How can precision farming work on a small scale?

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Abstract

The agri-food industry faces a great challenge due to the growing global population. When considering land scarcity, this can be solved only by a higher production efciency. Precision agriculture (PA) provides a potential answer. Most farms, especially in developing countries, are small-scale units that have difculties in applying precision agriculture technologies. On the basis of the systematically selected articles, major benefts and constraints were identifed, and solutions were provided. Due to the low economic performance of smallholdings, (demonstrated) economic benefts are essential; however, it should be added that PA also provides potential environmental benefts. The fve main constraints of precision agriculture technologies at the small-scale level are small land size, high cost of adoption, technology-related difculties, lack of professional support and lack of supporting policy. The solutions provided by the literature are various, including, among others, joint/collective actions, zone delineation/feld boundary detection, cooperation-cooperatives; low-cost technology, common machinery usage; education, (common) knowledge, use of standards, simple and user-friendly technology; professional support of vendors, advisors, agricultural contractor services; and policy-initiated investments and adequate regulations, respectively. Lower cost, modular technologies can help to accelerate PA uptake.