PRECISION AGRICULTURE: AN INFORMATION REVOLUTION IN AGRICULTURAL MANAGEMENT

摘要

A better awareness of soil and crop condition variability within fields brought the notion, in the early 1980s that variable management within fields by zones rather than whole fields would increase profitability and environmental protection by doingthe right thing at the right place in the right way. At the same time, the microcomputer became available and made possible the acquisition, processing, and utilization of spatial field data as well as the development of a new kind of farm machinery withcomputerized controllers and sensors. The new capability to develop spatial field records started a new era in soil and crop management based on information technologies and the beginning of the information revolution in agriculture.Precision agriculture (PA) has been considered for most common cropping systems and some specialty crops, worldwide. Presently, it is particularly well adapted to high value crops. PA is still in infancy and its adoption varies greatly but precision agriculture is the agricultural system of the future. It offers a variety of potential benefits in profitability, productivity, sustainability, crop quality, food safety, environmental protection, on-farm quality of life, and rural economic development.