Precision Agriculture For Grain Production Systems

Precision Agriculture (PA) is an approach to managing the variability in production agriculture in a more economic and environmentally efficient manner. It has been pioneered as a management tool in the grains industry, and while its development and uptake continues to grow amongst grain farmers worldwide, a broad range of other cropping industries have embraced the concept. This book explains general PA theory, identifies and describes essential tools and techniques, and includes practical examples from the grains industry. Readers will gain an understanding of the magnitude, spatial scale and seasonality of measurable variability in soil attributes, plant growth and environmental conditions. They will be introduced to the role of sensing systems in measuring crop, soil and environment variability, and discover how this variability may have a significant impact on crop production systems. Precision Agriculture for Grain Production Systems will empower crop and soil science students, agronomy and agricultural engineering students, as well as agronomic advisors and farmers to critically analyse the impact of observed variation in resources on crop production and management decisions.

This book provides a review of precision agriculture technology development, followed by a presentation of the state-of-the-art and future requirements of precision agriculture technology. It presents different styles of precision agriculture technologies suitable for large scale mechanized farming; highly automated community-based mechanized production; and fully mechanized farming practices commonly seen in emerging economic regions. The book emphasizes the introduction of core technical features of sensing, data processing and interpretation technologies, crop modeling and production control theory, intelligent machinery and field robots for precision agriculture production.

A thorough, critical, and up-to-date look at precision farming around the world In most developing countries, farming is the best safety net against hunger and keeping production costs under control without sacrificing crop yield is essential for survival. The Handbook of Precision Agriculture presents up-to-date research, field studies, and practical applications from around the world to help agricultural scientists and farmers work together to design a farming methodology that improves productivity, profitability, and sustainability. The book offers a comprehensive guide to basic principles and technologies, crop-specific applications, integrative strategies, economic and environmental concerns, and future trends in precision agriculture in different regions of the world. Handbook of Precision Agriculture provides basic guidelines and recommendations for implementing precision farming worldwide to help improve farm profits while conserving the environment. Keeping the technical jargon to a minimum, 50 of the world’s foremost authorities on precision farming examine a wide range of subject areas, including agronomy, crop physiology, genetics and plant breeding, soil science, entomology, meteorology, agricultural extension, weed science, plant pathology, ecology, spatial information sciences, and economics. In addition to discussing theory and practice on field-level management, the book’s contributors discuss how to identify and manage field variability, and how to implement precision farming in selected crops and cropping systems, working from case studies that represent both regional and crop-specific contexts. Topics examined in Handbook of Precision Agriculture include: essential technologies for precision farming site-specific nutrient management precision water management site-specific weed management precision management of rice site-specific management of cotton producing precision farming from a cropping systems perspective case studies of precision farming in Europe, Australia, and South America and much more Handbook of Precision Agriculture also includes a foreword written by the renowned agricultural scientist, administrator, and World Food Prize Laureate, Professor M.S. Swaiminathan. Peer-reviewed by more than 100 reviewers from around the world, this unique book presents detailed information and concepts in a simple and direct style that’s easy to understand-even for beginners!

Precision farming involves soil fertility and crop growth monitoring, electronic equipment, remote sensing, global information and positioning systems, computer models, decision support systems, variable-rate technology, and accurate recordkeeping. This book on precision techniques provides valuable information on instrumentation and methodology. It discusses the impact of precision techniques on soil fertility, nutrient dynamics, and crop productivity and highlights the application of GPS techniques to regulate fertilizer supply based on soil nutrient distribution and yield goals set by farmers. The book considers advances and examples from different agroecosystems from all continents.

With the growing popularity and availability of precision equipment, farmers and producers have access to more data than ever before. With proper implementation, precision agriculture management can improve profitability and sustainability of production. Precision Agriculture Basics is geared at students, crop consultants, farmers, extension workers, and practitioners that are interested in practical applications of site-specific agricultural management. Using a multidisciplinary approach, readers are taught to make data-driven on-farm decisions using the most current knowledge and tools in crop science, agricultural engineering, and geostatistics. Precision Agriculture Basics also features a stunning video glossary including interviews with agronomists on the job and in the field.

Precision Agriculture presents the latest scientific results from worldwide research, field studies and practical application. The book contains peer-reviewed papers that were presented at the 4th European Conference on Precision Agriculture. The papers focus on precision agriculture research containing interdisciplinary site analysis, integrative measures and management strategies as well as on practical applications. The economic and environmental effects of implementing the precision agriculture concept are featured in many of them. The unique feature of the fourth conference was that it was held in parallel with the 1st European Conference on Precision Livestock Farming - the links between both technologies were drawn and the possible interactions between them were shown for the first time. The potential is to integrate both technologies to encompass the whole farm. Peer-reviewed papers from the Precision Livestock conference are presented in a companion proceedings, Precision Livestock Farming.

Sensors, satellite photography, and multispectral imaging are associated with futuristic space and communications science. Increasingly, however, they are considered part of the future of agriculture. The use of advanced technologies for crop production is known as precision agriculture, and its rapid emergence means the potential for revolutionary change throughout the agricultural sector. Precision Agriculture in the 21st Century provides an overview of the specific technologies and practices under the umbrella of precision agriculture, exploring the full implications of their adoption by farmers and agricultural managers. The volume discusses how precision agriculture could dramatically affect decisionmaking in irrigation, crop selection, pest management, environmental issues, and pricing and market conditions. It also examines the geographical dimensions--farm, regional, national--of precision agriculture and looks at how quickly and how widely the agricultural community can be expected to adopt the new information technologies. Precision Agriculture in the 21st Century highlights both the uncertainties and the exciting possibilities of this emerging approach to farming. This book will be important to anyone concerned about the future of agriculture: policymakers, regulators, scientists, farmers, educators, students, and suppliers to the agricultural industry.