ABSTRACT
To automatically implement the concept of precision agriculture, the following four main steps are generally involved: measuring spatial variability; analyzing data and making site-specific recommendations; implementing the variable-rate application of farm inputs; and evaluating the economic and environmental benefits. Precision agriculture requires additional costs associated with new equipment and data collection and analysis. This chapter discusses and illustrates with examples how precision agriculture technologies have been used for precision fertilizer application, water management, crop pest management, and specialty crop production in large-scale mechanized farming in the United States. It discusses the approaches to variable-rate pest management and some research and commercial activities on the use of variable-rate technology for the control of crop weeds and diseases. The chapter reviews some precision technologies used for precision fertilization, water management, and crop pest management for specialty crop production. To correctly prescribe proper fertilizer amounts for tree crops, it is vital to quantify the canopy volume.
