Application of Precision Agriculture Technology in Podlaskie Voivodeship

Abstract

The objective of the paper was to evaluate the precision agriculture technology on the territory of Podlaskie Voivodeship. Research material consisted of data from the survey carried out in 100 randomly selected farms located in Podlaskie Voivodeship. The concept of "precision agriculture" is known among the surveyed farmers. Based on the research which was carried out, a relation between the surface area of the farm, education and age of respondents was reported. Precision agriculture technology is more popular among farmers who are less than 40 years old, who have higher education and big agricultural farms. Majority of farmers participating in the survey carries out regular research on the soil richness. Moreover, 46% uses in their farms modern technologies for plant production, only 10% uses the system of positioning and 8% of the investigated farms uses the system for guiding agricultural machines, 14% of the investigated farmers uses the system for parallel guiding of a tractor, less than 40% applies the system of variable dosing of fertilizers and plant protection substances. Majority of the investigated farmers claims that new technologies are necessary and they should be applied; however, they indicate too high costs and distribution of farms as the main reason for limitations.

Possibilities and concerns of implementing precision agriculture technologies on small farms in Slovenia

“…They are more skilled in farm management and often more technology development-oriented, which affects the introduction of new technologies and their experimentation with PATs [17] . Similar conclusions were also reached by researchers in Poland [20] , where 100 farm owners were surveyed. They found that PATs are more popular among farmers who are less than 40 years old, have a higher level of education, and manage larger farms.…”

“…I am not interested in PA 3 (7.5) I do not use PAT yet, but I probably will in the near future 23 (57.5) I have been using PA applications on my farm recently 5 (12.5) I am a beginner at PA, but I want to become a professional in the field 8 (20) I am an advanced user of PA applications but not a professional 1 (2.5)…”

“…The results of frequency use of PATs are also comparable with the results of the research by Paustian and Theusten [17] wherein the group of small farms (1-99 hm 2 ), only 9% were adopters of PATs. The study of Borusiewicz et al [20] on the other hand, analyses the necessity of PA, where 64% of the respondents think PA is necessary and 10% that it is not, out of which the majority are older than 50 years of age.…”

Effect of the Fertilizer Application Method on Soil Abundance in Available Sulfur

“…Combining ground phosphate rock with sulfur pulp created a product which, after thorough homogenization, can be a suitable material for granulation. Granulation is one of the main factors that increase fertilizer chances for market success (Tur-Cardona et al, 2018) and fits into the widely understood technical progress in agriculture (Borusiewicz et al, 2016). Moreover, using technological additions that allow for an increase in effectiveness of fertilizers based on waste materials is a modern approach in creating waste-free technologies not only in agriculture, but in the whole economy (Wróbel et al, 2016).…”

Opportunities and Barriers to the Development of Agriculture 4.0 in the Context of Low Carbon Agriculture in Poland

“…There are fragmentary studies, and their conclusions often point out that computer techniques are rapidly entering the farms in Poland, although their use is still relatively low. The results of empirical research obtained by other authors show that a small number of farmers in Poland use specialized computer programs on their farms [2,11].…”