soil by the trench closing assembly or a sensor may be disposed outside of said trench configured to provide characteristics of an area of the trench closed with soil or a combination of the sensors may be disposed in the trench and outside of the trench.

A system for sensing characteristics of a trench in a soil surface during planting operations. A trench opening assembly opens a trench in the soil surface as the trench opening assembly moves in a forward direction of travel. A trench closing assembly disposed rearward of the trench opening assembly closes the opened trench with soil. One or more sensors may be disposed on an appurtenance disposed in said trench configured to provide characteristics of an area of the open trench or an area of the trench closed with soil by the trench closing assembly or a sensor may be disposed outside of said trench configured to provide characteristics of an area of the trench closed with soil or a combination of the sensors may be disposed in the trench and outside of the trench.

A system for measuring temperature and dielectric properties of soil and other semi-solid materials on-the-go uses a long-wearing non-ferrous wear plate with two metal prongs supported by the wear plate to measure dielectric properties. The metal prongs each have a mounting end soldered to a printed circuit board containing a capacitance sensor circuit. The metal prongs have exposed ends arranged to contact the semi-solid material being measured. The sensor circuit has an oscillation frequency of 50 to 100 MHz to allow rapid dielectric measurements to be made as the sensor moves through the semi-solid material. In one embodiment, the system includes an implement for traversing a field, a shank with a leading edge for opening a furrow in soil, and a spring-loaded mounting system for biasing the wear plate downwardly relative to a shank to maintain a consistent pressure of the wear plate and metal prongs against the soil.

Methods, systems and devices for mobile detection of soil compaction and soil characteristic data are provided. Operations include causing a subsurface portion of soil at a compaction detection location to be disrupted using compressed air, generating disruption data corresponding to the disruption of the subsurface portion of the soil at the compaction detection location, generating geographic location data corresponding to the compaction detection location, receiving the geographic location data from the location device and the disruption data from the disruption sensor and associating the geographic location data with the disruption data.

A sensing system for obtaining a gradient of soil properties in real-time as a function of soil depth is disclosed herein. The sensing system includes a support structure coupled to an agricultural implement and which is rotatable about a rotational axis relative to a frame of the agricultural implement. A sensor is arranged on a surface of the support structure and configured to generate an output signal indicative of the measured soil property based on a sensed a capacitance change corresponding to a change in a dielectric property of a measured soil sample with which the sensor interacts. A measuring unit is coupled to the at least one sensor and processes the output signal generated by the at least one sensor to generate a gradient profile of the soil properties in real-time as a function of one or more depths for display on a user interface.