Spatial patterns of wilting in sugar beet as an indicator for precision irrigation

Precision irrigation requires the mapping of within-field variations of water requirement. Conventional remote sensing techniques provide estimates of water status at only shallow soil depths. The ability of a water sensitive crop, sugar beet, to act as an intermediate sensor providing an integrated measure of water status throughout its rooting depth is tested here. Archive aerial photographs and satellite imagery of Eastern England show crop patterns resulting from past periglacial processes. The patterns were found to be spatially and temporally consistent. Field sampling of soil cores to 1 m depth established that the within-field wilting zones were significantly associated with coarser or shallow soils. The stress classes, determined by classification of the digitised images, were weakly correlated with total available water (Pearson correlation r = 0.588, P < 0.05). These results suggest that wilting in sugar beet can be used as an intermediate sensor for quantifying potential soil water availability within the root zone. Within-field stress maps generated in 1 year could be applied as a strategic tool allowing precision irrigation to be applied to high-value crops in following years, helping to make more sustainable use of water resources.     

A long-term precision agriculture system sustains grain profitability

Precision Agriculture - After two decades of availability of grain yield-mapping technology, long-term trends in field-scale profitability for precision agriculture (PA) systems and conservation...     

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。     

Long-term impact of a precision agriculture system on grain crop production

Research is lacking on the long-term impacts of field-scale precision agriculture practices on grain production. Following more than a decade (1993–2003) of yield and soil mapping and water quality assessment, a multi-faceted, ‘precision agriculture system’ (PAS) was implemented from 2004 to 2014 on a 36-ha field in central Missouri. The PAS targeted management practices that address crop production and environmental issues. It included no-till, cover crops, growing winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) instead of corn (Zea mays L.) for field areas where corn was not profitable, site-specific N for wheat and corn using canopy reflectance sensing, variable-rate P, K and lime using intensively grid-sampled data, and targeting of herbicides based on weed pressure. The PAS assessment was accomplished by comparing it to the previous decade of conventional, whole-field corn-soybean (Glycine max L.) mulch-tillage management. In the northern part of the field and compared to pre-PAS corn, relative grain yield of wheat in PAS was greatly improved and temporal yield variation was reduced on shallow topsoil, but relative grain yield was reduced on deep soil in the drainage channel. In the southern part of the field where corn remained in production, PAS did not lead to increased yield, but temporal yield variation was reduced. Across the whole field, soybean yield and temporal yield variation were only marginally influenced by PAS. Spatial yield variation of all three crops was not altered by PAS. Therefore, the greatest production advantage of a decade of precision agriculture was reduced temporal yield variation, which leads to greater yield stability and resilience to changing climate.     

The economic feasibility of precision agriculture in Mato Grosso do Sul State,Brazil: a case study

The objective of this study was to carry out a comparative analysis of the costs and economic profitability and viability indicators involved in implementing precision and conventional farming practices using maize and soybean crops in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. After identifying the production costs, analyses of the profitability indicators and viability indicators were carried out. The calculated profitability indicators (gross revenue, gross margin, break-even point, operational profit, and profitability index) presented better economic results under the precision system. For the analysis of the viability indicators, the net present value method and the internal rate of return method were used to analyze the two production systems, showing smaller investment attractiveness for the conventional farming system than for the precision system, though with a small difference in values. The Monte Carlo method was applied to evaluate investment risk. The selection of the variables to be simulated was based on the sensitivity analysis results, such as production, sale price and input price. The results obtained through simulation led to the conclusion that the risks are low for the two production systems analyzed.     

A methodology to support decision-making on sugar distribution for export channel: A case study of Thai sugar industry

Supply chain research can lead to an increase in efficiency, business integration, responsiveness and ultimately market competitiveness. In the sugar industry, such research has expanded rapidly over the past two decades, and has been motivated by low world sugar prices and rising costs of production. However, in the present competitive business environment, a more customer-driven and holistic approach to supply chain management is required. This study focuses on warehouse and distribution management for the export channel of Thai sugar industry. The aim is to suggest the best inventory position and transportation route in the distribution system based on Genetic Algorithm (GA). It provides a systematic and flexible framework to solve the problem of cost minimization of sugar transport from the mills to seaports. The results demonstrate that the tool is not only useful for minimizing the cost, but also for managing sugar warehousing, distribution route and seaport exporting. While the focus of this paper is on sugar supply chain, much of the information is relevant to distribution management of other agricultural commodities as well.     

