Agriculture Gets a Makeover!
Minnesota, US A
K ansas, US A
Nor thwest Ger many
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Bangkok, Thailand
Souther n Brazil
AGRICULTURE GETS A MAKEOVER! Geospatial technology, with its potential to address the complete life cycle of agriculture, is fast finding acceptance in agriculture to fulfill its responsibilities in addressing food security and as a fundamental instrument for sustainable development and poverty reduction, especially in developing nations. In the process, one of the oldest economic practices of human civilization is getting a makeover
20
Geospatial World I August 2011
A montage of six images from the ASTER sensor on NASA’s Terra satellite showing differences in field
COVER STORY I Deepali Roy
A montage of six images from the ASTER sensor on NASA’s Terra satellite showing differences in field geometry and size in different parts of the world.
he World Bank, in its World Development Report on Agriculture released in 2008, observed that the world of agriculture had changed dramatically since its 1982 Report. It indicated that the new context for agriculture was characterised by dynamic new markets, far-reaching technological and institutional innovations and new roles for the state, private sector and the civil society. Agriculture, one of the oldest economic practices of human civilisation is indeed undergoing a makeover. This augurs well for its role in the modern global economy. Agriculture continues to be a fundamental instrument for sustainable development and poverty reduction, especially in developing nations as they have a significant agrarian component in their economies. Table 1 presents a snapshot of countries where the contribution of agriculture consistently hovers much higher than the global GDP contribution of agriculture which is about 3 percent. According to the World Development Report on Agriculture, 2008, agriculture can be a source of growth for the national economy, a provider of investment opportunities for the private sector, and a prime driver of agriculturerelated industries and the rural non-farm economy. Also, agriculture is a source of livelihoods for an estimated 86 percent of rural people, providing jobs for smallholders and landless workers, farm-financed social welfare when there are urban shocks and a foundation for viable rural communities. This is significant considering that almost half of the world's population lives in rural areas. Even though urban population (at 50.5 percent) overtook rural population for the first time in history in 2010 (according to United Nations Population Division), half of the world's population is still in rural areas. Agriculture also has a role to play in poverty reduction. Through one of its projects in 2009-10, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) aimed to determine the economic importance of agriculture for sustainable development and poverty reduction. The project looked for shared characteristics of twentyfive developing countries, representing virtually all geographic regions, posting extraordinary success in reducing extreme poverty over the past twenty to twenty-five years. Findings revealed that while economic growth generally was an important contributor to poverty reduction, the sector mix of growth mattered substantially, with growth in agricultural incomes being especially important (Fig. 1). Another important factor is food security. According
T
Geospatial World I August 2011
Table 1: Contribution of Agriculture to GDP (in percentage) Country Afghanistan
2007
2008
2009
34
28
32
Algeria
8
7
12
Armenia
20
18
21
Cambodia
32
35
35
Central African Republic
54
53
55
Comoros
45
46
46
Congo, Dem. Rep.
42
40
43
Cote d'Ivoire
24
25
24
Dominica
17
18
19
Ethiopia
46
44
51
Ghana
29
31
32
India
18
17
18
Indonesia
14
15
16
Kenya
20
21
23
Kiribati
27
28
29 -
Lao PDR
35
35
54.99
61.3
-
Madagascar
26
25
29
Malawi
30
30
30
Mongolia
23
21
23
Mozambique
28
31
31
Nepal
33
34
34
Pakistan
20
20
21
Papua New Guinea
36
34
36
Paraguay
22
24
19
Rwanda
36
32
34
Senegal
13
15
17
Sierra Leone
50
50
51
Solomon Islands
44
41
39
Tajikistan
22
25
22
Tanzania
30
30
29
Uganda
24
23
25
Liberia
Source: World Bank; In addition to cultivation of crops and livestock production, agriculture includes forestry, hunting, and fishing, as well as cultivation of crops and livestock production. Table indicates contribution of value added agriculture to GDP. Value added is the net output of a sector after adding up all outputs and subtracting intermediate inputs.)
Fig. 1. Total average contribution to poverty reduction
Remittances Non-agriculture Agriculture Source: OECD calculations
21
Fig 2: US net farm income projection
agriculture is inherently spatial. Historically, farming was a straight-forward concern of understating agronomic possibilities for a field, determining demand for a local area, allocating input resources to maximise outputs and delivering the fruits of that labour to market. While fundamentally this hasn't changed, what has changed according to Matthew is that arable land is decreasing, consumer demands and expectations are growing, costs of farming are skyrocketing and risk and volatility dictate the tempo of business. Spatial technology is a very important lever in responding to these market forces. GIS, GPS and remote sensing are all finding a place.
Source: United States Dept. of Agriculture
APPLICATION & BENEFITS to Food & Agriculture Organisation, only 30 years ago, world population was 3.0 billion; it was 5.5 billion in 1992. By 2025, world population is projected to reach 8.5 billion. This dramatic rise in human population implies a much greater demand for food to achieve food security. In its agricultural projection for 2011-20, the United States' Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) observes that the return of global economic growth beginning in 2010 and the continuation of population gains are expected to boost food demand. This is particularly true since world growth is concentrated in emerging markets and developing countries with high income-related propensities for consumption of food and agricultural products. USDA is also projecting that a strong global agricultural demand will keep US net farm income historically high (Fig. 2). Given the demand, maximising agricultural productivity assumes paramount importance.
ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY Fulfiling this demand and maximising agricultural productivity is necessitating the application of modern technologies in agricultural processes. Information technology is becoming increasingly all-pervasive and farming is no different. Modern, innovative technologies offer great potential to help farmers reduce costs and increase yields. Geospatial is one such technology. One reason why this technology has a significant role to play is because of the spatial nature of agriculture itself. Agriculture and natural resources are essentially understood by a geographic location. As Matthew Bechdol, Team Lead, Federal Land and Natural Resources & USDA Account Manager, Esri, elaborates, from the field to a large corporation,
22
Geospatial information lends itself to many opportunities that can result in better decisions, higher productivity and enhanced efficiencies in agriculture. Here is a look at how various geospatial technologies can be applied to agricultural processes and the benefits accrued. GIS: GIS can store layers of information, such as yields, soil survey maps, crop scouting reports and soil nutrient levels. GIS can display geographically referenced data, adding a visual perspective for interpretation. In addition to data storage and display, GIS can be used to evaluate present and alternative management by combining and manipulating data layers to produce an analysis of management scenarios, informs Anil Kumar Singh, Indian Agricultural Research Institute. GIS has a wide range of possible applications at the national and local level. According to M.V.K. Sivakumar and Donald E. Hinsman of Agricultural Meteorology Division and Satellite Activities Office, World Meteorological Organization, geographical data can assist agricultural planners in deciding on factors like the best zones for a
The significance of geospatial technology lies in the fact that agriculture is of spatial nature. Agriculture and natural resources are essentially understood by a geographic location. Spatial technology is an important lever in responding to changing market forces
Geospatial World I August 2011
Maps showing GIS data by counties in the U.S. The map on left shows the percent of farmland by county. The map on right shows the counties by Courtesy: http://geospatial.posterous.com farms involved with Community Supported Agriculture (using 2007 data)
cash crop, combining data on soils, topography, and rainfall to determine the size and location of biologically suitable areas. It can also provide information on related aspects like land ownership, transport, infrastructure, labour availability, and distance to market centres. Elaborating on the role of GIS in agriculture, Matthew observes that GIS in agriculture is about allocative efficiency, profitability, and record keeping. Spatial thinking enables producers to minimise inputs and maximise outputs. GIS provides mechanisms to better understand environmental, policy, and market forces from local to global scales. In an increasingly regulatory environment, GIS offers a means to develop real time records of applications of fertilisers, herbicides, etc. and quantify biomass, increasing profitability. Matthew opines that productivity, by definition, is primarily concerned with outputs. In that context, the GIS solutions offered by the company through ArcGIS helps enhance agricultural productivity on the farm by analysing field and crop conditions, monitoring environmental patterns such as weather, and developing input recommendations for the right place, at the right time, in the most efficient manner. Desktop, mobile, server and online components of GIS systems are now completely integrated. For agriculture, this means that the same platform can be used by producers and crop consultants for field based management and analysis; agribusiness for customer and market development; and governments and associations for regional to global analysis and monitoring. Another aspect of agricultural planning benefiting from GIS is agrometeorology, or agricultural meteorology.
Geospatial World I August 2011
Sivakumar and Donald inform that agricultural weather and climate data systems are needed to expedite generation of products, analyses and forecasts that affect agricultural cropping and management decisions, irrigation scheduling, commodity trading and markets, fire weather management and other preparedness for calamities, and ecosystem conservation and management. Remote Sensing: Accurate and timely information on agriculture is essential for practising sustainable agriculture. This information can be categorised into three groups: information on current situation of state variables (e.g. current cropping pattern, crop condition, soil degradation, present land use etc.), information on changes that have occurred in agriculture and their rate (i.e. monitoring the changes that have occurred in the state variables) and information on the long-term (future) effects of the changes that have occurred in the state variables and the agricultural practices. Remote sensing is an effective source of such information, avers Dr. Shibendu S. Ray, Head, Agro-Ecosystems Division, Space Applications Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation. Remote sensing data can be used for facilitating sustainable agriculture in three different ways, informs Dr. Ray. These are:
w Mapping/monitoring: These include mapping of the current extent of crops, soil degradation, irrigated area, etc. and monitoring changes over a period of time therein
w
Parameter retrieval: Since remote sensing data provide quantitative values of spectral reflectance or emittance from the target (e.g. crop or soil), these can be used to retrieve various biophysical parameters of plants. These parameters include various VI's (Vegetation Indices), LAI (Leaf Area Index), fAPAR (fraction Absorbed PAR), ET (Evapotranspiration), CWSI
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An airborne infrared image of a healthy soybean field exhibiting little variation or stress. Courtesy Rodney McKellip
(Crop Water Stress Index), etc. These parameters are used in crop growth models to predict crop yield, crop condition, soil water balancing etc.
w
Management / decision support: Using the information received from the above two activities and with the help of decision support models (such as cropping systems simulation model, land utilisation model, irrigation scheduling model), remote sensing helps the user to arrive at the right decisions for sustainable management of agriculture. In this activity, apart from remote sensing data, other collateral information such as soil, weather, irrigation network, socioeconomic data, etc. are also used to arrive at decisions. GIS helps integrate all this information.
