This document is an assignment on precision agriculture submitted by Vidhan Chandra Singh to Dr. Amitesh Kumar Singh. It defines precision agriculture as a site-specific farming system designed to increase production efficiency and profitability while minimizing environmental impacts. It discusses the history and basic concepts of precision agriculture, including the key components of GPS, GIS, variable rate technology, yield monitors, and remote sensing. It also covers the benefits and challenges of adopting precision agriculture in India.

1. Assignment
On
Precision agriculture
Course- Village Attachment, AGR- 411 (0+4)
Institute of Agricultural sciences,
Guided By-
Dr. Amitesh Kumar Singh
Asstt. Prof.
RGSC, BHU
Submitted By-
Vidhan Chandra Singh
ID- R-12042
Enroll No.-327387
Banaras Hindu University

2. INTRODUCTION
Precision agriculture is an integrated
information- and production-based
farming system that is designed to
increase long term, site-specific and
whole farm production efficiency,
productivity and profitability while
minimizing unintended impacts on
wildlife and the environment.

3. “It would be a simple matter to describe the earth’s
surface if it were the same every where. The
environment, however, is not like that there is
almost endless variety.”
– Webster and Oliver (1990).

4. Definition of Precision Agriculture
Precision agriculture is an art and
science of utilizing innovative, site-
specific techniques for management of
spatial and temporal variability using
affordable technologies… for enhancing
output, efficiency, and profitability of
agricultural production in an
environmentally responsible manner.

5. The term precision agriculture appears to have been used first in 1990 as the
title of a workshop held in Great Falls, Montana, sponsored by Montana State
University. Before this, in the 80s, the terms ‘site-specific crop management’ or
‘site-specific agriculture’ was used.
Precision Agriculture History

6. Precision Farming Concept

7. Basic steps in precision farming
Assessing variation
Managing variation
Evaluation

8. The Building Blocks of Precision Farming
Global Positioning Systems
Geographic Information
Systems
Direct
&
Remot
e
Sensi
ng
Variabl
e Rate
Techno
logy
Yield
Monit
ors
Precisi
on
Naviga
tion
Precision Data Management
Software
Direct
&
Remot
e
Sensi
ng
Yield
Monit
ors

9. Components of Precision Farming
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
• Global Positioning Systems (GPS)
• Variable Rate Technology (VRT)
• Yield Monitor
• Remote Sensing
• Use of Laser Land leveler in SSNM

10. •GIS Software
Geographical information system
consists of a computer software
data base system used to input,
store, retrieve, analyze, and
display, in map like form, spatially
referenced geographical
information for more detailed
analysis of fields.

11. Remote Sensing (RS)
Collects data from reflected electromagnetic energy and
converts it into images using satellites or airplanes.
Any data that is suspect or highly irregular, needs to be confirmed by
field investigation.

13. Why is Precision Nutrient
Management Important?
• Nutrient variability within a field can be very high
(graphs to follow), affecting optimum fertilizer rates.
• Yield potential and grain protein can also vary greatly
even within one field, affecting fertilizer
requirements.
• Increasing fertilizer use efficiency will become more
important with increasing fertilizer costs and
environmental concerns

14. Govern by 4 R’s
Nutrient Mangement in Precision Agriculture

15. SITE SPECIFIC NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT
‘Feeding of crop with nutrients as and when
needed’
The current fertilizer practice results in high
loss of applied fertilizers. Recently, scientists
have developed a new technique of nutrient
management known as site specific nutrient
management- based on site, climate and actual
plant needs.
Fertilizers have played a key role in increasing
crop production.

17. Need for Precision Farming in India
• Increased Land degradation.
(In India, out of 329 million ha of total geographical
area 182 million ha of area is affected by land degradation
due to water erosion, wind erosion, water logging and
chemical deterioration.)
• Depletion of Water resources.
• Socio economic need for enhanced productivity / unit of
land, water and time.
• Environment Pollution because of increased and
indiscriminate use of fertilizers and chemicals.
• Precision Farming is essential in order to address
poverty alleviation, enhance quality of life and food
security.

