The changing environment

Precision farming was born in the 1990s, with farmers initially making use of grid sampling to obtain a better idea of the fertilisation requirements of different areas of the same land. From there, the technology steadily became more advanced, with satellites and thereafter drones being used to identify variations and areas where soil samples should be taken.

While farmers initially had to adjust inputs manually according to soil analysis results, farming equipment soon evolved to produce differential feeding, allowing for the automatic adjustment of applications. Farming equipment and these technologies have since become even more advanced, providing more detail and information.

“Machines these days can tap into much more information, for example climatic conditions, soil moisture levels and crop-related data such as the difference in the volume of