Automation The Future Of Weed Control In Cropping Systems

Technology is rapidly advancing in all areas of society, including agriculture. In both conventional and organic systems, there is a need to apply technology beyond our current approach to improve the efficiency and economics of management. Weeds, in particular, have been part of cropping systems for centuries often being ranked as the number one production cost. Now, public demand for a sustainably grown product has created economic incentives for producers to improve their practices, yet the development of advanced weed control tools beyond biotech has lagged behind. An opportunity has been created for engineers and weed scientists to pool their knowledge and work together to ‘fill the gap’ in managing weeds in crops. Never before has there been such pressure to produce more with less in order to sustain our economies and environments. This book is the first to provide a radically new approach to weed management that could change cropping systems both now and in the future.

In light of public concerns about sustainable food production, the necessity for human and environmental protection, along with the evolution of herbicide resistant weeds, call for a review of current weed control strategies. Sustainable weed control requires an integrated approach based on knowledge of each crop and the weeds that threaten it. This book will be an invaluable source of information for scholars, growers, consultants, researchers and other stakeholders dealing with either arable, row, cash, vegetables, orchards or even grassland-based production systems. The uniqueness of this book comes from the balanced coverage of herbicide effects on humans and environment in relation to best weed control practices of the most important cropping systems worldwide. Furthermore, it amalgamates and discusses the most appropriate, judicious and suitable weed control strategies for a wide range of crops. It reviews the available information and suggests solutions that are not merely feasible but also optimal.

This book is a comprehensive summary of current global research on no-till farming, and its benefits and challenges from various agronomic, environmental, social and economic perspectives. It details the characteristics and future requirements of no-till farming systems across different geographic and climatic regions, and outlines what is needed to increase the uptake of no-till farming globally. Over 35 chapters, this book covers in detail the agronomic and soil management issues that must be resolved to ensure the successful implementation of these systems. Important economic, environmental, social and policy considerations are discussed. It also features a series of case studies across a number of regions globally, highlighting the challenges and opportunities for no-till and how these may vary depending on climate and geopolitical location. This book is a remarkable compilation by experts in no-till farming systems. The promotion and expansion of no-till farming systems worldwide will be critical for food security, and resource and environmental sustainability. This is an invaluable reference for both researchers and practitioners grappling with the challenges of feeding the world’s rising population in an environment increasingly impacted by climate change. It is an essential reading for those seeking to understand the complexity of no-till farming systems and how best to optimise these systems in their region.

According to Prof. D. Despommier, by the year 2050, nearly 80% of the earth's population will reside in urban centers. Furthermore, the human population will increase by about 3 billion people during the interim. New land will be needed to grow enough food to feed them. At present, throughout the world, over 80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops is in use. What can be done to avoid this impending disaster? One possible solution is indoor farming. However, not all crops can easily be moved in an indoor environment. Nevertheless, to secure the food supply, it is necessary to increase the automation level in agriculture significantly. This book intends to provide the reader with a comprehensive overview of the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and automation examples in agriculture.

"Weed Science and Weed Management in Rice and Rice-Based Cropping Systems will describe the history, production systems and practices of rice cropping systems in major rice-growing countries, and how the unique production practices affect crop-weed relationships which in turn affect weed management practices. It will also attempt to provide an understanding of the basic weed science principles as they apply to tropical cropping situations to be able to compare how weeds behave under multi-crop tropical systems and mono-crop mechanized temperate cropping systems. The ultimate purpose is to be able to apply these basic principles in order to develop improved, efficient, and economically and environmentally sustainable strategies in managing or controlling weeds. This book will discuss the various management methods: chemical, cultural, mechanical, biological, integrated, focusing on the most recent research, particularly on new herbicide chemistries and modes of action, molecular biology and weed genomics and on evolution of herbicide-resistant weeds. For non-chemical (mechanical) control, it will focus on recent developments on robotics and automated weed control and for biocontrol, on the new bioherbicides derived from plant and microbial toxins being developed in the past 5 years. On the most challenging problem in chemical control nowadays, the evolution of herbicide-resistant weeds, recent researches to elucidate resistance mechanisms and use of weed genomics to understand how weeds adapt and evolve resistance to herbicides and the search for practices that could delay adaptation capabilities are also discussed"--

Intelligent Data Mining and Fusion Systems in Agriculture presents methods of computational intelligence and data fusion that have applications in agriculture for the non-destructive testing of agricultural products and crop condition monitoring. Sections cover the combination of sensors with artificial intelligence architectures in precision agriculture, including algorithms, bio-inspired hierarchical neural maps, and novelty detection algorithms capable of detecting sudden changes in different conditions. This book offers advanced students and entry-level professionals in agricultural science and engineering, geography and geoinformation science an in-depth overview of the connection between decision-making in agricultural operations and the decision support features offered by advanced computational intelligence algorithms. Covers crop protection, automation in agriculture, artificial intelligence in agriculture, sensing and Internet of Things (IoTs) in agriculture Addresses AI use in weed management, disease detection, yield prediction and crop production Utilizes case studies to provide real-world insights and direction

This book tackles the issue of using crop rotation to increase food production and secure it for the growing population of the future. Crop rotation can be a solution of food gaps in the developing counties. Crop rotation plays an important role in attaining soil sustainability and in controlling pests and weeds. It can alleviate damage caused by climate change by reducing losses in productivity of the crops, minimizing soil fertility loss and increase irrigation water productivity. This book also includes the reviews of a large number of crop rotations that have been published internationally, and additionally, the crop rotations that have been implemented in Egypt have a unique characteristic to them and therefore, a large number of those reviews have also been included.

In light of public concerns about sustainable food production, the necessity for human and environmental protection, along with the evolution of herbicide resistant weeds, call for a review of current weed control strategies. Sustainable weed control requires an integrated approach based on knowledge of each crop and the weeds that threaten it. This book will be an invaluable source of information for scholars, growers, consultants, researchers and other stakeholders dealing with either arable, row, cash, vegetables, orchards or even grassland-based production systems. The uniqueness of this book comes from the balanced coverage of herbicide effects on humans and environment in relation to best weed control practices of the most important cropping systems worldwide. Furthermore, it amalgamates and discusses the most appropriate, judicious and suitable weed control strategies for a wide range of crops. It reviews the available information and suggests solutions that are not merely feasible but also optimal.