Elaborating on the application of these two technologies, Dr. Ray offers that the role of remote sensing and GIS in agricultural applications can be broadly categorised into two groups - inventorying/ mapping and management. While remote sensing data alone is mostly used for inventorying (crop acreage estimation, crop condition assessment, crop yield forecasting, soil mapping, etc) purposes, management (irrigation management, cropping system analysis, etc.) needs other spatial physical/ environmental information to be integrated with RS data, where the functionality of GIS are used. Satellite imagery providers have a wide range of offerings for agriculture. For example, DigitalGlobe's Red
24
Edge band and Yellow bands on WorldView-2 satellite were primarily designed for vegetation applications. With the 0.5 meter resolution of satellites and associated high positional accuracies, the imagery offered by the company is used to digitise accurate farm/field boundaries. One can also map crop types with greater accuracy and also variations in crop health/vigour using the 8 bands. There is also ongoing research correlating DigitalGlobe imagery with crop yield. One of the most significant benefits of geospatial technology is that it touches agricultural processes at various stages and offers potential to meet requirements of various stakeholders at different levels, thereby addressing in the entire life cycle of agriculture. As Matthew observes, at the regional scale, agribusinesses are providing services to these producers for farm and field management while going so far as to implement the latest technologies in asset management solutions, vehicle routing/logistics, and custom applications for weather, imagery, and agronomic recommendations. Add to this information like land ownership, infrastructure and labour availability. At the regional to global scale, organisations are using spatial technologies to monitor produc-
Geospatial World I August 2011
tion supply and demand patterns, transportation and infrastructure, and economic indicators for commerce and trade. Aaron too highlights the multifarious role of geospatial technology, saying that governments want to know the location of agricultural areas, their size and the crop type for mapping, planning and taxation purposes; agricultural companies want to monitor and manage their crops; financial companies are interested in the health and potential yield of crops and risk managers in governments and NGOs want to better understand crop health and food security. And geospatial technology offers solutions to all these requirements.
EMERGING TRENDS Precision farming: One of most scientific and modern approaches to sustainable agriculture that has gained momentum in 21st century, precision farming has geospatial technology at its core. It can be defined as the 'application of technologies and principles to manage spatial and preci-temporal variability associated with all aspects of agricultural production.' Often variations occur in crop and/or properties of soil within a field. Using precision farming techniques, these variations are noted and often mapped. Management actions are then taken as a consequence of spatial variability within the field, informs Dr. Ray. The two spatial requirements in precision agriculture include: concurrent knowledge of where the farm equipment is as it moves across a field and the value of one or more variables as a function of position within the field. These two requirements each contain a 'where' and a 'what'. The spatial precision needed for 'where' varies from a few meters to a few centimeters, but GPS, computer circuits and electronic systems can now satisfy that. The second requirement, the 'what', is where remote sensing comes into the picture, inform Rickman and colleagues. Rakesh Kumar Kadian, Head of Trimble Business Development in India, elaborates on the benefits of precision farming. He informs that there are numerous economic and environmental benefits with precision agriculture technology. Of particular interest for India is land leveling for water management. Trimble equipment allows preservation and drainage of water to maximise crop production with available water resources. The company’s integrated solutions allow customers to collect, manage and analyse complex information faster and eas-
Geospatial World I August 2011
ier, making them more efficient and productive by revolutionising their work processes. Also, accurate steering and guidance of agricultural machines provides numerous benefits. With more accurate steering, at a most basic level, farmers may see a 10 percent reduction in overlap as the machines pass over the field. This saves a corresponding amount of crop inputs such as fertiliser, seed, chemicals and fuel. Farmers who grow to be more sophisticated may use highly accurate systems to apply tillage, fertiliser and chemicals in banded zones, rather than broadcast, informs Rakesh. Ola Rollen, President & CEO, Hexagon AB too has identified precision farming as an opportunity area. In an earlier interview with Geospatial World, Ola had commented that population growth implies greater demand for food. Also, the burgeoning middle class with better purchasing power is demanding better quality of food and in the process, creating extra demand for agriculture and food processing industries. According to Ola, Hexagon looks at this as an opportunity to invest heavily in precision farming and develop solutions to improve productivity. Cloud: Geospatial industry is witnessing a lot of technological innovations and these innovations are finding their way into agriculture too. One such development is the cloud, whose benefits are being recognised by agricultural organisations. Recently, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) partnered with Esri in the implementation of a fully cloud-based geospatial portal, USDA's prototype portal Enterprise Spatial Mapping Service
25
Modern agricultural processes need farmers, biologists, agronomists, bankers, accountants, market hedgers, economists, policy analysts, and often technologists to be successful. As farms grow larger and risk and volatility increase, the trend is to build a consultative team to look at things holistically
(ESMS). It is hosted on the Amazon cloud within USDA's secure environment. The prototype's geospatial interfaces focus on search and discovery, managed service hosting, and web service publishing of USDA-owned data. The portal introduced GIS productivity services for provisioning and consumption of web map services and the capability to geoprocess, display and analyse data. The private cloud GIS makes the central repository for authoritative content accessible to users within the department as well as other public agencies. USDA and other external government agencies go through the portal to access valued agricultural datasets and maps from a browser and perform spatial analytics. USDA will eventually integrate its eAuthentication access control system with the private cloud solution to make the platform more secure. Very high resolution RS data: Another development is the increasing use of very high resolution satellite imagery. An example of deploying benefits of very high resolution imagery comes from Africa. AG Commons, an organisation working towards the use of geospatial technology in agriculture, introduced the project "Seeing Is Believing: Unlocking Precision Agriculture in West African Smallholder Communities with Very High-Resolution Imagery." The project idea arises from the opportunities and challenges that frame agricultural intensification in Africa. While the project identifies that very high resolution imagery (VHRI) holds unprecedented potential for rapid and equitable appraisal of smallholder systems, it also observes that VHRI remains largely focused on urban areas, while over 60% of Africa's population remains rural. The approach of "Seeing Is Believing" is to showcase, with a diversity of smallholder communities and other
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stakeholders, the potential uses of VHRI for community level agricultural development. As the backbone of popular geospatial tools such as GoogleEarth, VHRI will consecrate the age of community relevance in remote sensing, provided it is equitably extended, without delay to the majority of Africa's population - rural smallholders. Comparing community-level maps from VHRI across sites provides contrasting illustrations of cropland expansion, land saturation, and tenure systems (and metrics) which are not always as obvious from the ground. This provides smallholders with complementary insight into real drivers of systems change and agricultural intensification, according to AG Commons.
