GIS

The 3D Digital Farm — Linking Energy into Agriculture

Over the course of the last few days at the Forum Forum in Saskatoon, Canada I have been listening to a number of presentations that, when connected together indicate a strong case for a 3D Digital Farm. Many agronomy professionals discuss on farm production through a series of processes. There are the root process, foliar process, soil process, terrain process and many others.

Combined each of the these processes add up to what I would call a 'Whole Plant System' - that involves everything from the roots through to harvest and even post harvest. Since traceability of food and agricultural products can also be involved as consumers become more aware of their food chain, this may even extend downstream through to the distribution network.

Linked into this whole agricultural process is energy, which is increasing playing an important role, particularly in the province of Alberta where a inter-provincial carbon trading scheme for agriculture exists. Producers can, right now, sell agricultural carbon credits to large energy producers to offset carbon production. Alberta see's this offsetting as high as 18% of the overall provincial emitted level.

To really connect the dots in this process involves agricultural processes, the whole system. Plants exist in 3-D space and this makes the Digital 3D Farm all the more important.

I'll be writing more on this in the days ahead and the role spatial tools can take in meeting this challenge.

Related Posts

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2. Farm Forum Conference Opens in Saskatoon, Canada
3. Agriculture Goes Vertical: The Vertical Farm Project
4. Agriculture Crop Production Data Management
5. Geospatial Tools: Connecting Agriculture and Wind Energy
6. Report: Sustainable Agriculture and Soil Conservation
7. GPS & Terrain Models — Precision Drainage Management
8. 3D Rural Community Nutritional Models
9. Digital Terrain Models: GPS or Aerial-Satellite Sensing?
10. Agriculture Science — Promising Career?

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