Precision Agriculture in the 21st Century Geospatial and Information Technologies in Crop Management (1997) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Executive Summary
Executive Summary
Pages 1-15
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 1... ...
The concepts embodied in precision agriculture offer the promise of increasing productivity while decreasing production costs and minimizing environmental impacts. Precision agriculture conjures up images of farmers overcoming the elements with computerized machinery that is precisely controlled via satellites and local sensors and using planning software that accurately predicts crop development.
|
From page 2... ...
This report defines precision agriculture as a management strategy that uses information technologies to bring data from multiple sources to bear on decisions associated with crop production. Precision agriculture has three components: capture of data at an appropriate scale and frequency, interpretation and analysis of that data, and implementation of a management response at an appropriate scale and time.
|
From page 3... ...
Precision agriculture requires new approaches to research that are designed explicitly to improve understanding of the complex interactions between multiple factors affecting crop growth andfarm decision making. USDA and land grant universities should give increased priority to such new approaches by reallocating personnel and budgets.
|
From page 4... ...
Moreover, systems principles are needed to improve farm decision making, not for themselves alone. Research approaches from ecology and economics, in which multiple factors vary simultaneously and statistical methods are used to identify the effects of variations in individual variables, are likely to be more productive than traditional approaches.
|
From page 5... ...
Collaborative efforts among researchers in the public and private sectors should be focused on sensing techniques that hold potential for accuracy, high spatial resolution, and inexpensive operation. Multidisciplinary research will be needed to match measurement methods and analytical techniques with crop production questions of interest to effectively understand and use information about the true variability of measurable parameters within farm fields.
|
From page 6... ...
Existing professional advisers, including independent consultants, will need continuing education and remote-site learning in precision agriculture technologies because they will be called on to help interpret information for managers who make decisions at the farm level. These professionals may already have valuable field experience that will be enhanced with training on a systems approach to farm management.
|
From page 7... ...
Public agencies, such as the extension service, will be needed to provide leadership in this process by promoting models and templates for data sharing, providing examples of the benefits of sharing and aggregating data, and providing protection for data privacy rights. One can easily visualize significant benefits from compiling and analyzing data sets generated from precision agriculture.
|
From page 8... ...
Much of the technology embodied in precision agriculture was developed outside the traditional agricultural research establishment, and it is argued that private sector initiatives will be sufficient to develop precision agriculture to its full potential. However, there continues to be an important public sector role in areas where the private sector cannot completely capture a return on its investment.
|
From page 9... ...
The methods and purposes of publicly funded data collection activities should be periodically reviewed and adjusted to ensure that data are accessible and useful for precision agriculture, as well as supportive of other public and private purposes. The National Cooperative Soil Survey should revise existing procedures to make more elective use of information technologies, farmgenerated data, and new concepts in soil science.
|
From page 10... ...
, a partnership of the Natural Resources Conservation Service with local and state agencies and land grant institutions, has been generating soils information for several decades. Much of the variability that is managed with precision agriculture methods arises from variability in soil properties.
|
From page 11... ...
Agricultural organizations should be aware of both the need for a better rural communication system and the potential for degradation of the current service under the deregulated market. IMPLICATIONS OF PRECISION AGRICULTURE A committee objective was to explore what impact the adoption of precision agriculture technologies would have on economic, social, and environmental variables.
|
From page 12... ...
New independent services related to precision agriculture could arise but also are likely to be provided by existing crop consultants and input suppliers. In the latter case, a consultant or supplier would purchase equipment and depreciate the capital costs over many acres providing producers with data collection and management services.
|
From page 13... ...
Thus, potential improvements in environmental quality may be an important reason for using precision agriculture technologies. This view is rooted in the sensible belief that agricultural pollution comes from inputs that do not reach their target.
|
From page 14... ...
Some producers may adopt precision agriculture technologies with the expectations that the technologies will generate environmental benefits. However, economic incentives to adopt precision agriculture so as to improve existing environmental quality will exist only in settings where farmers bear at least a share of the costs of agricultural pollution.
|
From page 15... ...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 15 Lessons from the adoption of other agricultural and information technologies urge caution in anticipating the growth of precision agriculture use. Widespread adoption of precision agriculture methods will create some changes in farm operations and social institutions that can be anticipated and, where they are negative, mitigated.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.