FARMER CAPACITIES So, how skilled are the world's food producers to take advantage of the gamut of technologies coming their way? Matthew opines that today, these producers are among the most technology-savvy people one can find. While conceding that in the traditional sense of GIS training they are not adequately trained, he also asserts that today they do not need to be. They know their business, if tools don't easily fit into their workflows they will either ignore it, change their workflows if they see value, or hire trained consultants to help. Also, today's agriculture is no longer only about a lone farmer in the field. Modern agricultural processes include and need farmers, biologists, agronomists, bankers, accountants, market hedgers, economists, policy analysts, and often technologists to be successful. As farms grow larger and risk and volatility increase, the trend is to build a consultative team to look at things holistically. Aaron too says that while individual farmers are not usually equipped to process and understand these technologies, today we find more capability in agribusinesses, governments and NGOs. There is scope for improvement through. Aaron says that even in those organisations there is still a need for more knowledge and training. Rakesh opines that farmers looking for ways to increase their productivity, preserve the environment and maximise their profitability are motivated to learn more from universities, other farmers and companies providing technology solutions and services for agriculture. There are varied opinions on how big a farm must be to justify an investment in precision agriculture tools. Some farmers may not be able to buy more land to expand their business, but many are discovering they can become more
Geospatial World I August 2011
profitable on the same amount of land by investing in technology, adds Rakesh. The financial muscle and capability of farmers to invest in these technologies also follows a similar pattern. Aaron says that while typically farmers individually may have limited financial capacities, they may belong to a cooperative that has some level of financial resources, or they have access to government provided resources. There is also the issue of return on investment. Here Matthew observes that whether or not economies of scale or scope offer a return on that investment depends on the size of the farm and other factors. The same holds true for geospatial technologies where small to medium size farms typically hire crop consultants or agronomists with the right geospatial skills and tools to help them. Larger farms may find comparative advantage in developing inhouse geospatial skills for field and asset management, logistics, monitoring, and reporting. Rakesh offers a perspective on this trend with reference to precision agriculture. As the value of commodity crops rise, so does the motivation to attain higher yields and reduced input expenses. There has been steadily growing adoption from farmers of all kinds and sizes in almost every part of the world. Precision agriculture is often justified to lenders as an investment that will pay dividends in the form of savings and increased profits. Higher commodity prices, and lenders' recognition of the technology value, often makes financial resources available.
CHALLENGES
agricultural processes and contributes towards enhancing efficiencies and raising productivity, certain challenges also follow. At the forefront is the reputation that seems to follow geospatial technology - that it is difficult to use. Matthew agrees, saying that one of the biggest challenges is the perception that GIS always has been and will be hard. Rakesh too avers that farmers may perceive precision agriculture to be more difficult to use than it actually is. However, this need not always is the case as solution providers work towards making things simpler. companies are inventing ways to easily create and share maps, datasets, and models, as well as automatically turn data into services and make it available across many devices, web browsers, and desktop environments. Intuitive touch screen user interfaces are allowing farmers to use the equipment with relative ease. As technologies continue to evolve, the full utilisation of its benefits would take some time. As Aaron says, DigitalGlobe's high resolution 8-band technology is relatively new (less than 2 years old) and while very powerful, needs better understanding by the potential users. It is also important to take the geospatial information to 'the last mile,' as highlighted by Kenya's Minister for Agriculture, Dr. Sally Kosgei. According to her, in view of the valuable contribution that geospatial information can make to farming systems and practice in Africa, it is crucial to move geospatial technology from a research-based platform to one that takes such technologies to the 'last mile' and make them accessible to farmers who need this information the most.
