Precision agriculture for grain production systems / Brett Whelan and James Taylor.

Includes bibliographical references (page 192) and index.

Online resource; title from e-book title screen (EBL platform, viewed February 23, 2015).

Explains general Precision Agriculture (PA) theory, identifies and describes essential tools and techniques, and includes practical examples from the grains industry.

Introduction to Precision Agriculture -- Global Navigation Satellite Systems and Precision Agriculture -- Hardware for Precision Agriculture -- Software for Precision Agriculture -- Data management for Precision Agriculture -- Making and interpreting maps for Precision Agriculture -- Yield variability and site-specific crop management -- Economics of PA in Australian grain crops.

Cover; Contents; Preface; 1 Introduction to Precision Agriculture; Objectives of SSCM; Implementation of SSCM; A brief development history of SSCM; General adoption path; 2 Global Navigation Satellite Systems and Precision Agriculture; Introduction to GNSS; Transmissions from GPS satellites; Calculating a receiver location; Turning on a GPS receiver; GPS errors; Differential correction; The expected accuracy from GPS receivers; Receiver accuracy measurement terms; Agricultural uses for GPS; Coordinate systems; GNSS-based vehicle navigation systems; 3 Hardware for Precision Agriculture.

Yield monitoring systems information recorded by yield monitoring systems; Grain protein and oil content monitors; Soil sensing systems; Terrain sensing; Airborne and satellite optical imagery; Proximal crop reflectance sensors; Summary of reflectance sensors; Variable-rate technology; Multi-sensor and autonomous platforms; 4 Software for Precision Agriculture; Software for PA; Proprietary file formats; Task-based software; Data processing packages (data management, analysis, action options and archiving in a single program); Decision support software; Web-based software or services.

5 Data management for Precision AgricultureData management; Types of data files; File organisation and storage in PA software; Manual file organisation and storage; Data back-up; Data ownership; 6 Making and interpreting maps for Precision Agriculture; Making maps from PA data; Point-based maps; Spatial prediction process; Comparison of maps; Raster-based maps; The map legend; Interpreting PA data maps; 7 Yield variability and site-specific crop management; Understanding variability; Impact of variation in soil attributes on crop yield variability.

Impact of variation in other important factors on crop variability applying SSCM; Variable-rate application of inputs; SSCM decisions using maps of variability; SSCM decisions using real-time sensors; Cropping simulation; Incorporating SSCM into farm management: a summary; 8 Economics of PA in Australian grain crops; General introduction; Balance sheet approach; Other benefits; Triple bottom line accounting; Whole-farm assessment; Summary; Further reading; Index.

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