Precision agriculture; an avenue for profitable innovation in the Australian sugar industry, or expensive technology we can do without? : SRDC Final report CSE018

Abstract

Precision Agriculture (PA) is an all-encompassing term given to a suite of technologies which promote improved management of agricultural production through recognition that the potential productivity of agricultural land can vary considerably, even over very short distances (a few m). The key technologies involved are yield monitors, remote and proximal sensing, the global positioning system (GPS) and geographical information systems. This project was conducted in response to the recognition by the Sugar Research and Development Corporation (SRDC) that the Australian sugar industry needs an informed basis from which to make decisions as to appropriate investment in PA. The project took the form of a review of published literature on PA and two industry workshops: the first conducted mid-project to provide the Industry Reference Group with an opportunity to review project progress and to make input to the recommendations emerging from it; the second conducted at the completion of the project to inform industry of the conclusions drawn and to promote industry input into SRDC’s priority setting with respect to future PA research. The review briefly discusses the philosophy underpinning PA, looks at PA research and application in a range of cropping systems, including sugarcane production, from around the world and considers the key drivers of short range spatial variability in these production systems. Constraints to the adoption of PA and its likely economic benefits are also considered in light of experiences from around the world. The opportunities that PA offers to the Australian sugar industry are identified, along with recommendations of further research, development and extension to facilitate its productive and profitable adoption. It is concluded that sugarcane production is ideally suited to the adoption of PA. However, a number of key tasks in Research, Development and Extension (RDE) are identified which will be required to enable its implementation in the Australian sugar industry.