Promoting sustainable intensification in precision agriculture: review of decision support systems development and strategies

Abstract

Precision agriculture provides important issues toward a more sustainable agriculture. Many farmers have the necessary technology to operate site-specifically, but they do not use it in practice, and thus available information and communications technology (ICT) systems are not used to their full potential. This paper addresses how to reduce the so-called ''problem of implementation'', based on the knowledge that participatory approaches during the design and development process is one of the most important factors to frame technology adoption. The development of sustainable ICT systems through theories and methodologies from the fields of human computer interaction and user-centered design (UCD) is presented and an ongoing Swedish project for development of an agricultural decision support system (AgriDSS) for nitrogen fertilization is used as an example to frame the issue. The overreaching aim is to develop AgriDSSs that are sustainable in design as well as through design by stressing the importance of participatory approaches for the successful development of AgriDSSs. The Swedish project has the intention to apply a UCD approach, and some pitfalls on starting to use this way of working is identified as well as some suggestions on how to reduce them through co-learning processes. Despite the challenges presented in this paper, ICT can contribute significantly to long-term sustainable development. Thus, several competences and scientific disciplines need to act in concert to help develop a sustainable development of agriculture via a transdisciplinary approach that can make an impact on society at many levels.

Stakeholder engagement with environmental decision support systems: The perspective of end users

“…Our findings support other sustainability science literature which assert that ensuring meaningful stakeholder engagement from the very inception of the project through to its completion is important so that end users of EDSS might develop a degree of ownership in project results, encouraging the ongoing use of EDSS (Campbell et al ; Lindblom et al ; Rodela et al ; Zasada et al ). Meaningful stakeholder engagement throughout climate change adaptation projects may be one way of increasing the usability of such climate change science by stakeholders to aid them in their decision making.…”

“…The findings of this study complement the sustainability science literature supporting the value of this type of EDSS (Cohen et al ; Voinov and Gaddis ; Salter et al ; Bohnet et al ; Robinson et al ; Sheppard et al ; Bowron and Davidson ; Meyer et al ; Rodela et al ; Zasada et al ). While the literature reports overall value in EDSS, there has been a need identified for further research to better understand the perspectives of the EDSS end users (Talwar et al ; Meyer et al ; Lindblom et al ). Sustainability literature offers the researchers’ perspective that the EDSS tool is useful.…”

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

“…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., ). Furthermore, research is considering how decision support systems might be able to present information in a useable format for on‐farm decision making (Lindblom, Lundström, Ljung, & Jonsson, ; Rose 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.…”

“…We encourage developers of DSS to take heed of the good advice already in the literature; first, to consult users from the outset; second, to include team members with specialist user‐oriented software knowledge (Lindblom et al., ); and third, to pursue impact as a measure of success beyond academic publication. These three stages require a culture shift for those designing systems, one which acknowledges that farmers must be consulted from the outset, and further that scientific sophistication should never trump the needs and views of those who are doing the farming.…”

Simulation of Soybean Canopy Nutrient Contents by Hyperspectral Remote Sensing

“…In this regard, there is a clear need of more reasonable and "intelligent" use of fertilizers to help maintain environmental and economic sustainability of the agricultural production (Chen et al, 2014), which is a main aspect of precision agriculture (PA) (Gebbers and Adamchuk, 2010). Precision fertilization allows a finer degree of fertilization responding to intra-field variability in crops such as different soil conditions and the "heterogeneous" plant growth status so that fertilization efficiency can be improved and productivity is "intensified" (Lindblom et al, 2017).…”