Precision agriculture facts for kids
Precision agriculture is a clever way of farming that uses modern technology to help farmers grow more food while using fewer resources. Think of it as "smart farming"! It involves collecting lots of information about fields, plants, and even animals. This data helps farmers make better choices about things like how much water or fertilizer to use, or where to plant seeds. The main goal is to make farming more efficient, productive, and friendly to the environment.
This smart farming approach is used for both growing crops and raising animals. It often uses technology to make farm jobs automatic, helping farmers figure out problems, make decisions, and get work done. The idea is to get the best results from the land and resources, while also protecting them for the future.
One of the biggest helpers for precision agriculture is GPS (Global Positioning System). GPS lets farmers know their exact spot in a field. This means they can create detailed maps showing how things change across the field. For example, they can map how much crop grows, what the land looks like, how much organic stuff is in the soil, or how much water and nutrients are there.
Special machines like combine harvesters can have sensors that collect this data as they work. These sensors can measure things like how green plants are (chlorophyll levels) or how much water they have. This information, along with pictures from satellites, helps farmers use special equipment like seeders and sprayers that can change how much they put down in different areas. For example, they might put more fertilizer where the soil needs it most, and less where it doesn't. Newer sensors can even be placed directly in the soil and send data wirelessly!
Small flying robots called agricultural drones are also very useful. They are not too expensive and are easy to fly. Drones can take many pictures of a field, including special ones that show how healthy plants are (like NDVI maps). These pictures can be put together to create detailed maps of the field, even showing how high or low the ground is. This helps farmers understand how the land affects their crops and decide where to add water, fertilizer, or other treatments.
Learning about Smart Farming
Everyone in farming, including teachers, is still learning about these new technologies. Precision agriculture is changing how we think about farming education. It's easy to understand the main ideas of smart farming, but actually learning to use all the new tools can be tricky!
Contents
History of Smart Farming
Precision agriculture is a big part of the third major change in farming.
- The first big change happened from 1900 to 1930, when farmers started using more machines. Back then, one farmer could grow enough food for about 26 people.
- The second big change was the Green Revolution in the 1960s. New ways of changing plants' genes meant one farmer could feed about 156 people.
- Now, with precision agriculture, it's thought that one farmer could feed 265 people using the same amount of land! This is important because the world's population is expected to reach about 9.6 billion by 2050, and we'll need to produce much more food.
How Smart Farming Works
The first steps in precision agriculture involved using satellite and air photos, predicting weather, and putting fertilizer exactly where it was needed. The next steps involve collecting even more data from machines for very precise planting, detailed maps of the land, and information about the soil.
Precision agriculture aims to make farm management better by:
- Helping crops: Giving plants exactly what they need, like the right amount of fertilizer.
- Protecting the environment: Reducing harm to nature, for example, by stopping too much fertilizer from washing away.
- Saving money: Making farming more efficient and profitable by using less fertilizer and other supplies.
Smart farming also gives farmers a lot of useful information to:
- Keep a record of everything happening on their farm.
- Make better decisions about their crops.
- Easily track where their products come from.
- Improve how they sell their farm products.
- Make farm products better quality (like more protein in wheat).
Smart Planting
Smart planting is a type of farming that uses data to decide exactly how many seeds to plant in different parts of a field. This helps farmers get the most crops possible from every area. Big companies are using this technology to help farmers in the US.
Tools and Principles
Precision agriculture uses many tools. Some basic ones are tractors, combines, sprayers, and planters. These machines often have special GPS devices that act like the "brain" of the system. To use smart farming, the equipment needs to be set up with the right technology and data systems. Other important tools include:
- Variable Rate Technology (VRT): This allows machines to change how much they apply (like seeds or fertilizer) as they move across a field.
- Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographical Information System (GIS): GPS tells you where you are, and GIS software helps make sense of all the location-based data.
- Grid sampling: Taking soil samples from a grid pattern across a field to see what nutrients are where.
