The Rise of Precision Agriculture

For thousands of years farmers have looked for ways to increase produce more food from a given plot of land. As equipment and technology have improved, farms have gotten bigger and the yields have increased. That challenge continues today and the modern version has been given a name — Precision Agriculture.

According to Jess Lowenberg-DeBoer is Professor of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University, the foundations of precision agriculture can be dated to 1983, the year the U.S. Government opened the Global Positioning System (GPS) to the public.

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“Soon after, companies began developing what is known as ‘variable rate technology,’ which allows farmers to apply fertilizers at different rates throughout a field,” Lowenberg-DeBoer writes in an article, “The Precision Agriculture Revolution,” published on the Foreign Affairs website. “After measuring and mapping such characteristics as acidity level and phosphorous and potassium content, farmers match the quantity of fertilizer to the need.”

Lowenberg-DeBoer’s article looks at the current state of precision agriculture around the world and some tantalizing prospects about what could be coming in the future.

Read the full article or listen the the audio presentation here.

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