Core Ideas There is a perception that adoption of precision agriculture has been slow.Precision agriculture is not one technology but a toolkit from which farmers choose what they need.Global Navigation Satellite Systems guidance is being adopted rapidly.Variable rate technology adoption rarely exceeds 20% of farms.Use of precision agriculture technology on non‐mechanized farms is almost nonexistent. There is a perception that adoption of precision agriculture (PA) has been slow. This study reviews the public data on farm level use of PA in crop production worldwide. It examines adoption estimates for PA from completed surveys that utilized random sampling procedures, as well as estimates of adoption using other survey methods, with an objective to document the national or regional level adoption patterns of PA using existing data. The analysis indicates that Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) guidance and associated automated technologies like sprayer boom control and planter row or section shutoffs have been adopted as fast as any major agricultural technology in history. The main reason for the perception that PA adoption is slow is because PA is often associated with variable rate technology (VRT)—just one of many PA technologies, one of the first adopted by many farmers, but that now rarely exceeds 20% of farms. This level of adoption suggests that farmers like the idea of VRT, but are not convinced of its value. VRT adoption estimates for niche groups of farmers may exceed 50%. The biggest gap in PA adoption is for medium and small farms in the developing world that do not use motorized mechanization.
Ontario agricultural service providers were surveyed on their use of precision agricultural technologies. Global positioning systems are the most commonly adopted, while adoption rates for variable rate systems are significantly less. Enhancing adoption requires turning the vast amount of data collected on crop production into valuable decisions for the farmer.
Core Ideas Needed skills are changing for agriculturalists working in precision farming. It is often difficult for agribusiness to find qualified candidates to fill positions. Different sets of skills are needed for equipment operators, agronomists, equipment technicians, technical support, and sales positions. Precision agriculture encompasses a set of related technologies aimed at better utilizing crop inputs, increasing yield and quality, reducing production risks, and enabling information flow throughout the crop supply and end‐use chains. As agricultural businesses invest in precision offerings, their capacity to provide these products and services will depend on their ability to hire and retain employees with appropriate proficiency as defined in their knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs). A 2015 survey of agricultural retailers examined the minimum educational requirements retailers were seeking in their hires, along with the importance of a list of KSAs for the various positions that they customarily fill. The positions included equipment operators, sales specialists, technical support, and agronomists. The KSAs included specifics, such as the ability to install, calibrate, troubleshoot, and repair equipment; knowledge of precision agriculture software; and also more broad skills such as effective written and verbal communication and in making agronomy recommendations. As expected, retailers expressed different educational minimums and different levels of importance for various positions. Overwhelmingly, the retailers indicated difficulty in finding qualified candidates and a predominance of candidates with low or deficient proficiency in areas they rated important. The survey was accomplished using email lists from both CropLife and the Certified Crop Adviser program.
Precision agriculture (PA) is the application of information technology to better manage crop and livestock production, heralded as another tool to advance food security around the world. Precision agriculture has the potential to increase productivity, improve resource allocation for inputs such as pesticides, fertilizers, water, feed, and labor, provide for more stable production, and reduce agricultural production's environmental effect. But PA is an approach that can be very different depending on farm characteristics, such as crops and livestock raised, farm size, management, the farms' access to technical support, and the characteristics of the operator such as age and education. As a result, the adoption of PA has been slower and less uniform compared with some other agricultural innovations. Modern PA management systems are rarely implemented on small low-mechanization farms, which comprise much of the world's agricultural production, and these farms are common in areas of the world that are the least food secure. And like other farm technology, its benefits go primarily to its adopters and society as a whole, but those who do not, or cannot adopt are left at a relative disadvantage, which unfortunately at present are most farmers around the world. Food security's four main principles according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations are food availability, access, utilization, and stability. Precision agriculture has an aspect unlike its predecessor innovations that were primarily production related-because it is based on information, it has the capacity also to better inform and to allow adjustment all along the food supply/demand chain.
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