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.     

基于ComGIS的精准农业变量施肥处方推荐系统研究

基于组件式GIS技术开发了精准农业变量施肥处方推荐系统。该系统实现了以土壤采样测试分析数据作为土壤背景养分,并根据已有的历史产量及其他信息分析确定所要达到的目标产量,通过集成施肥模型和专家知识实现智能决策,生成田间定位施肥处方。该系统可以与智能农机进行数据交换,将生成的处方安装到变量施肥机上,能够很好地指挥田间作业控制器进行变量施肥。     

A proposed framework for accelerating technology trajectories in agriculture: a case study in China

Precision agriculture (PA) technologies have great potential for promoting sustainable intensification of food production, ensuring targeted delivery of agricultural inputs, and hence food security and environmental protection. The benefits of PA technologies are applicable across a broad range of agronomic, environmental and rural socio-economic contexts globally. However, farmer and land-manager adoption in low to middle income countries has typically been slower than that observed in more affluent countries. China is currently engaged in the process of agricultural modernisation to ensure food security for its 1.4 billion population and has developed a portfolio of policies designed to improve food security, while simultaneously promoting environmental protection. Particular attention has been paid to the reduction of agricultural inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides. The widespread adoption of PA technologies across the Chinese agricultural landscape is central to the success of these policies. However, socio-economic and cultural barriers, farm scale, (in particular the prevalence of smaller family farms) and demographic changes in the rural population, (for example, the movement of younger people to the cities) represent barriers to PA adoption across China. A framework for ensuring an acceptable and accelerated PA technology trajectory is proposed which combines systematic understanding of farmer and end-user priorities and preferences for technology design throughout the technology development process, and subsequent end-user requirements for implementation (including demonstration of economic and agronomic benefits, and knowledge transfer). Future research will validate the framework against qualitative and quantitative socio-economic, cultural and agronomic indicators of successful, or otherwise, PA implementation. The results will provide the evidence upon which to develop further policies regarding how to secure sustainable food production and how best to implement PA in China, as well as practical recommendations for optimising end-user uptake.     

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.     

用于甜菜自动移栽机的链式纸钵研究

采用育苗和移栽技术有机结合的系统思想设计出满足甜菜移栽农艺和高速自动移栽机技术要求的链式纸钵结构,研究了甜菜育苗用链式纸钵结构及其结合部结构参数优化组合。采用正交试验方法,以链式纸钵分离力和破损率为目标函数,以结合部的连接部长度、连接部数量和分离导引部长度为影响因素,对链式纸钵结合部结构参数进行优化研究。结果表明,链式纸钵结合部结构参数优化组合为连接部长度5 mm、连接部数量4个、分离导引部长度50 mm,为提高甜菜自动移栽机作业速度提供科学依据。     

变量施肥智能空间决策支持系统VRF-ISDSS--地理信息系统Arc View GIS在精细农业中的，应用

介绍一个具有数据库、知识库、方法库与模型库,用于精细农业中变量施肥的决策支持系统VRF-ISDSS。系统包括农业区的基础地理信息、作物生产知识、作物生长养分需求的教学模型和分析方法。系统利用知识库的知识对决策方案进行调节和优化,实现了智能决策。系统是在Arc View GISA地理信息系统平台上进行二次开发而成的,能够处理与分析作物生长环境参数的空间分布和作物产量的空间分布等信息,并能锌生成相应的分布图和变量施肥处方图。能够进行精细农业变量施肥的智能决策与空间决策,使得本系统不同于传统的农业决策支持系统以及单纯的农业地理信息系统。VRF-ISDSS还具有信息服务与科学计算等功能。     

The adoption of precision agriculture enabling technologies in Swiss outdoor vegetable production: a Delphi study

Precision Agriculture - Digital technologies are a promising means to tackle the increasing global challenges (e.g., climate change, water pollution, soil degradation) and revolutionising...     

