Terrestrial Systems and Precision Agriculture

Background

Agricultural methodology and process has been improved and benefitted with new technologies. Precision Agriculture (PA) definition is evolving with technology development. Most precise definition may be “The application of technologies and agronomic principles to manage spatial and temporal variability associated with all aspects of agricultural production for the purpose of improving crop performance and environmental quality”[1]. PA is conceptualized by a system approach to re-organize the total system of agriculture towards a low-input, high-efficiency and sustainable agriculture[2]. As new technologies are emerging, they are also converging which has opened new domains for development is PA. Mainly two key technologies which benefited PA, namely Global Positioning System(GPS) and Geographical Information System(GIS). Furthermore shrinking size of electronic components, mobile computing, advancement in data processing, enhanced communication techniques, Computer vision, Machine learning, advanced control systems and automation has drifted PA to new horizon.

Crop production input optimization is one of the fundamental domain of precision agriculture. It can help manage crop production more efficiently and effectively which directly relates PA with the term sustainability. Use of fertilizers can be optimized with technologies of PA which results in minimization of use of chemicals. Thus Precision agriculture helps in sustaining environment by reducing input of chemicals in natural resources.

Spatial and temporal variables which significantly effects agricultural productions can be monitored and forecasted using PA techniques. Generally two approaches are use to manage variabilities: map-based ...

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Figure 1: Retrieved from:www.commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/file:Human_sustainability_confluence_Diagram.png

Figure 2: Retrieved from:www.cema-agri.org/page/precision-farming-0

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