This book provides a review of precision agriculture technology development, followed by a presentation of the state-of-the-art and future requirements of precision agriculture technology. It presents different styles of precision agriculture technologies suitable for large scale mechanized farming; highly automated community-based mechanized production; and fully mechanized farming practices commonly seen in emerging economic regions. The book emphasizes the introduction of core technical features of sensing, data processing and interpretation technologies, crop modeling and production control theory, intelligent machinery and field robots for precision agriculture production.
The State of the World's Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture is FAO's first flagship publication on the global status of land and water resources. It is an 'advocacy' report, to be published every three to five years, and targeted at senior level decision makers in agriculture as well as in other sectors. SOLAW is aimed at sensitizing its target audience on the status of land resources at global and regional levels and FAO's viewpoint on appropriate recommendations for policy formulation. SOLAW focuses on these key dimensions of analysis: (i) quantity, quality of land and water resources, (ii) the rate of use and sustainable management of these resources in the context of relevant socio-economic driving factors and concerns, including food security and poverty, and climate change. This is the first time that a global, baseline status report on land and water resources has been made. It is based on several global spatial databases (e.g. land suitability for agriculture, land use and management, land and water degradation and depletion) for which FAO is the world-recognized data source. Topical and emerging issues on land and water are dealt with in an integrated rather than sectoral manner. The implications of the status and trends are used to advocate remedial interventions which are tailored to major farming systems within different geographic regions.
As technology continues to saturate modern society, agriculture has started to adopt digital computing and data-driven innovations. This emergence of “smart” farming has led to various advancements in the field, including autonomous equipment and the collection of climate, livestock, and plant data. As connectivity and data management continue to revolutionize the farming industry, empirical research is a necessity for understanding these technological developments. Artificial Intelligence and IoT-Based Technologies for Sustainable Farming and Smart Agriculture provides emerging research exploring the theoretical and practical aspects of critical technological solutions within the farming industry. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as crop monitoring, precision livestock farming, and agronomic data processing, this book is ideally designed for farmers, agriculturalists, product managers, farm holders, manufacturers, equipment suppliers, industrialists, governmental professionals, researchers, academicians, and students seeking current research on technological applications within agriculture and farming.
This book was created with the intention of informing an international audience about the latest technological aspects for developing smart agricultural applications. As artificial intelligence (AI) takes the main role in this, the majority of the chapters are associated with the role of AI and data analytics components for better agricultural applications. The first two chapters provide alternative, wide reviews of the use of AI, robotics, and the Internet of Things as effective solutions to agricultural problems. The third chapter looks at the use of blockchain technology in smart agricultural scenarios. In the fourth chapter, a future view is provided of an Internet of Things-oriented sustainable agriculture. Next, the fifth chapter provides a governmental evaluation of advanced farming technologies, and the sixth chapter discusses the role of big data in smart agricultural applications. The role of the blockchain is evaluated in terms of an industrial view under the seventh chapter, and the eighth chapter provides a discussion of data mining and data extraction, which is essential for better further analysis by smart tools. The ninth chapter evaluates the use of machine learning in food processing and preservation, which is a critical issue for dealing with issues concerns regarding insufficient foud sources. The tenth chapter also discusses sustainability, and the eleventh chapter focuses on the problem of plant disease prediction, which is among the critical agricultural issues. Similarly, the twelfth chapter considers the use of deep learning for classifying plant diseases. Finally, the book ends with a look at cyber threats to farming automation in the thirteenth chapter and a case study of India for a better, smart, and sustainable agriculture in the fourteenth chapter. This book presents the most critical research topics of today’s smart agricultural applications and provides a valuable view for both technological knowledge and ability that will be helpful to academicians, scientists, students who are the future of science, and industrial practitioners who collaborate with academia.
From the Director of the Open Agriculture Initiative at MIT’s Media Lab, the fascinating story of how digital technology is revolutionizing the way we feed the planet, offering surprising solutions to the global food crisis and redefining what it means to be a farmer. By the middle of this century, we will have nine billion people to feed and nobody who wants to be a farmer. From climate change to pollution, from controversies over GMOs to shrinking water supplies, our current system of feeding the planet is breaking down, delivering less nutritious food to fewer people, making both food insecurity and food waste increasingly commonplace. While the problem is clear, the solutions have been more difficult to recognize. Now, thanks to Caleb Harper and his Open Ag initiative, a revolution in agriculture is taking place. Inspired to rethink the fundamentals of farming during a visit to Japan in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Caleb returned to the MIT Media Lab and started growing lettuce in Dixie cups. While his peers were focused on self-driving cars and robots, Caleb was building an entire farm in the basement of the Media Lab. In the perfectly controlled conditions of his farm, he was able to carefully monitor all the variables that affect a plant’s growth and health—water, light, CO2, nutrients, temperature. Using machine learning to analyze the vast amount of data being collecting, he created “climate recipes” for growing the healthiest, tastiest, most sustainable produce in history, anywhere in the world. With the invention of a “personal food computer”/grow-box that he has shared with school children and scientists across the globe, Caleb Harper has laid the foundation for an entirely new model of food production with limitless possibilities. Fascinating, revelatory, and filled with groundbreaking research and ideas, this book shows how the power of one man’s determination and vision are revolutionizing how we will plant, grow, and consume food now and far into the future.
Part I: low-external-input and sustainable agriculture (leisa): an emerging option; Agriculture and sustainability; Sustainability and farmers: making decisions at the farm level; Technology development by farmers; Part II: Priciples and possibilities of leisa; Low-external-input farming and agroecology; Basic ecological principles of leisa; Development of leisa systems; Part III: Linking farmers and scientists in developing leisa technologies; Actors and actitities in developing leisa technologies; Participatory technology development in practice: process and methods; Appendices; Appendix A some promising leisa techniques and practices; Appendix B glossary of key terms; Appendix C useful contacts and sources of further information; References; Index.
Promising new information technologies, and the increasing utilization of data in agriculture, are influencing the future of farming. It is a critical time for everyone involved in production agriculture. Given tight margins and a continued slump in the prices at the farm gate, even routine day-to-day decision making can determine whether the farmer will turn an annual profit. The decisions that are made surrounding data and agriculture technology will decide the future of farming in America and impact producers for years to come as technologies continue to expand and evolve. Big data is influencing planting decisions, optimizing yields, it gives farmers tools to more accurately assess soil health and water usage, and it is even cutting down on labor costs. Farmers are also quickly learning that smart investments in new technology will not only make them more efficient, but will also conserve resources and ensure their land will remain productive for generations to come. While cutting-edge technology promises many benefits, there are also significant challenges to overcome. Farmers are justifiably concerned about the privacy and security of their data, while questions loom over data ownership. Inadequate rural broadband access is also a significant barrier for farmers who lack the high-speed Internet needed to take full advantage of innovations. As the industry continues to make investments in its future, the Federal Government must keep pace to modernize and adapt to a rapidly changing environment.
