Precision Farming

Current Agricultural Challenges

Agricultural production system is an outcome of a complex interaction of seed, soil, water and agro-chemicals Therefore, judicious management of all the inputs is essential for the sustainability of such a complex system. The focus on enhancing the productivity during the Green Revolution coupled with total disregard of proper management of inputs and without considering the ecological impacts, has resulted into environmental degradation. The only alternative left to enhance productivity in a sustainable manner from the limited natural resources at the disposal, without any adverse consequences, is by maximizing the resource input use efficiency. The time has now arrived to exploit all the modern tools available by bringing information technology and agricultural science together for improved economic and environmentally sustainable crop production .

Precision farming as a panacea

Precision Farming is generally defined as an Information and Technology based farm management system to identify, analyze and manage variability within fields for optimum profitability, sustainability and protection of the land resource. In this mode of farming, new information technologies can be used to make better decisions about many aspects of crop production. Precision farming involves looking at the increased efficiencies that can be realized by understanding and dealing with the natural variability found within a field. The goal is not to obtain the same yield everywhere, but rather to manage and distribute inputs on a site specific basis to maximize long term cost/benefit. Applying the same inputs across the entire field may no longer be the best choice. Precision farming is helping many farmers worldwide to maximize the effectiveness of crop inputs.

Precision farming distinguishes itself from traditional agriculture by its level of management wherein instead of managing whole fields as a single unit, management is customized for small areas within fields. This increased level of management emphasizes the need for sound agronomic practices. Before shifting to precision agriculture management, it is essential to have a good farm management system in place. Precision agriculture is a systems approach to farming.

The practice of precision agriculture has been enabled by the advent of GIS and GNSS ( GPS , GLONASS , Galileo , IRNSS/NAVIC ) . The farmer can locate their precise position in a field allows for the creation of maps of the spatial variability of as many variables as can be measured (e.g. crop yield, terrain features/topography, organic matter content, moisture levels, nitrogen levels, pH etc.). Similar data is collected by crop yield monitors mounted on GPS-equipped combine harvesters, arrays of real-time vehicle mountable sensors that measure everything from chlorophyll levels to plant water status and satellite imagery. This data is then used by Variable Rate Technology (VRT) including seeders, sprayers, etc. to optimally distribute resources. Precision agriculture has also been enabled by affordable unmanned aerial vehicles .

By: Vinay Joshi