- Remote sensors: Devices that collect data from a distance, like drones or satellites.
Finding Your Spot (Geolocating)
Knowing the exact location of a field is called Geolocating. This helps farmers combine information about the soil, leftover nutrients from past crops, and how well the soil conducts electricity. Geolocating can be done in two ways:
- A farmer drives a tractor with a GPS receiver around the field to map its edges.
- The field is mapped on a base picture from the air or a satellite. These pictures need to be clear and accurate.
What Affects Crops (Variables)
Many things can cause differences in how crops grow, even within the same field. These include:
- Weather: Like hail, dry spells, or heavy rain.
- Soil: How sandy or clay-like it is, how deep it is, or how much nitrogen it has.
- Farming methods: Like not tilling the soil.
- Weeds and diseases.
Some things, like soil type, are usually always the same. Other things, like whether a crop is sick or needs water, can change quickly. Farmers can get this information from weather stations, soil sensors, or even satellite pictures. For example, measuring how well soil conducts electricity can help figure out how much water is in the soil.
Smart Farming Plans (Strategies)
Using soil maps, farmers can plan how to add things to their fields in two main ways:
- Predictive approach: This uses information that doesn't change much, like soil type, to plan ahead for the whole growing season.
- Control approach: This updates the plan regularly during the growing season using new information from:
* Sampling: Taking small samples of plants or fruit to measure things. * Remote sensing: Using sensors to measure things like temperature, humidity, or wind from a distance. This can be done with Wireless Sensor Networks and the Internet of things. * In-vehicle sensors: Sensors on tractors that check plants as the farmer drives around. * Air or satellite sensing: Drones or satellites take special pictures that show how healthy crops are or if there are diseases.
Farmers make the final decisions based on what's best for their business and the environment. However, artificial intelligence (AI) systems are starting to help with these decisions too! It's important for farmers to see that these technologies are useful and easy to use for them to adopt them.
Putting Smart Farming into Practice
New technologies make it easier for farmers to manage their fields. This means using farm equipment that can change how much it applies, like planting different amounts of seeds or spraying different amounts of fertilizer or pest control products.
Precision agriculture uses technology on farm machines like tractors and sprayers:
- GPS receivers: These use satellite signals to find an exact spot on Earth.
- GIS (Geographic Information Systems): Software that helps understand all the data collected.
- Variable-rate equipment: Machines that can change how much they put down, like seeders or spreaders.
Smart Farming Around the World
The idea of precision agriculture started in the United States in the early 1980s. Researchers began changing how much lime they put on fields. Farmers also started taking soil samples in a grid pattern. Soon, they were using this to make maps that showed where to put fertilizer. Since then, using yield sensors and GPS has grown a lot.
In the American Midwest, smart farming helps farmers make more money by putting fertilizer only where it's truly needed. This saves money and makes the fertilizer work better.
Smart farming has grown at different speeds around the world. The United States, Canada, and Australia were among the first to use it. In Europe, the UK led the way, followed by France. In Latin America, Argentina was a leader. Brazil also has a special company, Embrapa, that works on sustainable farming.
While digital tools can make farm machines much better, many low-income countries still rely on farming without big machines. However, smart farming ideas are growing there too. For example, hand-held soil scanners, drones, and GPS are being used to map fields.
Precision livestock farming helps farmers by watching animals all the time. Sensors on animals or in barns can check their health, movement, and needs. For example, cows can have electronic tags that let milking robots know their udder details. Automated feeding machines also exist for cows and chickens.
China is also seeing the benefits of smart farming, but because many farms are small family-run ones, it's taking longer for the technology to be widely used. Russia is also very interested in precision agriculture as a way to develop its farming.
Benefits for Money and Nature
Precision agriculture means putting the exact right amount of water, fertilizer, or pesticides on crops at the right time. This helps crops grow better and produce more. Farmers save money on these supplies, which helps them earn more.
