Expert systems: Applications to agriculture and farm management

Expert systems are just beginning to emerge as a field of research and development within agriculture.This paper provides a brief overview of this widely diverse topic in artificial intelligence, a technology sub-area of computer science. Expert systems are clearly defined and contrasted to conventional computer programs. Generic categories of expert system applications and potential advantages are summarized as well as impediments to their development.State-of-the-art research and development work is summarized, with the focus on agriculture. Furthermore, potential expert system applications in the more specific area of farm management are discussed. Finally a brief outlook is given.The analysis shows that there are numerous potential fields of application in farm management. With respect to the time-consuming and costly development process of expert systems, selection of application fields should be performed carefully and analysis of expected utility should be required.     

Architecture design approach for IoT-based farm management information systems

Precision Agriculture - Smart farming adopts advanced technology and the corresponding principles to increase the amount of production and economic returns, often also with the goal to reduce the...     

精确农业中的定位养分管理

本文介绍了精确农业中定位养分管理的实施与应用状况,包括土壤信息的获取及管理等。提出根据国内各地具体情况,研究适合当地经济发展及农业生产水平的养分管理技术,逐步形成一种相对简单但效果明显的精确农业方式。     

The impact of farm management on value of management information systems

The value of management information systems (MISs) arises from improved managerial decision making and, therefore, will vary from farm to farm. Insight into this variation will be of use not only to farmers who consider (new) MIS investments, but also to companies that design and market MISs. In this study, the impact of farm management on the value of sow-herd MISs is investigated. Within the same research population, farm management is assessed with two conceptually different classification approaches — the sociological ‘style of farming’ approach and the farm-economic ‘management level’ approach. Management levels of sow farmers turned out to be positively correlated with MIS value (r=0.35, P=0.02). Although farmers with high management levels tend to be better informed anyway than farmers with low management levels, they get more added value from MISs.     

Reference architecture design for farm management information systems: a multi-case study approach

Precision Agriculture - One of the key elements of precision agriculture is the farm management information system (FMIS) that is responsible for data management, analytics and subsequent decision...     

A conceptual framework for judging the precision agriculture hypothesis with regard to site-specific nitrogen application

In this study we derive a test that aims to show that the economic optimum nitrogen applications in site-specific management zones are different. In addition, a confidence interval is derived for the difference between optima, and here we show that separate confidence intervals for either optimum are not as good as the former for judging the precision agriculture hypothesis. Both the test and the confidence interval for the difference are based on modeling the returns above N fertilizer cost by quadratic functions of the nitrogen rate. The data are from an N-rate trial at a heterogeneous field in Thalhausen, Germany. This trial could barely support the economic benefit of precision agriculture. A statistical proof that high- and low-yielding zones should be discriminated against just failed to meet the standard 5% level. We also discuss what design of nitrogen fertilizer levels should be used for the test and the confidence intervals.     

A systems analysis of information system requirements for an experimental farm

A systems analysis and design of information requirements for an experimental farm is presented. This study was carried out on the university farm (UF) at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. The UF has several farm sites, many employees and clients, and collects data on the spatial variability of sites for site-specific management, and is responsible for running field trials. Soft and hard system analyses were performed to better understand the information needs and design an information system for the UF. Soft systems methodology was used to analyse the human activities and to identify user requirements, while a hard systems methodology was used to structure the data handling inside the farm office. The resulting information management system (IMS) includes modules for storage, processing and presentation of spatio-temporal data for research trials and site-specific management. A GIS-based farm IMS including the necessary interfaces was implemented and validated by the UF manager and staff. Limitations and constraints to the full implementation of the IMS in an experimental farm are also discussed.     

支持精确农业的土壤养分空间分布信息处理的方法

为了获取支持精确农业的农田空间分布信息,扼要介绍了土壤特性空间变异的影响因素,分析了农田土壤的合理采样方法及其特性空间变异的研究方法,并对影响生成土壤特性空间分布图的因素做了介绍.     

精准农业中农田信息传输方式的研究进展

基于农田信息传输在精准农业中的重要作用,评述了有线传输介质和无线传输介质信息传输的特点,以及不同的传输方式应用领域和研究开发前景;通过对不同的信息传输方式综合性能的比较分析,指出精准农业中信息传输存在的问题,并就今后的发展提出自己的见解。     

A flexible unmanned aerial vehicle for precision agriculture

An unmanned aerial vehicle (??VIPtero??) was assembled and tested with the aim of developing a flexible and powerful tool for site-specific vineyard management. The system comprised a six-rotor aerial platform capable of flying autonomously to a predetermined point in space, and of a pitch and roll compensated multi-spectral camera for vegetation canopy reflectance recording. Before the flight campaign, the camera accuracy was evaluated against high resolution ground-based measurements, made with a field spectrometer. Then, ??VIPtero?? performed the flight in an experimental vineyard in Central Italy, acquiring 63 multi-spectral images during 10?min of flight completed almost autonomously. Images were analysed and classified vigour maps were produced based on normalized difference vegetation index. The resulting vigour maps showed clearly crop heterogeneity conditions, in good agreement with ground-based observations. The system provided very promising results that encourage its development as a tool for precision agriculture application in small crops.     

