The projected increases in World population and need for food have recently motivated adoption of information technology solutions in crop fields within precision agriculture approaches. Internet of underground things (IOUT), which consists of sensors and communication devices, partly or completely buried underground for real-time soil sensing and monitoring, emerge from this need. This new par...

A mathematical programming model is proposed for optimal cropping patterns under water de®cits in dry regions. Crops may be deliberately under-irrigated in order to increase the total irrigated area and possibly the pro®t. An operating policy will identify both the total area and the irrigation level allocated to a given selected crop taking into account the possible successors and predecessors...

Vineyard bird control is an important issue both monetarily and practically. Each season vineyard managers face the real threat of significant crop loss to starlings and finches, as well as an assortment of other birds. The increased popularity of wine as a mainstream consumable has led to a higher crop value in this industry. Because of this, the grape growers can no longer ignore bird damage....

scientific and medical advice. That is what we are looking for from the work of this review group. " Barroso told EU leaders that food price rises had added " a new dimension " to the public debate about GM crops. He admitted people were worried about GM organisms in food and farming, but he said the EU was probably one of the biggest importers of GM feed as its livestock industry was highly de...

Crop extent and frequency maps are an important input to inform the debate around land value and competitive land uses, in particular between cropping and mining in the case of Queensland, Australia. Such spatial datasets are useful for supporting decisions on natural resource management, planning and policy. For the major broadacre cropping regions of Queensland, Australia, the complete Landsa...

The sustainable management of water resources plays a key role in Mediterranean viticulture, characterized by scarcity and competition of available water. This study focuses on estimating the evapotranspiration and crop coefficients of table grapes vineyards trained on overhead “tendone” systems in the Apulia region (Italy). Maximum vineyard transpiration was estimated by adopting the “direct” ...

Introduction Essential mineral nutrients applied to crops are a cost to growers and, poorly managed, contaminate air and/or water resources. Over the past 30+ years, fertilizer costs (USDA, 2006) and evidence of the negative impact of fertilizer nutrient contamination of air and water resources have increased significantly (Tilman et al., 2002). Therefore, an increase in nutrient efficiency, me...

INTRODUCTION Several arthropod pests infest strawberry crop in California and cause a significant yield loss according to Zalom, Bolda, Dara, and Joseph [1]. Strawberry is an important commercial crop and the annual report from California Department of Pesticide Regulations [2] indicates that large quantities of acaricides, fungicides, herbicides, and insecticides are applied to manage a variet...

Proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) is a warm season grass with a growing season of 60-100 days. It is a highly nutritious cereal grain used for human consumption, bird seed, and/or ethanol production. Unique characteristics, such as drought and heat tolerance, make proso millet a promising alternative cash crop for the Pacific Northwest (PNW) region of the United States. Development of proso m...

Plum pox or sharka, a viral disease caused by Plum pox virus (PPV), severely affects the production of Prunus species in Europe. The first evidence of sharka was reported in Iran in 2000 . Due to the economic impact of this disease on crop production, recent advances in the term of  biology, epidemiology, and disease management are provided in this paper to assure awareness among growers and pr...