A bigger benefit is for the environment. Using the right amount of chemicals in the right place and at the right time helps crops, soil, and groundwater. This makes precision agriculture a key part of sustainable agriculture, which means farming in a way that protects the Earth for a long time.
Smart farming also reduces the impact of farming on the environment by making machines more efficient. For example, using GPS to guide tractors can save fuel. Applying nutrients or pesticides precisely can reduce how much is used, saving money and stopping harmful chemicals from running into rivers. GPS also means tractors drive over the same paths, which reduces how much they compact the soil. This also means less time in the field and less environmental impact.
The detailed data collected by precision agriculture can even help archaeologists understand old farming landscapes!
New Smart Farming Technologies
Precision agriculture is always getting new digital farming tools. Billions of dollars have been invested in companies that create this "agtech."
Robots on the Farm
Tractors that can steer themselves have been around for a while. They work like a plane on autopilot, doing most of the work while the farmer watches for problems. Technology is moving towards machines that don't need a driver at all, programmed by GPS to spread fertilizer or plow land. This is because some farming tasks are so demanding that humans can't keep up. Other new robots can find weeds and kill them precisely with a tiny bit of herbicide or even lasers.
Special farm robots, called AgBots, are also being developed to find ripe fruits, adjust to their shape, and carefully pick them.
Drones and Satellite Pictures
Drone and satellite technology are very important in smart farming. Drones take high-quality close-up pictures, while satellites show the bigger picture. Pictures from small planes can be combined with satellite data to guess how much a field will produce. These pictures can also create maps that show where water flows, help decide how many seeds to plant, and show which areas of a field produced more or less.
The Internet of Things (IoT)
The Internet of things (IoT) is a network of physical objects with sensors that collect and share data. In farming, IoT helps with sensors and farm management software. For example, farmers can use sensors to measure nutrients in liquid fertilizer, which can be tricky. They can then scan the ground to see where animals have already fertilized and only add more where it's needed. This can cut fertilizer use by up to 30%! Soil moisture sensors can tell farmers the best time to water plants remotely. Irrigation systems can even be programmed to water different sides of a tree based on its needs and rainfall.
IoT isn't just for plants; it helps animals too. Cows can have internal sensors to track their stomach health. External sensors can track their movement to check their health, find injuries, and know the best times for breeding. All this data helps farmers see trends and patterns.
Even beekeeping can be more efficient with IoT. Honeybees are very important for pollinating crops. Sensors can monitor a beehive's temperature, humidity, and CO2 levels. This helps improve bee health and gives early warnings if something might threaten the hive.
Smartphone Apps
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Smartphone and tablet apps are becoming very popular in precision agriculture. Smartphones already have useful tools like cameras, microphones, GPS, and accelerometers. There are also special apps for farming tasks like mapping fields, tracking animals, and getting weather or crop information. They are easy to carry, affordable, and have strong computing power.
Machine Learning
Machine learning is often used with drones, robots, and IoT devices. It takes data from all these sources, processes it, and then tells the devices what to do. This allows robots to deliver the perfect amount of fertilizer or for IoT devices to provide the exact right amount of water to the soil. Machine learning can also predict things for farmers, like how much nitrogen is available in the soil, to help with fertilization plans. As farming becomes more digital, machine learning will help make it more efficient and precise with less manual work.
Conferences
- InfoAg Conference
- European Conference on Precision Agriculture (ECPA) (happens every two years)
- International Conference on Precision Agriculture (ICPA) (happens every two years)
See also
- Agriculture
- Agricultural drones
- Automatic milking
- Digital agriculture
- Geostatistics
- Integrated farming
- Integrated pest management
- Landsat program
- NDVI
- Nutrient budgeting
- Nutrient management
- Phytobiome
- Precision beekeeping
- Precision fermentation
- Precision livestock farming
- Precision viticulture
- Satellite crop monitoring
- SPOT (satellites)
- Variable rate technology
Images for kids
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In Spanish: Agricultura de precisión para niños
