Precision horticulture - Helping make better orchard management decisions

Abstract

Horticultural production is becoming more complicated and consumers are becoming more demanding. Precision horticulture is the natural extension of precision agriculture, which has been widely applied in broad-acre production systems such as corn farming for many years. Precision horticulture considers both spatial and temporal variability at reasonably small scales when making orchard management decisions. Remote sensing tools such as multi-spectrum cameras together with computer support tools such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are key to collecting and analysing large amounts of information in a timely and cost-effective way. In the near future, growers will likely be able to create and use near-real-time canopy maps to help them make better management decisions.