Microwave and Radio-Frequency Technologies in Agriculture

24 Section Introduction

Agriculture faces many challenges, such as climate variability, water shortages, labour shortages due to an aging urbanized population, and increased concern about issues such as animal welfare, food safety, and environmental impact (Wark, et al. 2007). The modern dilemma in most agricultural systems is to achieve high process efficiency, low costs, and good planning confidence in spite of a turbulent environment with limited manpower and resources. One approach to balancing these conflicting demands has been greater mechanisation and automation. Initially automation has involved better data acquisition and distribution within the industry, ultimately this will lead to autonomous machines working alongside human farm managers ...