Functional requirements for a future farm management information system

As a subsequent step of the conceptual modelling and the information modelling involving the specification of the knowledge content of the decision processes and the involved data imbedded in the information entities, a derivation of the functional requirements was carried out to support and guide the selection of the technological infrastructure of a dedicated farm management information system (FMIS). The study employed the core-task analysis (CTA) method involving a combination of science-based modelling, practice-based modelling, and integrated information modelling.The “process” entities of the information flow model which represent the usage processes of the information, and of the “information” entities which represent the data elements were identified for the specific case of fertilising. This identification of the usage processes as well as the associated data elements showed the complexity of the decision making process within the domain of field operations. In a fully structured and formalised information flow decomposition, many actors are required to deliver information to the decision processes in order to fully emulate the tacit knowledge that the farmer are currently using. Especially, the concept of assisting services has to evolve in order to sustain the need of more automated decision processes in the future. New information management concepts and designs mean that farmers have to be ready to adopt new working habits and perhaps also undergo further training.     

Mathematical models and methods of realizing information technology procedures in precision agriculture

A software set for real-time formation of the information technology basis of realizing agrotechnical procedures in a precision agriculture system is examined.     

基于网格的海量农业信息管理技术研究

在海量农业信息共享中的一个核心问题就是如何管理农业信息共享系统的信息资源。本文提出了一种基于网格的海量农业信息管理框架,对海量农业信息的接入、处理、存储和管理进行了讨论。     

广西发展精确农业的研究

精确农业是中国农业未来的发展方向之一,是国家重视农业科技发展的导向。文章简明介绍了精确农业的多种技术支持方法以及我国精确农业的发展状况。通过分析广西水资源、耕地状况、农业机械化水平、肥料施用量,探索精确农业的发展,结合精确农业实际技术要求,提出广西发展精确农业的5项建议,为广西发展精确农业提供参考依据。     

农业学位论文信息管理系统研制

本文详细阐述了农业学位论文信息管理系统的规划设计和系统体系结构设计。该系统是辽宁省农业科学院科技信息研究所研制的系列农业实用信息管理系统的一部分。     

The application of small unmanned aerial systems for precision agriculture: a review

Precision agriculture (PA) is the application of geospatial techniques and sensors (e.g., geographic information systems, remote sensing, GPS) to identify variations in the field and to deal with them using alternative strategies. In particular, high-resolution satellite imagery is now more commonly used to study these variations for crop and soil conditions. However, the availability and the often prohibitive costs of such imagery would suggest an alternative product for this particular application in PA. Specifically, images taken by low altitude remote sensing platforms, or small unmanned aerial systems (UAS), are shown to be a potential alternative given their low cost of operation in environmental monitoring, high spatial and temporal resolution, and their high flexibility in image acquisition programming. Not surprisingly, there have been several recent studies in the application of UAS imagery for PA. The results of these studies would indicate that, to provide a reliable end product to farmers, advances in platform design, production, standardization of image georeferencing and mosaicing, and information extraction workflow are required. Moreover, it is suggested that such endeavors should involve the farmer, particularly in the process of field design, image acquisition, image interpretation and analysis.     

Agent-based simulation framework for virtual prototyping of advanced livestock precision feeding systems

On-farm implementation of the concept of precision livestock farming requires the design and development of new, advanced and often complex equipment. This article proposes an agent-based simulation framework to meet the challenges of designing, testing and evaluating the performance of the new, automated precision feeding equipment for farms. In this context, an agent is a piece of software performing defined system functions such as exchanging information or requesting services to other agents via a high-level agent communication language. The proposed approach sees each main component of the actual precision feeding system represented by a virtual domain agent. The agents are then assembled within a multi-agent system that models the automatic precision feeding equipment as a whole. The operational capacity of the virtual prototype is achieved through communication and collaboration between the multiple agents that make up the system. The capacity for dynamic modification of parameters such as workload during the simulation process helps analyze the behavior, robustness and performance of the system prior to its actual use and thus providing a computer-aid tool helping in the design process. One case study shows that agent-based composable simulation can predict the behavior and performance of the system as a whole.     

Farm adoption of embodied knowledge and information intensive precision agriculture technology bundles

Precision Agriculture - On-farm adoption of individual and groups of precision agriculture technologies has grown in the past 15 years. Based on a sample of 545 farm observations collected by the...