As geospatial technology continues to make inroads into
CONCLUSION The role of geospatial technology in agriculture is here to stay. The strong responsibilities of agriculture in the global economy in terms of being a source of sustainable development, reducing poverty and addressing the food requirements of the significantly increasing population, coupled with depleting natural resources, can only be met with generous contribution from modern technologies. With the demand for farmlands and farm produce continuing to grow while the land resources remain limited, geospatial technology has a key role to play in allocating resources and maximising productivity and output. Deepali Roy Assistant Editor, Geospatial World [email protected]
Geospatial World I August 2011
27
K ansas, US A
Nor thwest Ger many
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Bangkok, Thailand
Souther n Brazil
AGRICULTURE GETS A MAKEOVER! Geospatial technology, with its potential to address the complete life cycle of agriculture, is fast finding acceptance in agriculture to fulfill its responsibilities in addressing food security and as a fundamental instrument for sustainable development and poverty reduction, especially in developing nations. In the process, one of the oldest economic practices of human civilization is getting a makeover
20
Geospatial World I August 2011
A montage of six images from the ASTER sensor on NASA’s Terra satellite showing differences in field
COVER STORY I Deepali Roy
A montage of six images from the ASTER sensor on NASA’s Terra satellite showing differences in field geometry and size in different parts of the world.
he World Bank, in its World Development Report on Agriculture released in 2008, observed that the world of agriculture had changed dramatically since its 1982 Report. It indicated that the new context for agriculture was characterised by dynamic new markets, far-reaching technological and institutional innovations and new roles for the state, private sector and the civil society. Agriculture, one of the oldest economic practices of human civilisation is indeed undergoing a makeover. This augurs well for its role in the modern global economy. Agriculture continues to be a fundamental instrument for sustainable development and poverty reduction, especially in developing nations as they have a significant agrarian component in their economies. Table 1 presents a snapshot of countries where the contribution of agriculture consistently hovers much higher than the global GDP contribution of agriculture which is about 3 percent. According to the World Development Report on Agriculture, 2008, agriculture can be a source of growth for the national economy, a provider of investment opportunities for the private sector, and a prime driver of agriculturerelated industries and the rural non-farm economy. Also, agriculture is a source of livelihoods for an estimated 86 percent of rural people, providing jobs for smallholders and landless workers, farm-financed social welfare when there are urban shocks and a foundation for viable rural communities. This is significant considering that almost half of the world's population lives in rural areas. Even though urban population (at 50.5 percent) overtook rural population for the first time in history in 2010 (according to United Nations Population Division), half of the world's population is still in rural areas. Agriculture also has a role to play in poverty reduction. Through one of its projects in 2009-10, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) aimed to determine the economic importance of agriculture for sustainable development and poverty reduction. The project looked for shared characteristics of twentyfive developing countries, representing virtually all geographic regions, posting extraordinary success in reducing extreme poverty over the past twenty to twenty-five years. Findings revealed that while economic growth generally was an important contributor to poverty reduction, the sector mix of growth mattered substantially, with growth in agricultural incomes being especially important (Fig. 1). Another important factor is food security. According
T
Geospatial World I August 2011
Table 1: Contribution of Agriculture to GDP (in percentage) Country Afghanistan
2007
2008
2009
34
28
32
Algeria
8
7
12
Armenia
20
18
21
Cambodia
32
35
35
Central African Republic
54
53
55
Comoros
45
46
46
Congo, Dem. Rep.
42
40
43
Cote d'Ivoire
24
25
24
Dominica
17
18
19
Ethiopia
46
44
51
Ghana
29
31
32
India
18
17
18
Indonesia
14
15
16
Kenya
20
21
23
Kiribati
27
28
29 -
Lao PDR
35
35
54.99
61.3
-
Madagascar
26
25
29
Malawi
30
30
30
Mongolia
23
21
23
Mozambique
28
31
31
Nepal
33
34
34
Pakistan
20
20
21
Papua New Guinea
36
34
36
Paraguay
22
24
19
Rwanda
36
32
34
Senegal
13
15
17
Sierra Leone
50
50
51
Solomon Islands
44
41
39
Tajikistan
22
25
22
Tanzania
30
30
29
Uganda
24
23
25
Liberia
Source: World Bank; In addition to cultivation of crops and livestock production, agriculture includes forestry, hunting, and fishing, as well as cultivation of crops and livestock production. Table indicates contribution of value added agriculture to GDP. Value added is the net output of a sector after adding up all outputs and subtracting intermediate inputs.)
Fig. 1. Total average contribution to poverty reduction
Remittances Non-agriculture Agriculture Source: OECD calculations
21
Fig 2: US net farm income projection
agriculture is inherently spatial. Historically, farming was a straight-forward concern of understating agronomic possibilities for a field, determining demand for a local area, allocating input resources to maximise outputs and delivering the fruits of that labour to market. While fundamentally this hasn't changed, what has changed according to Matthew is that arable land is decreasing, consumer demands and expectations are growing, costs of farming are skyrocketing and risk and volatility dictate the tempo of business. Spatial technology is a very important lever in responding to these market forces. GIS, GPS and remote sensing are all finding a place.
Source: United States Dept. of Agriculture
APPLICATION & BENEFITS to Food & Agriculture Organisation, only 30 years ago, world population was 3.0 billion; it was 5.5 billion in 1992. By 2025, world population is projected to reach 8.5 billion. This dramatic rise in human population implies a much greater demand for food to achieve food security. In its agricultural projection for 2011-20, the United States' Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) observes that the return of global economic growth beginning in 2010 and the continuation of population gains are expected to boost food demand. This is particularly true since world growth is concentrated in emerging markets and developing countries with high income-related propensities for consumption of food and agricultural products. USDA is also projecting that a strong global agricultural demand will keep US net farm income historically high (Fig. 2). Given the demand, maximising agricultural productivity assumes paramount importance.
ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY Fulfiling this demand and maximising agricultural productivity is necessitating the application of modern technologies in agricultural processes. Information technology is becoming increasingly all-pervasive and farming is no different. Modern, innovative technologies offer great potential to help farmers reduce costs and increase yields. Geospatial is one such technology. One reason why this technology has a significant role to play is because of the spatial nature of agriculture itself. Agriculture and natural resources are essentially understood by a geographic location. As Matthew Bechdol, Team Lead, Federal Land and Natural Resources & USDA Account Manager, Esri, elaborates, from the field to a large corporation,
22
Geospatial information lends itself to many opportunities that can result in better decisions, higher productivity and enhanced efficiencies in agriculture. Here is a look at how various geospatial technologies can be applied to agricultural processes and the benefits accrued. GIS: GIS can store layers of information, such as yields, soil survey maps, crop scouting reports and soil nutrient levels. GIS can display geographically referenced data, adding a visual perspective for interpretation. In addition to data storage and display, GIS can be used to evaluate present and alternative management by combining and manipulating data layers to produce an analysis of management scenarios, informs Anil Kumar Singh, Indian Agricultural Research Institute. GIS has a wide range of possible applications at the national and local level. According to M.V.K. Sivakumar and Donald E. Hinsman of Agricultural Meteorology Division and Satellite Activities Office, World Meteorological Organization, geographical data can assist agricultural planners in deciding on factors like the best zones for a
The significance of geospatial technology lies in the fact that agriculture is of spatial nature. Agriculture and natural resources are essentially understood by a geographic location. Spatial technology is an important lever in responding to changing market forces
Geospatial World I August 2011
Maps showing GIS data by counties in the U.S. The map on left shows the percent of farmland by county. The map on right shows the counties by Courtesy: http://geospatial.posterous.com farms involved with Community Supported Agriculture (using 2007 data)
cash crop, combining data on soils, topography, and rainfall to determine the size and location of biologically suitable areas. It can also provide information on related aspects like land ownership, transport, infrastructure, labour availability, and distance to market centres. Elaborating on the role of GIS in agriculture, Matthew observes that GIS in agriculture is about allocative efficiency, profitability, and record keeping. Spatial thinking enables producers to minimise inputs and maximise outputs. GIS provides mechanisms to better understand environmental, policy, and market forces from local to global scales. In an increasingly regulatory environment, GIS offers a means to develop real time records of applications of fertilisers, herbicides, etc. and quantify biomass, increasing profitability. Matthew opines that productivity, by definition, is primarily concerned with outputs. In that context, the GIS solutions offered by the company through ArcGIS helps enhance agricultural productivity on the farm by analysing field and crop conditions, monitoring environmental patterns such as weather, and developing input recommendations for the right place, at the right time, in the most efficient manner. Desktop, mobile, server and online components of GIS systems are now completely integrated. For agriculture, this means that the same platform can be used by producers and crop consultants for field based management and analysis; agribusiness for customer and market development; and governments and associations for regional to global analysis and monitoring. Another aspect of agricultural planning benefiting from GIS is agrometeorology, or agricultural meteorology.
Geospatial World I August 2011
Sivakumar and Donald inform that agricultural weather and climate data systems are needed to expedite generation of products, analyses and forecasts that affect agricultural cropping and management decisions, irrigation scheduling, commodity trading and markets, fire weather management and other preparedness for calamities, and ecosystem conservation and management. Remote Sensing: Accurate and timely information on agriculture is essential for practising sustainable agriculture. This information can be categorised into three groups: information on current situation of state variables (e.g. current cropping pattern, crop condition, soil degradation, present land use etc.), information on changes that have occurred in agriculture and their rate (i.e. monitoring the changes that have occurred in the state variables) and information on the long-term (future) effects of the changes that have occurred in the state variables and the agricultural practices. Remote sensing is an effective source of such information, avers Dr. Shibendu S. Ray, Head, Agro-Ecosystems Division, Space Applications Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation. Remote sensing data can be used for facilitating sustainable agriculture in three different ways, informs Dr. Ray. These are:
w Mapping/monitoring: These include mapping of the current extent of crops, soil degradation, irrigated area, etc. and monitoring changes over a period of time therein
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Parameter retrieval: Since remote sensing data provide quantitative values of spectral reflectance or emittance from the target (e.g. crop or soil), these can be used to retrieve various biophysical parameters of plants. These parameters include various VI's (Vegetation Indices), LAI (Leaf Area Index), fAPAR (fraction Absorbed PAR), ET (Evapotranspiration), CWSI
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An airborne infrared image of a healthy soybean field exhibiting little variation or stress. Courtesy Rodney McKellip
(Crop Water Stress Index), etc. These parameters are used in crop growth models to predict crop yield, crop condition, soil water balancing etc.
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Management / decision support: Using the information received from the above two activities and with the help of decision support models (such as cropping systems simulation model, land utilisation model, irrigation scheduling model), remote sensing helps the user to arrive at the right decisions for sustainable management of agriculture. In this activity, apart from remote sensing data, other collateral information such as soil, weather, irrigation network, socioeconomic data, etc. are also used to arrive at decisions. GIS helps integrate all this information.
