Trends in Precision Agriculture

Abstract

<p>Precision agriculture is no longer a generic term defining our desire to more precisely manage equipment and agronomic inputs. As precision agriculture enters its sixteenth year, it has become an industry within itself and features a suite of hardware and software components aimed to improve efficiency in all areas of production agriculture. As we look back on the past sixteen years we can see clear innovations in precision agriculture that have helped shape the future direction of this industry. During its infant years, precision agriculture was focused on methods to collect production data across the field using newly available GPS technology. This was mainly focused on yield monitoring and grid soil sampling to better understand trends and management zones. During the mid to late 1990's precision agriculture shifted focus towards machine control products for variable rate fertilizer placement and steering assistance, including lightbars and autosteering. The past five years have brought on another precision agriculture revolution focused on automating sections of our implements and requiring ever increasing accuracy from our GPS receivers.</p>