Drivers and challenges of precision agriculture: a social media perspective

Precision Agriculture - Precision agriculture, which has existed for over four decades, ensures efficient use of agricultural resources for increased productivity and sustainability with the use of...     

Adaptive modeling and control of a manure spreader for precision agriculture

This paper describes a general modeling and control approach for automating various agricultural machines for precision farming applications. Experimental validation of control designs was performed on a modified New Holland manure spreader. An adaptive numerical modeling approach for describing the system input–output dynamics is proposed, and an optimal control that accounts for the control hardware limits is developed. Field tests have demonstrated the effectiveness of the theoretical development.     

New trends in precision agriculture: a novel cloud-based system for enabling data storage and agricultural task planning and automation

It is well-known that information and communication technologies enable many tasks in the context of precision agriculture. In fact, more and more farmers and food and agriculture companies are using precision agriculture-based systems to enhance not only their products themselves, but also their means of production. Consequently, problems arising from large amounts of data management and processing are arising. It would be very useful to have an infrastructure that allows information and agricultural tasks to be efficiently shared and handled. The cloud computing paradigm offers a solution. In this study, a cloud-based software architecture is proposed with the aim of enabling a complete crop management system to be deployed and validated. Such architecture includes modules developed by using Google App Engine, which allows the information to be easily retrieved and processed and agricultural tasks to be properly defined and planned. Additionally, Google’s Datastore (which ensures a high scalability degree), hosts both information that describes such agricultural tasks and agronomic data. The architecture has been validated in a system that comprises a wireless sensor network with fixed nodes and a mobile node on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), deployed in an agricultural farm in the Region of Murcia (Spain). Such a network allows soil water and plant status to be monitored. The UAV (capable of executing missions defined by an administrator) is useful for acquiring visual information in an autonomous manner (under operator supervision, if needed). The system performance has been analysed and results that demonstrate the benefits of using the proposed architecture are detailed.     

基于GIS的农业综合开发信息系统应用研究

本文针对GIS在农业综合开发信息系统的开发应用上的研究,对基于GIS的农业综合开发信息系统的系统构成、数据库、设计等作了讨论。指出地理信息系统将有效的提高农业综合开发的管理工作,并将有很好的应用前景。     

Organic agriculture and the conventionalization hypothesis: A case study from West Germany

The recent growth in organic farming has given rise to the so-called “conventionalization hypothesis,” the idea that organic farming is becoming a slightly modified model of conventional agriculture. Using survey data collected from 973 organic farmers in three German regions during the spring of 2004, some implications of the conventionalization hypothesis are tested. Early and late adopters of organic farming are compared concerning farm structure, environmental concern, attitudes to organic farming, and membership in organic-movement organizations. The results indicate that organic farming in the study regions indeed exhibits signs of incipient conventionalization. On average, newer farms are more specialized and slightly larger than established ones and there is a growing proportion of farmers who do not share pro-environmental attitudes. Additionally, a number, albeit small, of very large, highly specialized farms have adopted organic agriculture in the last years. However, the vast majority of organic farmers, new and old ones included, still show a strong pro-environmental orientation. Henning Best holds a MA in Sociology, History, and Ethnology from the University of Cologne, Germany in 2002. He acquired a PhD in Economics and Social Sciences from the University of Cologne in 2006. From 2002 to 2004 he was research associate at the Research Institute for Sociology, University of Cologne. Since 2004 he is researcher and lecturer at the Institute for Applied Social Research, University of Cologne. His research interests include environmental sociology, social inequality, and quantitative methods of social research.     

A domain-specific language framework for farm management information systems in precision agriculture

Precision Agriculture - Farm management information system (FMIS) is an important element of precision agriculture to support the decision making process in the agricultural business. Developing...     

Applications of open geospatial web services in precision agriculture: a review

Precision agriculture requires the collection, storage, sharing and analysis of large quantities of spatially referenced data. For this data to be effectively used, it must be transferred between different hardware, software and organisations. These data flows currently present a hurdle to uptake of precision agriculture as the multitude of data models, formats, interfaces and reference systems in use result in incompatibilities. This paper presents work on applying standards from the Open Geospatial Consortium and related initiatives to automate agricultural data processing. The selected use-cases demonstrate how such standards may be used to improve the inter-operability of data and software in precision agriculture.