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Abstract
Precision Farming with ifs use of satellite technologies in arable farming is now with us and will have a dramatic effect on large scale farm management in the next decade and beyond. It is a fast moving and dynamic development, with much of the agricultural supply industry becoming involved. Like Integrated Crop Management, Precision Farming will become an increasingly pervasive management concept. This paper reviews some of the wide range of uses, possibilities and hoped for benefits of Precision Farming, and sets out to identify those aspects that are likely to make a major contribution to the management of growing arable crops and their profitability. The successful adoption of these technologies will require manufacturers and suppliers of equipment, services and software to agree common (world-wide?) standards. As Precision Farming is developing many of the management systems of crop production are being called into question, with much research now necessary to underpin our understanding of the essentials of crop production. This paper identifies the principal areas of research and development in the UK.