Emerging Footprint Technologies in Agriculture, from Field to Farm Gate

Abstract

During the last few years, the agricultural sector has been through a critical phase, having been seriously affected by several factors. At an international level the agreements of the International Trade Organization and at a European level the new Common Agricultural Policy have resulted in problems with the competitiveness of agricultural products and the necessity for improvements in production methods of safe, healthy, high-quality products that are also in accordance with the objective of environmental protection.The agricultural sector is currently benefiting from a wide range of new information and communication technology (ICT) tools that are helping improve the flow of information in the real-time management of agricultural crops. New technologies to enhance the precision and automation of crop management are continuously being developed, tested and evaluated. The tools of precision agriculture and other information technologies should move into mainstream agricultural management when they are sufficiently developed and incorporated into the production chain. These technologies are paving the way for the reversal of the current trend towards heavy-machinery systems, replacing them with teams of smaller field robots. In this view of the future, fleet management will maintain its key role in maximizing overall efficiency, which it will achieve by optimizing the selection, dispatching and in-field coordination of these teams. This chapter describes advanced technologies and methods that can provide an efficient integrated in-field production system that will meet the objectives of product quality, resource usage, economic feasibility and environmental impact. Chapter sections include precision agriculture, field robotics, radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, automated data recording and fleet management. PRECISION AGRICULTUREPrecision agriculture (PA) can be defined as the management of spatial and temporal variability to improve economic returns and reduce environmental impact. This can be achieved through using appropriate technologies within a coherent management structure. The technology provides the tools and management decides how the tools should be used. PA uses these new technologies to reduce the unit area of treatment from, in some cases, the farm down to field or even sub-field level.Intelligent Agrifood Chains and Networks, First Edition. Edited by Michael Bourlakis, Ilias Vlachos and Vasileios Zeimpekis.