Precision Farming: What’s Behind Digitised Agriculture
With precision farming, digital technologies and processes are making their way into agriculture. Here you can find out what exactly is behind precision farming technology. Technology is impacting all spheres, even the entertainment sector. Find out more at the latest online casino. With the help of modern technologies, agriculture is becoming increasingly targeted and therefore more effective. This type of farming is called precision farming. Precision farming is a collective term for digital process technologies. That enable partial or site-specific cultivation of agricultural land. The term “Agriculture 4.0” is often used in this context.
Why Precision Farming?
With precision farming, differences in crop cultivation caused by relief can be compensated. For in a more needs-based manner based on data. Until now, farmers have managed their farmland in a standardized way. This means that they set their implements once at the beginning of field work and do not change this setting for the entire cultivation of the field. The problem is that this approach does not take into account the fact that there are different soil zones within a field. Each field – i.e. an area of arable land belonging together that is cultivated with just one crop – has different conditions that are important for plant cultivation. These include, for example, soil characteristics such as relief (the type of terrain), soil type or water storage capacity. The consequences of uniform cultivation are a different water supply for the plants and a different availability of nutrients. Due to these consequences, the plants grow unevenly or poorly. This reduces the potential yield that can be achieved with the fruits of the plants or the plants themselves. This puts farmers at an economic disadvantage. The risk of fertilizers getting into the groundwater is also one of the consequences of uniform cultivation. This poses an ecological problem.
Sub-area management, on the other hand, represents more sustainable agriculture that is also more efficient. This allows farmers to better balance out the differences between fields. This allows them to determine more precisely how they need to supply which soil zone and which plant. The aim of precision farming is to know the soil properties and yield potential of sub-areas as well as possible in order to be able to work in a targeted, needs-based, efficient and sustainable manner. It becomes sustainable, for example, through the more targeted and therefore lower use of synthetic chemical pesticides. These not only pollute the soil, but also the environment. The more data farmers have about the soil, the plants and the climate, the more they can work according to their needs.
With precision farming, farmers can better respond to the dilemma of increasing demand for high-quality agricultural products and the ever-increasing demands of resource conservation and environmental regulations.
What Does Precision Farming Look Like In Practice?
In precision farming, drones explore plant populations in the field. Collected data forms the basis for precision farming. Agricultural technology equipped with probes and sensors collects data on soil moisture, nutrient content in the soil, soil compaction, biomass, terrain profile and photosynthetic activities of plants and their quality. Weather data is also analyzed. The use of drones helps to detect plant damage at an early stage. With the help of satellite photos, farmers can recognize the growth progress of their plants.
The farmers store all the data collected in a field index. Data on soil and plants as well as precise records of all activities in the field (tillage, sowing, fertilization, plant protection, harvesting) are managed and controlled in this file, along with their type and scope. The farmers combine this collected data with the current situation in the fields. This makes it possible to manage the fields in a targeted manner. For example, they can apply seeds, fertilizers and pesticides in a targeted manner. Farmers can also work the soil in a differentiated manner depending on the sub-area. As the data can be used to determine which of the sub-areas they need to plow, for example.
Application in practice:
● The computer steers the tractor with the help of GPS technology.
● RTK (Real Time Kinematic) steering systems, together with satellite coordinates, enable precise navigation. This means, for example, that seed drills can follow the exact track in the field and therefore sow precisely.
● Modern gland technology makes it possible to switch off individual glands so that certain areas (for example those whose soil is still well supplied with nutrients) are not fertilized.
● Nitrogen sensors also enable site-specific fertilization. With the help of light waves, the technology detects the leaf color of the plants and decides whether the nozzle should apply fertilizer or not.
● Field robots weed or sow seeds, for example. Because they weigh less, they protect the soil.
● Autonomous agricultural vehicles take control of the machines. Farmers no longer steer the machines themselves, but simply monitor them.
● Drones take aerial photos of fields. Which provide farmers with information on soil quality, accompanying flora (weeds) and plant diseases.
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