SSMG-44 (V.I. Adamchuk)

Characterizing Soil Variability Using On-the-Go Sensing Technology

Summary:

One of the major objectives of precision agriculture technologies is the site-specific management of agricultural inputs to increase profitability of crop production, improve product quality, and protect the environment. Information about the variability of different soil attributes within a field is essential to the decision-making process. The inability to obtain soil characteristics rapidly and inexpensively remains one of the biggest limitations of precision agriculture. Numerous researchers and manufacturers have attempted to develop sensors for measuring soil properties on-the-go. These sensors have been based on electrical and electromagnetic, optical and radiometric, mechanical, acoustic, pneumatic, and electrochemical measurement concepts. The major benefit of on-the-go sensing has been the ability to quantify the heterogeneity (non-uniformity) of soil within a field and to adjust other data collection and field management strategies accordingly. As new on-the-go soil sensors are developed, different real-time and map-based variable rate soil treatments may become economically feasible.

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