Søren Marcus Pedersen

Agricultural robots—system analysis and economic feasibility

This paper focuses on the economic feasibility of applying autonomous robotic vehicles compared to conventional systems in three different applications: robotic weeding in high value crops (particularly sugar beet), crop scouting in cereals and grass cutting on golf courses. The comparison was based on a systems analysis and an individual economic feasibility study for each of the three applications. The results showed that in all three scenarios, the robotic applications are more economically feasible than the conventional systems. The high cost of real time kinematics Global Positioning System (RTK-GPS) and the small capacity of the vehicles are the main parameters that increase the cost of the robotic systems.

Feeding the world: genetically modified crops versus agricultural biodiversity

The growing demand for food poses major challenges to humankind. We have to safeguard both biodiversity and arable land for future agricultural food production, and we need to protect genetic diversity to safeguard ecosystem resilience. We must produce more food with less input, while deploying every effort to minimize risk. Agricultural sustainability is no longer optional but mandatory. There is still an on-going debate among researchers and in the media on the best strategy to keep pace with global population growth and increasing food demand. One strategy favors the use of genetically modified (GM) crops, while another strategy focuses on agricultural biodiversity. Here, we discuss two obstacles to sustainable agriculture solutions. The first obstacle is the claim that genetically modified crops are necessary if we are to secure food production within the next decades. This claim has no scientific support, but is rather a reflection of corporate interests. The second obstacle is the resultant shortage of research funds for agrobiodiversity solutions in comparison with funding for research in genetic modification of crops. Favoring biodiversity does not exclude any future biotechnological contributions, but favoring biotechnology threatens future biodiversity resources. An objective review of current knowledge places GM crops far down the list of potential solutions in the coming decades. We conclude that much of the research funding currently available for the development of GM crops would be much better spent in other research areas of plant science, e.g., nutrition, policy research, governance, and solutions close to local market conditions if the goal is to provide sufficient food for the world’s growing population in a sustainable way.

Adoption and perspectives of precision farming in Denmark

Precision farming (PF) and site-specific input application based on GPS has been a management tool and option for arable farmers for about 10 years. About 400 Danish farmers have already adopted some PF practices on their farms. This adoption and the technical and economic perspectives of PF have been studied in two mail surveys, personal interviews and focus groups with farmers, advisers and experts. Farmers and stakeholders are in general optimistic about the future perspectives of these high-technology systems despite the difficulties in showing the economic and environmental gains. Lack of compatibility between different technical systems is however mentioned as a barrier for adoption.

Using our agrobiodiversity: plant-based solutions to feed the world

The growing global demand for food poses a serious challenge to mankind: How can we provide an increasing world population with an adequate, reliable and nutritious food supply? We argue that this can best be achieved through the utilization of biodiversity and the inclusion of marginal arable lands for agricultural production, while maintaining a broad gene pool to secure the potential for future plant production and supporting rural agricultural communities. We present several specific examples of how an emphasis on agricultural biodiversity can provide the basis for a nutritional, reliable, culinary and sustainable food production, and analyse the advantages, limitations and risks of an increased focus on agrobiodiversity. We conclude that the potential for approaches based on the preservation and development of existing agrobiodiversity has not been given sufficient attention in the current scientific and political debates concerning the best strategy to keep pace with global population growth and increasing demand for food. An emphasis on agrobiodiversity is the basis for the most appropriate strategies if the goal is to feed the world in the twenty-first century.

The value of precision for image-based decision support in weed management

Decision support methodologies in precision agriculture should integrate the different dimensions composing the added complexity of operational decision problems. Special attention has to be given to the adequate knowledge extraction techniques for making sense of the collected data, processing the information for assessing decision makers and farmers in the efficient and sustainable management of the field. Focusing on weed management, the integration of operational aspects for weed spraying is an open challenge for modeling the farmers’ decision problem, identifying satisfactory solutions for the implementation of automatic weed recognition procedures. The objective of this paper is to develop a decision support methodology for detecting the undesired weed from aerial images, building an image-based viewpoint consisting in relevant operational knowledge for applying precision spraying. In this way, it is possible to assess the potential herbicide cost reductions of increased precision at the spraying device, selecting the appropriate weed precision spraying technology. Findings from this study indicate that the potential gains and marginal cost reductions of herbicides decrease significantly with increased precision in spraying.

