The CROPROTECT project and wider opportunities to improve farm productivity through web‐based knowledge exchange

Abstract

A key global 21st century challenge is to maximize agricultural production while minimizing use of resources such as land, water, and energy to meet rising demand for produce. To meet this challenge, while also adapting to climate change, agriculture will have to become more knowledge intensive and deploy smarter farming techniques. The intention of this study was to: (1) Highlight the opportunity for web‐based knowledge exchange to increase farm productivity and thus contribute to achieving food and energy security, (2) Give some examples of online farming information services such as the “CROPROTECT” tool I am developing in the UK, the CABI “Plantwise” Knowledge Bank and the IRRI “Rice Doctor,” and (3) Consider lessons learnt so far. There are huge opportunities to facilitate knowledge exchange through online systems for farmers and people who advise farmers. CROPROTECT is interacting with users to determine priorities in terms of the pests, weeds, and diseases covered and is providing key information to assist with their management. Knowledge is a critical input for farming systems. Crop protection in particular is becoming more difficult due to evolution of pest resistance and changes in legislation. Up to date information can be made rapidly available and shared online through websites and smartphone Apps. Agricultural extension no longer relies solely on physical meetings and printed documents. The capacity to share information via the Internet is tremendous with its potential to reach a wide audience in the farming community, to provide rapid updates and to interact more with the users. However, in an era of information deluge, accessing relevant information and ensuring reliability are essential considerations. There is also a need to bring science and farming communities together to turn information into relevant farming knowledge.

Crowdsourcing for agricultural applications: A review of uses and opportunities for a farmsourcing approach

“…However, projects that applied 388 the same principles for farming applications are few, e.g., PlantVillage Image (Hugues & Salathé, 389 2015) or the weed identification set up by Rahman et al (2015). While the primary goal of 390 Croprotech (Bruce, 2016) is to provide information toward farmers, they can also contribute by 391 reporting weed, pest, and disease observations. Since these projects were recently designed, it is too 392 early to evaluate the success of these initiatives in terms of data collection and farmers' satisfaction.…”

Finding the right connection: what makes a successful decision support system?

“…There is growing recognition that the agricultural industry is undergoing a period of transformation to become a more information‐intensive enterprise (Bruce, ; Wolfert, Ge, Verdouw, & Bogaardt, ). There is much talk of how “big data” will help farmers and how an “Internet of things” will allow optimization of inputs such as water, fertilizer, and pesticide through the use of precision sensors (Wolfert et al., ).…”

“…Such shifts toward an increasingly technical mode of agriculture comes at a time when farmers are facing a number of challenges, such as rising input costs, and stagnating commodity prices. Crop protection in particular is becoming increasingly challenging as pests, weeds, and diseases evolve resistance to pesticides, and legislative restrictions reduce the options available (Bruce, ). To address these threats, farmers require evidence‐based guidance to make optimal decisions.…”

Foundational and Translational Research Opportunities to Improve Plant Health

“…Initiatives such as the aggregation of information from CABI “Plant Clinics” (Bruce 2016) with specialists able to analyze overall patterns are of great value, but require research in both population biology and social science rather than only biological understanding at the molecular level. Weeds, viruses, nematodes, soil fungi that have limited capacity for movement and produce patches observable from a distance are well suited to remote sensing.…”

“…However, the availability such chemical interventions as well as their efficacies are now becoming limited due to changes in legislation and the evolution of pathogen/pest resistance to control chemicals. Consequently, established cropping systems are highly vulnerable to disruption by adapted pests, weeds, and diseases and there is a pressing need for new interventions (Bruce 2016; Tamiru, Khan, and Bruce 2015). For example, management of insect pests has become much more challenging after recent restrictions on neonicotinoid and organophosphate insecticides in the UK.…”