Automation in agriculture is made possible by the integration of advanced agricultural technology and precision agriculture management. This book, uniquely, will focus on applications of automation to the important industry of tree fruit production. Written by experts in agricultural automation technology from around the world, chapters in this book cover topics such as automated tree fruit production systems, plant stress sensing and high-throughput phenotyping in precision horticulture, the economics of automation in tree fruit production, light interception sensing systems for canopy management, precision irrigation and water management, precision technologies for pest and disease management, opportunities for the application of robotics in tree fruit production, and the mechanical harvesting and handling of fruit crops. The book is a representative, concise overview of the variety of technologies currently being applied to tree fruit crops around the world and the challenges faced by engineers and farmers that these technologies raise. It is aimed at researchers and graduate students of agriculture systems, agricultural and biological engineering, crop and soil sciences, horticulture, precision agriculture, and other relevant disciplines. It will also be of use to agriculture consultants, engineers, and other professionals such as agricultural equipment manufacturers and management professionals who use precision agriculture technologies. Key Features: - Takes a systematic approach to how to apply precision and automation technologies to fruit production. - Combines the disciplines of economics, horticulture, and engineering. - Illustrated by case studies throughout describing actual applications of automation technology.

Of all the confrontations man has engineered with nature, irrigation systems have had the most widespread and far-reaching impact on the natural environment. Over a quarter of a billion hectares of the planet are irrigated and entire countries depend on irrigation for their survival and existence. Considering the importance of irrigation schemes, it is unfortunate that until recently the technology and principles of design applied to their construction has hardly changed in 4,000 years. Modern thinking on irrigation engineering has benefited from a cross-fertilization of ideas from many other fields including social sciences, control theory, political economics and agriculture. However, these influences have been largely ignored by irrigation engineers. Drawing on almost 40 years of experience of irrigation in the developing world, Laycock introduces new ideas on the design of irrigation systems and combines important issues from the disciplines of social conflict, management, and political thinking.

This report examines Viet Nam's tech-based startups in two sectors: agriculture and health. It assesses the challenges for creating a more enabling ecosystem to scale up startups in these sectors and makes recommendations to overcome them. Technology-based startup enterprises are an increasingly important part of the business landscape in Asia and the Pacific. By applying innovative technologies to create new products and services, they can make a significant contribution to economic development while generating social and environmental benefits. However, to survive and then thrive, tech startups require an enabling ecosystem that includes supportive government policy, adequate access to capital, skilled personnel, and quality digital infrastructure. This is the third country report in the series ""Ecosystems for Technology Startups in Asia and the Pacific.

This study adopts a two-step approach to map policies on agricultural water management in Zambia, which consists of a mapping exercise and a gap analysis matrix. It finds that there is a need to develop and implement an irrigation master plan in the country.

This book shares the latest findings on this topic, systematically introduces readers to advances made in robotic harvesting around the globe, and explores the relations between the development of robotic harvesting and the respective social/economic conditions and agricultural business patterns in various countries/regions. Due to the unstructured setting it is used in, and to the significant differences between individual fruit and vegetable targets, robotic harvesting is currently considered to be one of the most challenging robotics technologies. Accordingly, research into this area involves the integration of various aspects, including biomechanics, optimization design, advanced perception and intelligent control. In addition to rapid and damage-free robotic harvesting, which reflects the multidisciplinary nature of the topic, further aspects addressed include gripping collisions with viscoelastic objects, using lasers to cut plant material, plant-fruit response to vacuum sucking and pulling, and performance probability distribution. Highlighting outstanding innovations and reflecting the latest advances in intelligent agricultural equipment in China, the book offers a unique and valuable resource.

Tea is big business. After water, tea is believed to be the most widely consumed beverage in the world. And yet, as productivity increases, the real price of tea declines while labour costs continue to rise. Tea remains a labour intensive industry. With a distinguished career spanning over 50 years and rich experience in diverse crops, Mike Carr is eminently qualified to indulge in an intelligent discourse on tea agronomy. In addition to a comprehensive review of the principal tea growing regions worldwide in terms of structure, productivity and principal constraints, he has attempted to question and seeks to find the associated experimental evidence needed to support current and future crop management practices. The book will assist all those involved in the tea industry to become creative thinkers and to question accepted practices. International in content, it will appeal to practitioners and students from tea growing countries worldwide.

Micro Irrigation Management: Technological Advances and Their Applications, the fifth book in the Innovations and Challenges in Micro Irrigation book series, is a valuable reference volume on micro irrigation and water management for professional training institutes, technical agricultural centers, irrigation centers, agricultural extension service, and other agencies who work with micro irrigation programs. With an international focus, this new book focuses on applications of solar energy in micro irrigation and other important technological advances. It includes case studies and illustrative examples on drip irrigation design.

This new book, the fourth volume in the Innovations and Challenges in Micro Irrigation book series, examines the potential of solar energy and other emerging energy technologies in micro irrigation to create sustainable energy sources. The authors discuss a variety of innovative micro irrigation system designs, with a special focus on solar energy and photovoltaic (PV) energy.

This new volume in the Innovations and Challenges in Micro Irrigation series covers an array of technologies to estimate evapotranspiration and to evaluate parameters that are needed in the management of micro irrigation, with worldwide applicability to irrigation management in agriculture. Topics include recent evapotranspiration research, performance evaluation of filters and emitters, evaluation of fertigation and ground water with treated wastewater effluent, performance of pulse drip irrigated potato under organic agriculture practices in sandy soils, impact of polyethylene mulch on micro irrigated cabbage, and tree injection irrigation.

