Combining data and models for decisions in precision agriculture
- 1. Wageningen University & Research
- 2. BioSense Institute, University of Novi Sad, Serbia
Description
In the face of a growing world population, declining land reserves and climate change, there is an urgent need to increase the efficiency of the production of food. Precision agriculture (PA) is one of the pathways in which the efficiency of agriculture can be increased. The profitability and sustainability of production of potatoes in The Netherlands can be increased by at least 20% by employing a range of PA technologies that are currently available to commercial growers. The systematic collection and processing of data is the cornerstone of precision agriculture. On the one hand, these data are used to derive models that describe the effect of weather, soil, and management on crop growth. On the other hand, data and models are used to support decision-making about when and where to apply inputs: fertilizers, crop protection agents, and irrigation water.