Evaluation of research projects – Perspectives for applied research in food and agriculture

Abstract In this study, the task of evaluating research projects’ relevance and scientific quality is addressed, and a pilot study is executed for five Danish food and agricultural research programmes. Literature reviewed emphasises the importance of context, of consistency and transparency and of the cost of evaluation. Moreover, the purpose of research evaluation is thoroughly examined. The method developed and implemented addresses each of these concerns, particularly by employing simple measures and by complementing quantitative analysis with qualitative exercises featuring structured stakeholder interviews. The results of the pilot indicate substantial variation between projects within programmes, and some evidence of size-performance relationships.

Adoption of milk cooling technology among smallholder dairy farmers in Kenya

Factors influencing adoption of milk cooling technology were studied with data for 90 smallholder dairy farmers who were randomly selected from seven dairy cooperative societies in Kiambu County, Kenya. Logistic regression identified the age of the household head, daily household milk consumption, freehold land ownership, fodder production area, number of female calves, cooperative membership and cooperative services as significant factors influencing farmers’ willingness to invest in milk cooling technology. These findings offer an entry point for increased interventions by policy makers and various dairy sector stakeholders in promoting milk cooling technology with the aim of significantly reducing post-harvest losses and increasing the sector’s competitiveness.

Farm and operator characteristics affecting adoption of precision agriculture in Denmark and Germany

ABSTRACT Precision Agriculture (PA) has been advocated as a promising technology and management philosophy that provides multidimensional benefits for producers and consumers while being environmentally friendly. In Europe, private stakeholders (farm advisors, farm equipment producers, decision support providers, farmers) and research institutions have been trying to develop, test and demonstrate adoption of precision agriculture solutions with governments financing big projects in these areas. Despite these efforts, adoption is still lagging behind expectations. Whether farmers adopt PA or not is likely to be influenced by several factors. This study intends to identify the main socio-economic determinants of adoption of precision agriculture in Denmark and Germany employing a binary logit model on a cross-section survey data. The results show that farm size, farmer age and demonstration and networking events like attending workshops and exhibitions significantly influence farmers’ adoption decision.

Robotic Seeding: Economic Perspectives

Agricultural robotics has received attention for approximately 20 years, but today there are only a few examples of the application of robots in agricultural practice. The lack of uptake may be (at least partly) because in many cases there is either no compelling economic benefit, or there is a benefit but it is not recognized. The aim of this chapter is to quantify the economic benefits from the application of agricultural robots under a specific condition where such a benefit is assumed to exist, namely the case of early seeding and re-seeding in sugar beet. With some predefined assumptions with regard to speed, capacity and seed mapping, we found that among these two technical systems both early seeding with a small robot and re-seeding using a robot for a smaller part of the field appear to be financially viable solutions in sugar beet production.

Precision Agriculture: Technology and Economic Perspectives

This chapter gives an introduction to Precision Agriculture (PA) with a short historic pathway of the development and the status of current available technologies. Part of this description also provides an overview of some of the economic barriers and technical obstacles when applying variable-rate application. This chapter also notes that the adoption of several specific variable-rate application technologies have been modest in recent years. However, in contrast the adoption of auto-steering has been significant in the last decade. The last section describes the overall aim of the book and an overview of each chapter in the book. Each chapter address a different topic starting with an overview of technologies that are currently available, followed by specific Variable-Rate Technologies such as VRT fertilizer application, VRT pesticide application, site-specific irrigation management, Autosteering and Controlled Traffic Systems. Finally, the chapter looks into new developments of autonomous systems with an example of robotic seeding, farm information management in precision agriculture and different methods on the adoption of PA. The last chapter focuses on how PA can fulfil the current policy trends on environmental regulations.