1. Introduction to Sensors Used in Precision Agriculture Ruth Kerry, Brigham Young University, USA Alexandre Escolà, Universitat de Lleida, Catalonia, Spain
2. Remote Sensing David Mulla, University of Minnesota, USA Pablo Zarco-Tejada, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain
3. Crop Geometry and Structure Alexandre Escolà, Universitat de Lleida, Catalonia, Spain
4. Soil Sensing Robin Gebbers, Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB), Germany Slava Adamchuck, McGuill University, Canada
5. Sensing with Wireless Sensor Networks Francis J. Pierce, Michigan State University East Lansing, USA George Vellidis, University of Georgia, USA
6. Health, Vigour and Disease Detection in Arable Crops Richard Ferguson, University of Nebraska, USA Yuxin Miao, China Agricultural University, China
7. Other Sensing Techniques in Arable Crops Dan S. Long, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Washington, USA R. Hackett, Teagasc, Oak Park Research Centre, Carlow, Ireland
8. Sensing in Horticulture Spyros Fountas, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece Manuela Zude, Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB), Germany
9. Use of UAV in Precision Agriculture Chunhua Zhang, Department of Geography and GeologyAlgoma University Sault Ste. Marie, Canada John M. Kovacs, Department of Geography Nipissing University North Bay, Canada
10. Weed Detection F. López-Granados, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain Svend Christensen, Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Denmark Roland Gerhards, Universität Hohenheim, Germany
11. Precision Irrigation V. Alchanatis Yafit Cohen, Institute of Agricultural Engineering, ARO, Israel J. Bellvert, Research Institute IRTA, Catalonia, Spain
12. Health and Vigour Bruno Tisseyre, Montpellier SupAgro, Montpellier, France Jose Molin, University of Sao Paulo, Brasil
13. Disease Detection Erich-Christian Oerke, University of Bonn, Germany
14. Conclusions: Future Directions in Sensing for Precision Agriculture Ruth Kerry, Brigham Young University, USA Alexandre Escolà, Universitat de Lleida, Catalonia
Ruth Kerry: Trained in the UK at the Universities of Oxford (BA, MA Oxon.) and Reading (MSc and PhD) in Geography and Soil Spatial Analysis for Precision Agriculture, respectively, Ruth has been based in the Geography Department at Brigham Young University in Utah, USA since receiving her PhD in 2004.She was hired as an Associate Professor at Brigham Young University in January 2021. She is also an Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences at Auburn University, Alabama, USA (2017-2022). Her research has involved mapping and spatial statistics for precision agriculture, soil studies and other applications. She has collaborated on research projects with academics in the UK, USA, Europe, Iran and Chile across a range of precision agriculture and soil science topics. Along with her own research publications, she has a broad overview of the subjects of precision agriculture and spatial analysis having served as guest editor of two special issues of the journal, Precision Agriculture (2008 and 2019) featuring articles from ECPA conferences and a double special issue of Geographical Analysison geostatistical applications. She has attended ECPA conferences since 2003 and has served on the scientific review committee for the last several meetings. She serves on the editorial board for Precision Agriculture (Springer) and is currently the treasurer of the International Society of Precision Agriculture (ISPA).
Alexandre Escolà: Studied Technical Agricultural Engineering at undergraduate level and Agronomical Engineering at Masters level, both at the School of Agrifood and Forestry Science and Engineering of the Universitat de Lleida, Catalonia. His PhD and Masters theses were related to the use of sensors to enhance pesticide spray applications in fruit orchards and he received his PhD in 2010. In 2001, he was employed as part-time equivalent to assistant professor in the same centre and since 2006 as an equivalent to assistant professor. From 2013 he has beenhired as anequivalent to associate professor. His research is carried out within the GRAP, the Research Group on AgroICT& Precision Agriculture of the University of Lleida/Agrotecnio-CERCA Centre, in which he is currently serving as the coordinator. His research lines focus on electronic 3D characterization of vegetation, especially in fructiculture and viticulture, and on developing Precision Agriculture techniques and technologies in general. He is member ofthe Department of Agricultural and Forest Engineering and teaches at the School of Agrifood and Forestry Science and Engineering and at the Polytechnic School of the Universitatde Lleida. He has attended ECPA and ICPA conferences since 2007 andin 2013 he chaired the 9th ECPA, held in Lleida. Since then, he has beena member of the ECPA programme committee and has served on the scientific review committee. He assisted the ISPA in the process of finding a modern definition of Precision Agriculture and participated in its translation into Catalan and Spanish. He serves on the editorial boards for Precision Agriculture (Springer) andSensors (MDPI).
Sensing Approaches for Precision Agriculture aims to bring together the ‘state of the art’ of the most popular sensing techniques and the current state of research on the application of sensors in Precision Agriculture (PA). Sensing is of great value in PA because it provides cheap and immediate data for management. This book gives a broad overview of sensing in PA and a coherent introduction for new professionals and research scientists. Readers are introduced to the potential applications of a range of different sensors, how they should be used properly and their limitations for use in PA. Chapters on specific topics and case studies provide depth and enable implementation of the methods by users. A general introduction about sensing techniques in PA is followed by Chapters 2–9 on the most important specific techniques in sensing and Chapters 10–13 include mini-case studies, each showing cutting-edge applications for different sensing methods. Finally, there is an Epilogue on how we expect sensors and analysis to develop.