ABSTRACT
Precision agriculture (PA), also called satellite farming, is based on space-age technology including remote sensing (RS), Geographic Information System (GIS), and Global Positioning System (GPS) to use soil-and site-specific inputs and other farming operations to optimize resource use. Information technology, based on computers and electronics, is used to target management of plant nutrients, water, pests, and tillage and to address spatial and temporal variability. The French term terroira refers to “sense of place” or special geographic quality relevant to the PA concept. Simply put, PA involves site-specific management based on information technology with regard to within-field spatial and temporal variability in edaphic properties and processes. It is a variablerate technology (VRT) for optimum use of nutrients, seeding, pesticides, herbicides, irrigation, and tillage-related input. An objective of PA is to use information about soil, terrain, and weather to optimize the use efficiency of inputs and enhance economic and environmental benefits. The strategy is to increase soil/land productivity from ever-decreasing resources to meet the continuously increasing demands of the growing and affluent population for feed, fiber, fuel, and other necessities. The strategy is to address global issues of the twenty-first century (e.g., increasing population and its affluence, growing energy needs, increasing atmospheric concentrations of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, tropical deforestation, exacerbating risks of soil degradation and desertification, decreasing per capita arable land area and renewable freshwater supply, increasing risks of hidden hunger and malnutrition, and civil strife and political instability) through a judicious use of finite resources and innovative management systems. Conceptualizing sustainability of agroecosystems in view of a holistic approach with a focus on interconnectivity (Figure 16.1) is more important now than ever before. Some of the global issues are directly or indirectly related to soil resources and
16.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 391 16.2 Scope of PA in the Context of Ecological Intensification and Sustainable Intensification ... 392 16.3 Potential and Opportunities .................................................................................................. 393
16.3.1 Nutrient Management ............................................................................................... 394 16.3.2 Pest Management ...................................................................................................... 394 16.3.3 Water Management and Precision Irrigation ............................................................ 394 16.3.4 Precision Conservation ............................................................................................. 395 16.3.5 Precision Tillage ....................................................................................................... 395 16.3.6 Precision Seeding ..................................................................................................... 395 16.3.7 Precision Row Orientation ........................................................................................ 396
16.4 Recent Developments in PA Technology .............................................................................. 396 16.5 Future Research and Development ....................................................................................... 397 16.6 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................... 397 References ...................................................................................................................................... 398
the management of their quality and productivity. Because of competing uses (i.e., urbanization, industrial use, recreation, and nature conservancy), per capita availability of basic resources needed for agricultural production (e.g., land, water, energy) is progressively decreasing. While agricultural production must be increased, its ecological/environmental footprint must be decreased.
