Agricultural Information for Precision Agriculture generated in the Agricultural Experimental Station Paraná of INTA

Abstract

The development of Precision Agriculture (PA) in Argentina has been led by a network coordinated by INTA, between the Science and Technology agencies, together with service and machinery companies and public-private institutions distributed throughout the territory. The EEA Paraná Precision Agriculture Group is part of it, having led the development of agronomic information to support the use of PA in Argentina. From the beginning, various topics have been worked on, ranging from the characterization of the spatio-temporal variability of crop production and the factors that condition it, to the use of information technologies applied to remote monitoring of spraying. The objective of this work is to present the contributions to the AP generated from the Agricultural Experimental Station (EEA) Paraná group of INTA. The greatest contributions have been related to the use of portable remote sensors to characterize the nutritional status of crops and the development of tools to assist variable nitrogen management, remote sensing applied to PA, and training components in data processing techniques. Towards the future, the areas of interest are oriented to the development of techniques and tools for the characterization of the spatial variability in the productivity of the crops, strengthened from the impulse provided by the new satellite platforms and Web data management. As well as the generation of integrated applications to image service platforms that allow progress on crop management, the integration of simulation models with geospatial information, together with the use of weather forecasts for the crop growing season, in order to optimize the efficiency of use of inputs, especially nutrients. Finally, it is proposed to integrate the local experience generated in the preparation of formal training proposals within the University, developing training courses at the postgraduate level.