This lucidly-written book, with its diagrammatic representation and practical examples, presents a comprehensive treatment of the fundamentals of engineering hydrology in the areas of elements of hydrological cycle, abstraction losses, streamflow measurement, runoff, hydrology statistics, flood frequency analysis and groundwater flow.Throughout the book, the text emphasises problem-solving in which students are encouraged to apply their conceptual understanding in order to solve practical problems.This book is primarily intended for the undergraduate students of civil engineering and agricultural engineering.

Ancient Irrigation Systems in the Aral Sea Area, is the English translation of Boris Vasilevich Andrianov's work, Drevnie orositelnye sistemy priaralya, concerning the study of ancient irrigation systems and the settlement pattern in the historical region of Khorezm, south of the Aral Sea (Uzbekistan). This work holds a special place within the Soviet archaeological school because of the results obtained through a multidisciplinary approach combining aerial survey and fieldwork, surveys, and excavations. This translation has been enriched by the addition of introductions written by several eminent scholars from the region regarding the importance of the Khorezm Archaeological-Ethnographic Expedition and the figure of Boris V. Andrianov and his landmark study almost 50 years after the original publication.

The study examined women's roles and gender gaps in land operation and farming, labor arrangements in agriculture and water management, and feminization of agriculture in the Lower Vaksh River Basin in Tajikistan. The study was part of the Strengthening Gender-Inclusive Growth in Central and West Asia project supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The study findings will improve understanding of the situation so as to inform the ADB grant-financed project in modernizing irrigation and drainage systems in the Lower Vaksh River Basin. It reinforces the need for gender inclusiveness in planning and designing irrigation and drainage projects, ensuring benefits for all.

It highlights new developments and key lessons on climate risk assessment that may be applied to the project design and monitoring as well as the implementation of climate adaptation measures. The WEIDAP project was developed in response to the drought that affected southern Viet Nam in 2015-2016. It focused on irrigation modernization and the integration of climate-resilient agricultural and efficient on-farm water management practices.

The book, now in its second edition, provides an up-to-date comprehensive text on irrigation water management for students of agriculture both at undergraduate and postgraduate level. The scope of the book makes it a useful reference for courses in agricultural engineering, agronomy, soil science, agricultural physics and environmental sciences. It will also serve as a valuable guidebook to those working with farming communities. The coverage in sixteen chapters brings out different aspects of irrigation including irrigation situation in the world, rainfall, evaporation, water wealth and progressive development of irrigation in India, measurement of soil water and irrigation water, methods of irrigation, irrigation with saline water, formulating cropping pattern in irrigated area and management of high water table. In the second edition, a new chapter on `On-farm Irrigation System' has been included and several chapters have been updated to include latest developments.

Water protection, food production and ecosystem health are worldwide issues. Changes in the global water cycle are affecting human wellbeing in many places, while widespread land and ecosystem degradation, driven by poor agricultural practices, is seriously limiting food production. Understanding the links between ecosystems, water, and food production is important to the health of all three, and sustainably managing these connections is becoming increasingly necessary. This book shows how sustainable ecosystems, especially agroecosystems, are essential for water management and food production.

This book shares the latest findings on this topic, systematically introduces readers to advances made in robotic harvesting around the globe, and explores the relations between the development of robotic harvesting and the respective social/economic conditions and agricultural business patterns in various countries/regions. Due to the unstructured setting it is used in, and to the significant differences between individual fruit and vegetable targets, robotic harvesting is currently considered to be one of the most challenging robotics technologies. Accordingly, research into this area involves the integration of various aspects, including biomechanics, optimization design, advanced perception and intelligent control. In addition to rapid and damage-free robotic harvesting, which reflects the multidisciplinary nature of the topic, further aspects addressed include gripping collisions with viscoelastic objects, using lasers to cut plant material, plant-fruit response to vacuum sucking and pulling, and performance probability distribution. Highlighting outstanding innovations and reflecting the latest advances in intelligent agricultural equipment in China, the book offers a unique and valuable resource.

Innovation has moved through a range of revolutionary epochs, but there is no clear picture of how, or even if, innovation can be managed. This book explores the models, methods and metrics of innovation analysis in the context of a single center: the Global Oilseeds Complex centred in Saskatoon, Canada. It is a single, coherent volume that outlines the theory and practices related to innovation, offering a critical assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches, backed up with empirical evidence.

Today, John Deere is remembered-some say mistakenly-as the inventor of the steel plow. Who was this legendary man and how did he create the internationally renowned company that still bears his name? He began as a debt-stricken blacksmith who, fleeing debt in New England in the 1830s, set up shop in a little town on the Illinois frontier. There, in response to farmers' struggles, he designed a new plow that cut through the impervious prairie sod and lay open the rich, heavy soil for planting. The demand for his polished steel plow convinced him to specialize in farm implements. In the decades before the Civil War, John Deere envisioned a company supplying midwestern farmers with reliable, affordable equipment. He used only high quality, imported steel and resisted pressure to raise prices. At the same time, he won respectful affection from his employees by working alongside them on the shop floor. Upon taking the helm in the 1860s, John's only surviving son, Charles, expanded the Moline factories to increase production, started branch houses in major midwestern cities to speed distribution, and began to transform the company into a modern corporation. The transformation didn't come without difficulties however: Charles found himself battling the Grange, facing threats of labor unions and strikes led by his own employees, and enduring patent suits and blatant thefts of product designs and advertising.