Digital Technologies and Analytics in Soil Science and Agronomy.

Like other economic activities, agronomy and soil science are increas­ingly affected by the digital revolution. Digital Agriculture refers to the deployment of compu­tational and information technologies to improve the profitability and sustainability of agriculture. It is a new direction for Precision Agriculture, but offers new opportunities through the ubiquitous availability of highly inter­connected and data-intensive computational tech­nologies as part of the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution. It also reflects a shift from generalized management of land and farm resources towards highly optimized, individualized, real-time, hyper-connected and data-driven management. The main enabling DA tools that exist today include cross cutting technologies such as sensors, controllers, robotics and com­putational decision tools. Field-based activities are also enabled by technologies such as geo-locationing, communication (cellular, broadband, and others), farm management systems, yield monitors, precision soil sampling, proximal and remote sensing, unmanned aerial vehicles, variable rate technologies and auto-steer, and guidance. The desired outcomes of leveraging these technologies are more profitable and sustainable production systems. Production efficiencies can be gained from the integration of data associated with multiple technologies (which currently are mostly considered independently), and from the real-time transfer of data/information between field equipment, barn, office, and the Cloud. We will discuss opportunities and constraints related to these technologies. See bit.ly/NYSDigitalAgReport.