Precision Agriculture in the 21st Century : Geospatial and Information Technologies in Crop Management

by Committee on Assessing Crop Yield

• ISBN13: 9780309058933
• ISBN10: 0309058937
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-01-01
• Publisher: Natl Academy Pr

Summary

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 Centuryprovides 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 Centuryhighlights 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.

Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY	1	(15)
A Fundamental Paradigm Shift for Agricultural Research Systems	3	(3)
The Value of Information Will Intensify Within Production Agriculture	6	(2)
Uncertainty of Public Role	8	(3)
Implications of Precision Agriculture	11	(3)
Adoption Patterns	11	(1)
Farm Structure	12	(1)
Rural Employment	13	(1)
Environmental Quality	13	(1)
Potentials For Precision Agriculture	14	(2)
1 DIMENSIONS OF PRECISION AGRICULTURE	16	(28)
Precision Agriculture and Agricultural Management	17	(2)
Geographic Context: Scales in the Spatial Spiral	19	(7)
Subfield Management	21	(1)
Beyond Subfield Management	21	(1)
Data Warehousing	22	(1)
Landscape Analysis	23	(1)
Regional Management	23	(3)
Enabling Technologies	26	(17)
Georeferenced Information	28	(1)
Global Positioning System	28	(2)
Geographic Information Systems and Mapping Software	30	(1)
Yield Mapping Systems	31	(1)
Variable-Rate Technologies	32	(2)
Groundbased Sensors	34	(1)
Remote Sensing	35	(4)
Crop Production Modeling	39	(1)
Decision Support Systems	40	(3)
Looking To Tomorrow	43	(1)
2 A NEW WAY TO PRACTICE AGRICULTURE	44	(21)
Changes in Management Research	44	(7)
Systems Approach	48	(1)
Spatial and Temporal Variation	49	(2)
Management Factors	51	(12)
Crop Genetics	52	(1)
Plant Population	52	(1)
Soil Variability	53	(2)
Soil Fertility	55	(4)
Pest Management	59	(1)
Pesticide Management	60	(1)
Farmworker Safety	61	(1)
Weather	61	(1)
Suppliers	61	(1)
Monitoring Precipitation	62	(1)
Relative Humidity	62	(1)
Harvest	63	(1)
Marketing	63	(1)
Summary: Effect on Management	63	(2)
3 ADOPTION OF PRECISION AGRICULTURE	65	(25)
Current Status and Likely Trends	65	(14)
Status of Current Adoption	65	(1)
Diffusion of New Technologies	66	(1)
Determinants of Long-Term Adoption	67	(1)
Determinants of the Speed of Diffusion of New Technologies	68	(4)
Long-Term Potential of Precision Agriculture	72	(5)
Evolution of Precision Agriculture	77	(1)
Provision of Precision Agriculture Services	77	(1)
Provision of Precision Agriculture Products	78	(1)
Combination of Products and Services	79	(1)
Effects of Widespread Adoption of Precision Agriculture	79	(9)
Effects on Rural Employment	79	(2)
Effects on the Structure of Farming	81	(4)
Processors and Vertical Integration	85	(1)
Environmental Implications	85	(3)
Conclusion	88	(2)
4 PUBLIC POLICY AND PRECISION AGRICULTURE	90	(30)
Purposes for Public Involvement	90	(2)
Research and Development	92	(4)
Need for Improved Measurement Methods	96	(3)
Need for Unbiased Evaluation	99	(2)
Need for New Approaches to Research	101	(3)
Training and Education Needs	104	(2)
Need for High-Speed Connectivity	106	(2)
Clarification of Intellectual Property Rights, Data Ownership, and Data Privacy	108	(3)
Need for Data Assembly and Aggregation	111	(1)
Need for Review of Public Data Collection	112	(7)
Potential for Precision Agriculture	119	(1)
REFERENCES	120	(15)
GLOSSARY	135	(3)
AUTHORS	138	(3)
INDEX	141