Precision Agriculture Technology for Crop Farming

This book provides a review of precision agriculture technology development, followed by a presentation of the state-of-the-art and future requirements of precision agriculture technology. It presents different styles of precision agriculture technologies suitable for large scale mechanized farming; highly automated community-based mechanized production; and fully mechanized farming practices commonly seen in emerging economic regions. The book emphasizes the introduction of core technical features of sensing, data processing and interpretation technologies, crop modeling and production control theory, intelligent machinery and field robots for precision agriculture production

Precision Agriculture Technology for Crop Farming

This book provides a review of precision agriculture technology development, followed by a presentation of the state-of-the-art and future requirements of precision agriculture technology. It presents different styles of precision agriculture technologies suitable for large scale mechanized farming; highly automated community-based mechanized production; and fully mechanized farming practices commonly seen in emerging economic regions. The book emphasizes the introduction of core technical features of sensing, data processing and interpretation technologies, crop modeling and production control theory, intelligent machinery and field robots for precision agriculture production

Proceedings of the European Conference on Agricultural Engineering AgEng2021

This proceedings book results from the AgEng2021 Agricultural Engineering Conference under auspices of the European Society of Agricultural Engineers, held in an online format based on the University of Évora, Portugal, from 4 to 8 July 2021. This book contains the full papers of a selection of abstracts that were the base for the oral presentations and posters presented at the conference. Presentations were distributed in eleven thematic areas: Artificial Intelligence, data processing and management; Automation, robotics and sensor technology; Circular Economy; Education and Rural development; Energy and bioenergy; Integrated and sustainable Farming systems; New application technologies and mechanisation; Post-harvest technologies; Smart farming / Precision agriculture; Soil, land and water engineering; Sustainable production in Farm buildings

Exploring the potential for adopting alternative materials to reduce marine plastic litter

The ocean has become a repository for an increasing quantity of plastics and microplastics. This has been matched, in recent years, by growing awareness of the social, economic and environmental impacts that this phenomenon is causing. There is widespread recognition that urgent action is required to reduce the leakage of plastics to the ocean, but that there is no simple solution. It is clear that the traditional linear production, use and disposal model for conventional plastics is not sustainable and results in unacceptable harm. This requires the development and implementation of more closed-loop, or circular, production models. But there is scope for assessing whether there are alternative solutions that minimise the use of conventional plastics for applications in which they are not essential. The purpose of this study was to assess the potential of replacing conventional plastics with alternative materials in certain applications, as part of a wider strategy of reducing marine plastic litter and microplastics. The target audience is governments and businesses. This may appear a daunting task, given the ubiquity of plastics in our daily lives, described in Chapter 2, so it seemed sensible to identify certain categories of plastics that may prove more amenable to reduction or replacement. Following an assessment of the most common items reported in field surveys (Chapter 3) it was decided to focus part of the study on 'single-use' plastic waste from single-use packaging and consumer products intended for short-term use, such as food and drink containers, given the preponderance of these categories in surveys of ocean plastics, especially in shoreline debris. Another common feature of microplastics identifed in surveys of biota, sediments and seawater is the abundance of micro-fbres. Micro-fibres on shorelines, especially near urban centres, consist mostly of textile fibres and this provided a second focus for the study

Twenty K.R. Narayanan Orations

"The Australia South Asia Research Centre (ASARC) was established in 1994 in one of the premier universities of the world—The Australian National University (ANU). Apart from its research and doctoral training activities, ASARC also needed a public forum with a global reach to involve the best minds working on economic development in India as well as to honour its founder, Dr K.R. Narayanan, President of the Republic of India. The K.R. Narayanan Oration series was developed in response to these twin needs. The first oration was held in 1994 and the latest (the 20th) was held in 2018. The first 10 orations were published by ANU Press in 2006. This new edition updates the volume to include all 20 orations delivered so far and provides an updated introduction. All these orations have been delivered by leading academics, scientists and policymakers deeply involved in the transformation of the Indian economy. This collection of the Narayanan Orations is thus at once both an expert account of key aspects of the economic development process in India and a peek into India's potential in the future. As such, the publication of this volume marks a watershed in the intellectual debate on India’s economic reforms program and should be welcomed by all those interested in the economic development of the country.

The contribution of precision agriculture technologies to farm productivity and the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU

EU Agriculture hast to cope with global challenges such as climate change mitigation or making farming more efficient. The active management of agriculture practices using appropriate technologies and practices, as Precision Agriculture, could reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while increasing agriculture productivity and income. However, information on the uptake and impacts of the use of precision agriculture technologies in EU is so far sparse and site specific. This technical report assesses the impact of Precision agriculture technology (PAT) on GHG emissions and farm economics. To this end, a typology of PAT was created in order to identify those that had the greatest potential to reduce GHG emissions. Secondly, five case studies were selected with the aim of identifying a combination of EU countries, precision agriculture techniques and arable crop types that could realise the maximum potential economic and environmental benefits of adopting PATs. A survey was applied to 971 adopters and non-adopters on the selected study cases with the aim of assessing the reasons behind uptake and the economic and environmental impacts of different. Finally economic and environmental impacts were investigated though a partial budgeting analysis and Miterra-Europe model respectively. Results indicate that although most farmers were aware of PAT, uptake rates are low among surveyed farmers. High investment costs, farm size and age were identified has fundamental hampering adoption. The survey reveals that adoption barriers might be overcome by boosting economic incentives aiming at improving economic performance both directly and indirectly. However, nonmonetary incentives such as technical advice or training also seemed to be interesting for surveyed farmers. The results of the survey also showed that information points such as peer-to-peer learning, visit to trade fairs, researchers and industry dealers had a positive effect on enhancing PAT uptake. The results of the partial budget analysis, where capital costs of the technologies are not included, indicate that impacts are highly variable by country, farm type and size and by technology. The results of the environmental impact analysis showed that the introduction of PAT might have positive effects on the environment, with reductions in GHG emissions from the fertiliser application, fertiliser production and fuel use.JRC.D.4-Economics of Agricultur