Precision agriculture is the application of technologies and principles to manage spatial and temporal variability associated with all aspects of agricultural production for the purpose of improving crop performance and environmental quality. Success in precision agriculture is related to how well it can be applied to assess, manage, and evaluate the space-time continuum in crop production.[1]
Farming is becoming more scientific, with remote sensing, GPS and data analytics all being added to farming equipment. Thousands of farmers all over are adopting the new equipment to make their farming more precise.
Precision farming is about managing variations in the field accurately to grow more food using fewer resources and reducing production costs. All aspects of the environment – soil, weather, vegetation, water – vary from place to place. All these factors determine crop growth and farming success.[2]
The goal of precision farming is to improve agricultural yield and reduce potential environmental risks, while benefits are:
- Monitor the soil and plant physicochemical parameters: by placing sensors (electrical conductivity, nitrates, temperature, evapotranspiration, radiation, leaf and soil moisture, etc.) the optimal conditions for plant growth can be achieved
- Obtain data in real-time: the application of sensing devices in your fields will allow continuous monitoring of the chosen parameters and will offer real time data ensuring an updated status of the field and plant parameters at all time
- Provide better information for management decisions
- Save time and costs: reduce fertilizer and chemical application costs, reduce pollution through less use of chemicals
- Provide better farm records essential for sale and succession
- Can be integrated with farm management software, like AGRIVI, to make all activities on farm more easy and to improve farm productivity
So, to farmers and landowners who decide to use technology to manage their fields, precision farming seems to bring many benefits, and ultimately increase of profit.
[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0065211308605131?via%3Dihub
[2] https://www.agrivi.com/blog/benefits-of-using-precision-farming-producing-more-with-less/