Elaborating on the application of these two technologies, Dr. Ray offers that the role of remote sensing and GIS in agricultural applications can be broadly categorised into two groups - inventorying/ mapping and management. While remote sensing data alone is mostly used for inventorying (crop acreage estimation, crop condition assessment, crop yield forecasting, soil mapping, etc) purposes, management (irrigation management, cropping system analysis, etc.) needs other spatial physical/ environmental information to be integrated with RS data, where the functionality of GIS are used. Satellite imagery providers have a wide range of offerings for agriculture. For example, DigitalGlobe's Red
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Edge band and Yellow bands on WorldView-2 satellite were primarily designed for vegetation applications. With the 0.5 meter resolution of satellites and associated high positional accuracies, the imagery offered by the company is used to digitise accurate farm/field boundaries. One can also map crop types with greater accuracy and also variations in crop health/vigour using the 8 bands. There is also ongoing research correlating DigitalGlobe imagery with crop yield. One of the most significant benefits of geospatial technology is that it touches agricultural processes at various stages and offers potential to meet requirements of various stakeholders at different levels, thereby addressing in the entire life cycle of agriculture. As Matthew observes, at the regional scale, agribusinesses are providing services to these producers for farm and field management while going so far as to implement the latest technologies in asset management solutions, vehicle routing/logistics, and custom applications for weather, imagery, and agronomic recommendations. Add to this information like land ownership, infrastructure and labour availability. At the regional to global scale, organisations are using spatial technologies to monitor produc-
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tion supply and demand patterns, transportation and infrastructure, and economic indicators for commerce and trade. Aaron too highlights the multifarious role of geospatial technology, saying that governments want to know the location of agricultural areas, their size and the crop type for mapping, planning and taxation purposes; agricultural companies want to monitor and manage their crops; financial companies are interested in the health and potential yield of crops and risk managers in governments and NGOs want to better understand crop health and food security. And geospatial technology offers solutions to all these requirements.
EMERGING TRENDS Precision farming: One of most scientific and modern approaches to sustainable agriculture that has gained momentum in 21st century, precision farming has geospatial technology at its core. It can be defined as the 'application of technologies and principles to manage spatial and preci-temporal variability associated with all aspects of agricultural production.' Often variations occur in crop and/or properties of soil within a field. Using precision farming techniques, these variations are noted and often mapped. Management actions are then taken as a consequence of spatial variability within the field, informs Dr. Ray. The two spatial requirements in precision agriculture include: concurrent knowledge of where the farm equipment is as it moves across a field and the value of one or more variables as a function of position within the field. These two requirements each contain a 'where' and a 'what'. The spatial precision needed for 'where' varies from a few meters to a few centimeters, but GPS, computer circuits and electronic systems can now satisfy that. The second requirement, the 'what', is where remote sensing comes into the picture, inform Rickman and colleagues. Rakesh Kumar Kadian, Head of Trimble Business Development in India, elaborates on the benefits of precision farming. He informs that there are numerous economic and environmental benefits with precision agriculture technology. Of particular interest for India is land leveling for water management. Trimble equipment allows preservation and drainage of water to maximise crop production with available water resources. The company’s integrated solutions allow customers to collect, manage and analyse complex information faster and eas-
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ier, making them more efficient and productive by revolutionising their work processes. Also, accurate steering and guidance of agricultural machines provides numerous benefits. With more accurate steering, at a most basic level, farmers may see a 10 percent reduction in overlap as the machines pass over the field. This saves a corresponding amount of crop inputs such as fertiliser, seed, chemicals and fuel. Farmers who grow to be more sophisticated may use highly accurate systems to apply tillage, fertiliser and chemicals in banded zones, rather than broadcast, informs Rakesh. Ola Rollen, President & CEO, Hexagon AB too has identified precision farming as an opportunity area. In an earlier interview with Geospatial World, Ola had commented that population growth implies greater demand for food. Also, the burgeoning middle class with better purchasing power is demanding better quality of food and in the process, creating extra demand for agriculture and food processing industries. According to Ola, Hexagon looks at this as an opportunity to invest heavily in precision farming and develop solutions to improve productivity. Cloud: Geospatial industry is witnessing a lot of technological innovations and these innovations are finding their way into agriculture too. One such development is the cloud, whose benefits are being recognised by agricultural organisations. Recently, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) partnered with Esri in the implementation of a fully cloud-based geospatial portal, USDA's prototype portal Enterprise Spatial Mapping Service
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Modern agricultural processes need farmers, biologists, agronomists, bankers, accountants, market hedgers, economists, policy analysts, and often technologists to be successful. As farms grow larger and risk and volatility increase, the trend is to build a consultative team to look at things holistically
(ESMS). It is hosted on the Amazon cloud within USDA's secure environment. The prototype's geospatial interfaces focus on search and discovery, managed service hosting, and web service publishing of USDA-owned data. The portal introduced GIS productivity services for provisioning and consumption of web map services and the capability to geoprocess, display and analyse data. The private cloud GIS makes the central repository for authoritative content accessible to users within the department as well as other public agencies. USDA and other external government agencies go through the portal to access valued agricultural datasets and maps from a browser and perform spatial analytics. USDA will eventually integrate its eAuthentication access control system with the private cloud solution to make the platform more secure. Very high resolution RS data: Another development is the increasing use of very high resolution satellite imagery. An example of deploying benefits of very high resolution imagery comes from Africa. AG Commons, an organisation working towards the use of geospatial technology in agriculture, introduced the project "Seeing Is Believing: Unlocking Precision Agriculture in West African Smallholder Communities with Very High-Resolution Imagery." The project idea arises from the opportunities and challenges that frame agricultural intensification in Africa. While the project identifies that very high resolution imagery (VHRI) holds unprecedented potential for rapid and equitable appraisal of smallholder systems, it also observes that VHRI remains largely focused on urban areas, while over 60% of Africa's population remains rural. The approach of "Seeing Is Believing" is to showcase, with a diversity of smallholder communities and other
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stakeholders, the potential uses of VHRI for community level agricultural development. As the backbone of popular geospatial tools such as GoogleEarth, VHRI will consecrate the age of community relevance in remote sensing, provided it is equitably extended, without delay to the majority of Africa's population - rural smallholders. Comparing community-level maps from VHRI across sites provides contrasting illustrations of cropland expansion, land saturation, and tenure systems (and metrics) which are not always as obvious from the ground. This provides smallholders with complementary insight into real drivers of systems change and agricultural intensification, according to AG Commons.
