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Crop Production |
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Irrigation |
Soil Management | Precision Farming |
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The use of GPS and mobile mapping for decision-based precision agriculture Integrity System Integrity is the ability of the system to provide timely warnings to users when it should not be used for navigation. NDGPS integrity is provided by dual integrity monitors at each site. The integrity monitors ensure the integrity of the broadcast pseudorange corrections and broadcast an alarm message to the user if the corrections fall outside preset limits.6 This provides additional security as to the positional quality of the signal. NDGPS is free and easy to use Accuracy Requirements for Soil Sampling Soil Sampling is like the foundation of a house. No matter how much effort you put into building the house, the house is only as good as the foundation. The same principle applies to precision agriculture. Whether growing forage, feed, food, or fiber, plant growth depends on soil conditions and soil quality. To effectively manage soil-plant interrelationships, soils information is very important. Like the general rule says, the more important it is the more accurate it has to be. There are two basic types of grid sampling used to collect soils data for precision agriculture
Determining and mapping the variations in soil characteristics across a field requires and accurate knowledge of the position that the samples were taken. Whichever grid sampling method is used the coordinate location of the soil sample should be accurate for developing a soils data layer and for navigating back to those locations for re-sampling. This requires the use of a GPS receiver and a source of differential corrections so the producer can acquire an accurate (1- 2 meter) horizontal position that represents the soil sample location. Having acquired the coordinates, the position can be entered into a database while in the field.  After the soil sample location has been accurately acquired and entered into a database, all the physical soils data (texture, pH, nutrients, etc.) can be tagged to the coordinate location.
Geographic Information Systems Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have evolved rapidly within production agriculture especially in the area of precision agriculture. GIS can provide the producer valuable insight into field variability, soil and plant interactions, and yield results. GIS is the most effective information tool the producer has to store, retrieve, map analyze, and manage agricultural data. 
In many ways, agricultural producers have always been GIS users. Most producers use some type of map for planning what will be done for the coming year. Usually the maps have farm and field boundaries, along with any additional information that the producer might record for helping make decisions. |
