This collection features four peer-reviewed reviews on Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications in agriculture. The first chapter reviews developments in the use of AI techniques to improve the functionality of decision support systems in agriculture. It reviews the use of techniques such as data mining, artificial neural networks, Bayesian networks, support vector machines and association rule mining. The second chapter examines how robotic and AI can be used to improve precision irrigation in vineyards. The chapter pays particular attention to robot-assisted precision irrigation delivery (RAPID), a novel system currently being developed and tested at the University of California in the United States. The third chapter reviews the current state of mechanized collection technology, such as the development of harvest-assist platforms, as well as the possibilities of these machines to incorporate artificial vision systems to perform an in-field pre-grading of the product. The final chapter explores the emergence of the automated assessment of plant diseases and traits through new sensor systems, AI and robotics. The chapter then considers the application of these digital technologies in plant breeding, focussing on smart farming and plant phenotyping.

This collection reviews and summarises the wealth of research on key challenges in developing better data management and decision support systems (DSS) for farmers and examples of how those systems are being deployed to optimise efficiency in crop and livestock production. Part 1 reviews general issues underpinning effective decision support systems (DSS) such as data access, standards, tagging and security. Part 2 contains case studies of the practical application of data management and DSS in areas such as crop planting, nutrition and use of rotations, livestock feed and pasture management as well as optimising supply chains for fresh produce. With its distinguished editor and international team of authors, Improving data management and decision support systems in agriculture will be a standard reference for researchers in agriculture and computer science interested in improving data management, modelling and decision support systems in farming, as well as government and other agencies supporting the use of precision farming techniques, and companies supplying decision support services to the farming sector.

Struggling for air in a Darwinian shark pond at work and a house that is falling to pieces around her ears, single mother Cat McGinty dreams of a new job, a new home and a new life of rural bliss. Jess, her unpredictable, sexually hyperactive au pair and Lily, her ten- going on seventeen- year-old daughter would quite like to come with her. When Cat unexpectedly inherits a run down health farm in the glorious Dorset countryside, miles from memories of her feckless ex and the demands of her disapproving feminist mother, it seems their prayers have been answered. Unfortunately Butely is damper than the English channel, its patients tighter than a bad facelift and she has to share its ownership with a reclusive stranger who looks at Cat as if she were a particularly nasty strain of foot and mouth. But Cat can never resist a challenge, especially when Toby Marks, the world's Most Handsome Man, is the one offering it. And that's just the start of her problems.