August 23, 2023

Why precision agriculture matters

Topic: Education

This information is excerpted from a MarketIntel post on American Farm Bureau Federation's website.

by Bernt Nelson, AFBF Economist

When agriculture began at the end of the Stone Age, the world had approximately 5 million people to feed, and few, if any, farmers were feeding people beyond their extended family. Farmers today use technology to plant and harvest mile-long fields with equipment guided by satellites for sub-inch accuracy, allowing them to feed nearly 8 billion people across the world with fewer resources than ever before.

Beginnings

The term “precision agriculture” means managing, tracking or enhancing crop or livestock production inputs, including seed, feed, fertilizer, chemicals, water and time, at a heightened level of spatial and temporal accuracy to improve efficiencies, commodity quality and yield, and positively impact environmental stewardship.

Read the rest of the excerpt at On Your Table.