Mats Söderström, precision agriculture

Smart farming naturally relies on precision agriculture.

Farming has many challenges to address. Over the coming decades, food production must be considerably increased, but without increasing the areal extent of cultivated land. At the same time, the negative environmental effects of farming must be reduced. It is essential for farmers, commercial actors, and consumers that food quality is guaranteed, and traceability will become increasingly important. New methods, new technologies, and new knowledge are key to solving this complicated equation. This requires joint efforts and collaboration.

Precision agriculture has a natural role in smarter farming. Precision agriculture means using e.g. satellite positioning, sensors, digital soil mapping, satellite images, and geographical information systems to adapt cultivation measures to the needs of every part of the field. This exciting research field has undergone continuous development since I first joined it in the 1990’s. The technologies of today enable cost-effective practical applications, but a lot of work still remains in order to find new, smart solutions.

I want to contribute to SLU driving this development for the industry, advisory organisations, and farmers to get ahead in tomorrow’s agriculture.