Precision agriculture (PA) technologies have been under development and increasing
use in the grains industries of Europe and USA for several years and are starting to be
adopted in the Australian wheat and cotton industries. A recent workshop considered
PA applicable also to the Australian sugar industry. This paper provides an explanation
of what PA is and gives an overview of the opportunities and benefits that it may offer.
H is concluded that the benefits offered by PA relate to the optimisation of farm
management strategies through yield monitoring, variable rate control of the application
of inputs such as fertilisers or soil ameliorants, machinery guidance, and the
management of weeds. However, it is also recognised that P A docs not have to be "high
tech" for some benefits to accrue. Increasing precision is achieved through a four-phase
cycle of observation, interpretation, evaluation and implementation. Through more use
of numbers, as opposed to "gut feeling", canegrowers could begin to adopt more precise
management strategies in making on-farm management decisions.