18. PROBLEMS IN ADOPTION OF PRECISION FARMING
TECHNOLOGY:
• Fragmented land holding
• Lack of continuously monitoring the health and availability of the natural
resources.
• Climatic aberrations.
• Operational constraints.
• Uncertainty in getting the various inputs.
• Absence of a long standing and uniform agricultural policy.
• Lack of success stories.
• Lack of local technical expertise.
• Land ownership, Infrastructure and Institutional constraints.

19. Probable Strategies
• Farmer’s co-operatives.
• Pilot projects.
• Agricultural input suppliers, Extension advisors and
consultant play important role in the spread of the
technology.
• Combined effort of Researchers and Government.
• Public agencies should consider supplying free data
such as remotely sensed imagery to the universities
and research institutes involved in Precision farming
research.

20. Precision agriculture issues:
Precision agriculture also provides farmers with a wealth of
information to:
•Build up a record of their farm.
•Improve decision-making.
•Foster greater traceability.
•Enhance marketing of farm products.
•Improve lease arrangements and relationship with landlords.
•Enhance the inherent quality of farm products. (e.g. protein level in
bread-flour wheat)

21. Precision agriculture is a four-stage process using techniques to observe spatial
variability:
1- Geo-location of data:
Geo-locating a field enables the farmer to overlay information gathered from
analysis of soils and residual nitrogen, and information on previous crops and
soil resistivity.
Geo-location is done in two ways:
1- The field is outlined using an in-vehicle GPS receiver as the farmer drives a
tractor around the field.
2- The field is outlined on a base map derived from aerial or satellite imagery.
The base images must have the right level of resolution and geometric quality to
ensure that geo-location is sufficiently accurate.
Precision Agriculture Stages and tools

22. Contd..
• 2- Characterizing variability:
Field variability can result from:
• Climatic conditions (hail, drought, rain, etc. ).
• Soils (texture, depth, nitrogen levels).
• Cropping practices.
• Weeds and Disease. This information may come from weather
stations and other sensors (soil electrical resistivity, detection with
the naked eye, satellite imagery, etc.).

23. (Cont…)
3- Decision-making: 2 ways for dealing with variability Using soil maps,
farmers can pursue two strategies to adjust field inputs:
• 1- Predictive approach: Based on analysis of static indicators (soil,
resistivity, field history, etc.)
• 2- Control approach: Information from static indicators is regularly
updated during the crop cycle by:
• Sampling: weighing biomass, measuring leaf content, etc.
• Remote sensing: measuring parameters like temperature (air/soil),
humidity (air/soil/leaf), wind or stem diameter is possible thanks to Wireless
Sensor Networks
• Aerial or satellite remote sensing: multispectral imagery is acquired and
processed to derive maps of crop biophysical parameters. Decisions may be
based on decision-support models (crop simulation models and
recommendation models), finally it is up to the farmer to decide in terms of
business value and impacts on the environment.

24. ( Cont…..)
•4- Implementing practices to address variability
Application of crop management decisions requires
agricultural equipment that supports variable-rate
technology (VRT). Precision agriculture uses
technology on agricultural equipment (e.g. tractors,
sprayers, harvesters, etc.):
• GPS and DGPS.
• (GIS) geographic information systems. i.e., software
that makes sense of all the available data, variable-rate
farming equipment (seeder, spreader).

25. To be successful, comprehensive precision
agriculture relies on
KEY TO SUCCESS
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT

26. BENEFITS OF PRECISION
AGRICULTURE
Optimising Production Efficiency
Optimising Quality
Minimising Environmental Impact
Minimising Risk
Information To Act On

27. CONCLUSION
• Precision agriculture is a comprehensive system designed to
optimize production.
• Using the key elements of information, technology, and
management, precision agriculture can be used to increase
production efficiency, improve product quality, improve the
efficiency of crop chemical use, conserve energy, and protect
the environment.