Data management and decision making: when Precision Agriculture puts us in trouble

Abstract

The use of sensors in Precision Agriculture together with the trend of increasing spatial and temporal sampling resolutions, lead to the generation of huge amounts of data. The appropriate management of such data sets to turn them into useful information to be used in the decision making process is quite a challenge. This is addressed in Stage 3 of the Precision Agriculture cycle we presented in the first Precision Ag Corner (New Ag International 64 in Nov-Dec 2016). In this issue, we describe how to handle and use the gathered data to make more informed agronomic management decisions. Undoubtedly, this is the moment of truth: when PA puts us in trouble and we have to make an agronomic decision! New Ag International has partnered with the Research Group on AgroICT & Precision Agriculture (GRAP) of the University of Lleida-Agrotecnio Center in Catalonia, Spain. In every issue of the magazine Jaume Arnó, José A. Martínez-Casasnovas and Alexandre Escolà, with our Editorial Team, put together an editorial whose ambition is to help the various stakeholders bridge the gap between datanomics and commercial farming!