Editing Precision agriculture (section)

==Overview==
The first wave of the precision agricultural revolution came in the forms of satellite and aerial imagery, weather prediction, variable rate fertilizer application, and crop health indicators.<ref>[Haneklaus, Silvia/Lilienthal, Holger/Schnug, Ewald (2016): 25 years Precision Agriculture in Germany – a retrospective. In: Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Precision Agriculture : 31 July – 3 August 2016, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Online unter: https://www.openagrar.de/receive/openagrar_mods_00039296]</ref> The second wave aggregates the machine data for even more precise planting, topographical mapping, and soil data.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.agnewscenter.com/archives.cfm?news=9903 | title=Can Digital Farming Deliver on its Promise? | date=27 April 2016 | author=Arama Kukutai | work=www.agnewscenter.com}}</ref>

Precision agriculture aims to optimize field-level management with regard to:
* [[crop science]]: by matching farming practices more closely to crop needs (e.g. fertilizer inputs);
* [[environmental protection]]: by reducing environmental risks and footprint of farming (e.g. limiting leaching of nitrogen);
* [[economics]]: by boosting competitiveness through more efficient practices (e.g. improved management of fertilizer usage and other inputs).
Precision agriculture also provides farmers with a wealth of information to:
* build up a [[document|record]] of their farm
* improve [[decision-making]]
* foster greater [[traceability]]
* enhance marketing of farm products
* improve lease arrangements and relationships with landlords
* enhance the inherent quality of farm products (e.g. protein level in bread-flour wheat)

===Prescriptive planting===
'''Prescriptive planting''' is a type of farming system that delivers data-driven planting advice that can determine variable planting rates to accommodate varying conditions across a single field, in order to maximize yield. It has been described as "[[Big Data]] on the farm." [[Monsanto]], [[DuPont]] and others are launching this technology in the US.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304450904579369283869192124 | title=Big Data Comes to the Farm, Sowing Mistrust | newspaper=Wall Street Journal | date=25 February 2014 | access-date=10 February 2015 | author=Bunge, Jacob}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.economist.com/news/business/21602757-managers-most-traditional-industries-distrust-promising-new-technology-digital | title=Digital disruption on the farm | newspaper=The Economist | date=24 May 2014 | access-date=10 February 2015}}</ref>