FARMER CAPACITIES So, how skilled are the world's food producers to take advantage of the gamut of technologies coming their way? Matthew opines that today, these producers are among the most technology-savvy people one can find. While conceding that in the traditional sense of GIS training they are not adequately trained, he also asserts that today they do not need to be. They know their business, if tools don't easily fit into their workflows they will either ignore it, change their workflows if they see value, or hire trained consultants to help. Also, today's agriculture is no longer only about a lone farmer in the field. Modern agricultural processes include and need farmers, biologists, agronomists, bankers, accountants, market hedgers, economists, policy analysts, and often technologists to be successful. As farms grow larger and risk and volatility increase, the trend is to build a consultative team to look at things holistically. Aaron too says that while individual farmers are not usually equipped to process and understand these technologies, today we find more capability in agribusinesses, governments and NGOs. There is scope for improvement through. Aaron says that even in those organisations there is still a need for more knowledge and training. Rakesh opines that farmers looking for ways to increase their productivity, preserve the environment and maximise their profitability are motivated to learn more from universities, other farmers and companies providing technology solutions and services for agriculture. There are varied opinions on how big a farm must be to justify an investment in precision agriculture tools. Some farmers may not be able to buy more land to expand their business, but many are discovering they can become more
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profitable on the same amount of land by investing in technology, adds Rakesh. The financial muscle and capability of farmers to invest in these technologies also follows a similar pattern. Aaron says that while typically farmers individually may have limited financial capacities, they may belong to a cooperative that has some level of financial resources, or they have access to government provided resources. There is also the issue of return on investment. Here Matthew observes that whether or not economies of scale or scope offer a return on that investment depends on the size of the farm and other factors. The same holds true for geospatial technologies where small to medium size farms typically hire crop consultants or agronomists with the right geospatial skills and tools to help them. Larger farms may find comparative advantage in developing inhouse geospatial skills for field and asset management, logistics, monitoring, and reporting. Rakesh offers a perspective on this trend with reference to precision agriculture. As the value of commodity crops rise, so does the motivation to attain higher yields and reduced input expenses. There has been steadily growing adoption from farmers of all kinds and sizes in almost every part of the world. Precision agriculture is often justified to lenders as an investment that will pay dividends in the form of savings and increased profits. Higher commodity prices, and lenders' recognition of the technology value, often makes financial resources available.
CHALLENGES
agricultural processes and contributes towards enhancing efficiencies and raising productivity, certain challenges also follow. At the forefront is the reputation that seems to follow geospatial technology - that it is difficult to use. Matthew agrees, saying that one of the biggest challenges is the perception that GIS always has been and will be hard. Rakesh too avers that farmers may perceive precision agriculture to be more difficult to use than it actually is. However, this need not always is the case as solution providers work towards making things simpler. companies are inventing ways to easily create and share maps, datasets, and models, as well as automatically turn data into services and make it available across many devices, web browsers, and desktop environments. Intuitive touch screen user interfaces are allowing farmers to use the equipment with relative ease. As technologies continue to evolve, the full utilisation of its benefits would take some time. As Aaron says, DigitalGlobe's high resolution 8-band technology is relatively new (less than 2 years old) and while very powerful, needs better understanding by the potential users. It is also important to take the geospatial information to 'the last mile,' as highlighted by Kenya's Minister for Agriculture, Dr. Sally Kosgei. According to her, in view of the valuable contribution that geospatial information can make to farming systems and practice in Africa, it is crucial to move geospatial technology from a research-based platform to one that takes such technologies to the 'last mile' and make them accessible to farmers who need this information the most.
As geospatial technology continues to make inroads into
CONCLUSION The role of geospatial technology in agriculture is here to stay. The strong responsibilities of agriculture in the global economy in terms of being a source of sustainable development, reducing poverty and addressing the food requirements of the significantly increasing population, coupled with depleting natural resources, can only be met with generous contribution from modern technologies. With the demand for farmlands and farm produce continuing to grow while the land resources remain limited, geospatial technology has a key role to play in allocating resources and maximising productivity and output. Deepali Roy Assistant Editor, Geospatial World [email protected]
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