Sensor technology in crop production – practical experience

Abstract

The use of sensor technology in crop production has been discussed over 10 years now. Especially plant/crop sensors and soil scanner encountered practical farming. While techniques to achieve accurate steering and communication of machinery are more and more common in precision farming, practitioners are often skeptical towards crop sensors. The sensor technology is constantly improved and will be used on more farms. Nevertheless, there is no general, broad acceptance of this technology in practice.

In order to progress the usability of sensors in practice, operation, reliability and ease of use must be improved. Often there is lack of knowledge which parameters should be considered at different locations, when using online and offline approaches in parallel. Also, recent results show that the economic efficiency of the sensors is not satisfying!

DOI: 10.5073/JfK.2014.02.04, https://doi.org/10.5073/JfK.2014.02.04