ABSTRACT
Precision agriculture (PA) needs detailed information on the spatial variation of soil properties to achieve its goals of economic and environmental sustainability. To characterize soil spatial variation, many soil samples at fine spatial resolutions need to be collected and analysed. The spatial resolution might need to be closer to that of data collected with yield monitors. Conventional soil sampling is usually sparse; farmers often take only one sample per hectare. The sampling is generally based on a grid or some type of random sampling, but it often does not adequately represent the variation present in the field. Furthermore, samples have to be analysed at a later stage in a laboratory using conventional methods that are often slow and expensive. Proximal soil sensing (PSS) provides a practical solution to overcome these problems.
