Economics of site-specific and variable-dose herbicide application

Jens Erik Ørum, Per Kudsk, Peter Kryger Jensen

Abstract

Site-specific application of pesticides has so far focused mainly on herbicides. The purpose of precision farming technologies in relation to herbicide use is to reduce herbicide cost and environmental impact from spraying, but at the same time to achieve acceptable weed control. Another purpose is to increase the spraying capacity, to reduce the number of sprayer refills, and finally to minimize time spent on weed monitoring. In this chapter the relevance and profitability of four precision herbicide application technologies, two weed detection technologies and a low dose decision support system (DSS) is analysed. With a low dose herbicide, cost can be reduced by 20–50%. It requires, however, proper monitoring of weeds, which can be a time-consuming task that again requires that the farmer is able to identify the dominant weed species. The current development of high-speed camera and software systems can help to detect and map individual weeds, and some systems have proved to be cost effective for certain weeds.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationPrecision agriculture : technology and economic perspectives
EditorsSøren Marcus Pedersen, Kim Martin Lind
Number of pages18
PublisherSpringer
Publication date2017
Pages93-110
Chapter4
ISBN (Print)978-3-319-68713-1
ISBN (Electronic)978-3-319-68715-5
Publication statusPublished - 2017
SeriesProgress in Precision Agriculture
Number1
ISSN2511-2260

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