Initial Situation

The current cultural landscape is heavily shaped in its form and parcelling by land cultivation. Triggered by the agro-structural change, the average acre size has increased. Changes in ownership and cultivation conditions have resulted in a loss of individual experiences and detailed knowledge (expertise) about agricultural croplands. Sub-natural structures have disappeared in areas good for use in land cultivation or in particular from a conservation point of view are in need of improvement. The newly emerging cultivation units display changing ground conditions, which have developed differently in the regions, and consequently different yield potentials.

Due to the further development of the instruments in the site specific land cultivation (precision farming) it is possible to consider small-space changing potentials (e.g. nutrients, soil type) through specific control (e.g. application cards in connection with Global Positioning System) of plant structural processes (e.g. fertilisation, sowings, plant protection) in terms of the sustained soil usage.

Work Approach

According to AGENDA 21, the principle of sustainability must form the basis with the use and development of natural household potentials. This principle is used increasingly in German politics. Subsequently, the social and economic demands on the space with its ecological functions are to be accommodated and should lead to a sustained, large space balanced order.

Due to different usage demands, in terms of the attainment of this top objective as well as the level of target fulfilment, there are partially different ideas between agriculture and conservation. The altered social or legal basic conditions (Federal Nature Conservation Act) combined with newly expanded objectives in agro-politics (agro turning point), land cultivation is rising to the challenge to integrate conservation objectives into agricultural action.

With precision farming, there is an instrument, which is especially suited to contribute to the fulfilment of these requirements. Therefore this system approach has a central meaning in the PIROL research focus in the aggregation of agricultural and landscaping objectives.

Both economic (yield/expense) and ecological parameters (protection of natural resources through optimisation/reduction of agricultural use of equipment, integration of conservational objectives in land cultivation) serve as a measurement for the success of the actions.

Work Objectives

Operation-Related Objective:

Area-related agricultural production processes are environment-oriented and economically optimised. Using information (online: sensor technology, offline: cards) on the soil and the crop, small space changing potentials are considered through site specific applications. Data, information and knowledge are gatthered in-house, compared with external requirements (resource-orientation, legislation, market partner) and coordinated on possible “agro-environment programmes” based on site specific applications.

Landscape-Related Objective:

In accordance with different landscape requirements and development potentials, agriculture and landscaping are accommodated in small spaces and flexibly using site specific extensification.

Sub-Project Fields

Plant Cultivation:

• Optimisation of site specific cultivation measures
• Development of site specific extensification options
• Formulation of a model adapted for rewarding "ecological achievements" in land cultivation
• Regionalisation of "Good Professional Practise"

Landscape development:

• Conversion of spatially substantiated environmental objectives with precision farming
• Development and examination of flexible conservation measures integrated in land cultivation
• Formulation of a model adapted for rewarding "ecological achievements” in land cultivation
• Regionalisation of "Good Professional Practise"

Soil / Soil Sensor:

• Development of sensor technology for online ascertainment of soil parameters
• Development of a process combination (soil evaluation and online sensor technology) for site analysis

Data/Knowledge Management:

• Development of an intelligent data and knowledge management system as a decision support instrument for an site specific land cultivation, which takes into account different levels of objectives
• Development and preparation of relevant methods from the databases, knowledge-based systems and statistics considering particularly the treatment of spatial data

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