PAFiC: Precision Agriculture for Family-farms in China

近几十年来，化肥使用和其他作物投入的快速发展极大地提高了中国的作物产量，但这并不是以可持续的方式实现的，据估计，中国每年浪费超过1000万吨合成氮肥。中小型商业家庭农场的数量正在增加，这些农场是由小型非商业家庭土地合并而成的。支持这些农场以维持农村人口和经济是可取的。这些家庭农场主还需要技术援助来管理他们没有历史联系的更大的地区。精确农业允许根据详细的空间数据收集对作物进行精细的田间管理，在提高农场的肥料和资源使用效率方面发挥着至关重要的作用。这将提高生产效率（盈利能力），并减少与化肥使用有关的农业实践的环境足迹。然而，在中国，采用精准农业方法和技术存在根本性障碍，包括相对于收入的高成本和无法量化的经济利益，缺乏数据和服务，以及种植者、社区和行政机构缺乏认识和接受。这项中英联合合作旨在通过解决商业家庭农场使用精准农业方法的关键技术、农业和社会或经济障碍，提高中国农作物生产中养分和农用化学品的使用效率。该项目将为农业决策开发新的技术和数据来源，包括应用先进的高光谱相机，能够测量许多波长的光并提供有关作物健康的详细信息，以及改进田间精确空间定位技术。还将开发更好的方法，利用卫星图像，特别是雷达传感器系统的图像，提供关于作物营养水平和生长情况的数据，并将评估将多种来源（卫星、空中传感器和地面监测）的数据结合起来的好处。这些改进的数据层提供了关于作物生长、作物健康和土壤的频繁和详细的空间信息，然后将与作物生长模型相结合，为中国家庭农场的农业决策提供一个系统。这将促进化肥等农业资源的最佳利用。所开发的方法将在中国的示范农场进行测试，涵盖一系列地理区域和在以前的研究项目中建立的作物系统。为了促进社区和行业成员的最大参与，以及农民最大限度地利用农业技术和精确农业方法，将科学和当地（社区和从业人员）专门知识纳入项目至关重要。这对于理解和解决这些耕作系统的具体问题至关重要。因此，该项目的一个组成部分是对吸收和使用这些技术的社会和经济障碍进行重点研究。这项研究将通过发展模式和向家庭农场提供项目产出来确定和解决这些障碍。这项工作还将为广泛和有效的公众参与、知识交流和政策翻译奠定基础，以确保在中国采用最新的方法。活动将包括开发作物管理数据信息门户、利益攸关方讲习班以及为当地种植者和农业专家提供技术培训。

Rapid advances in fertiliser use and other inputs to crops have dramatically improved Chinese crop production over recent decades, but this has not been done in a sustainable manner and it is estimated that >10M t of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser is wasted annually in China. The number of small to medium-sized commercial family farms is increasing from a merging of smaller, non-commercial family plots. It is desirable to support these farms to maintain rural populations and economies. These family-farmers also need technological assistance to manage larger areas that they have no historical connection to. Precision agriculture, allowing for fine-scale within-field management of crops based on detailed spatial data collection, has an essential role to play in increasing fertiliser and resource use efficiency on farms. This will increase production efficiency (profitability) as well as reduce the environmental footprint of agricultural practices linked to fertilizer use. However, in China there are fundamental barriers to uptake of precision agriculture methods and technology, including high costs relative to income and unquantified financial benefits, a lack of data and services and a lack of awareness and acceptance by growers, communities and administrative agencies. This joint UK-China collaboration aims to improve the use efficiency of nutrients and agri-chemicals in crop production in China, by addressing key technological, agricultural and social or economic barriers to the use of precision agriculture methods in commercial family farms. The project will develop new technology and data sources for agricultural decision making, including the application of advanced hyperspectral cameras, able to measure many wavelengths of light and provide detailed information on crop health, and improved technology for precise spatial positioning within fields. Improved methods to utilise satellite imagery, especially from radar sensors systems, to provide accessible data on crop nutrient levels and growth will also be developed and the advantages of combining data from multiple sources (satellites, airborne sensors and ground monitoring) will be assessed. These improved data layers, providing frequent and detailed spatial information on crop growth, crop health and soils, will then be combined with models of crop growth to provide a system for agricultural decision making that is applicable to family farms in China. This will promote the optimal use of agricultural resources, such as fertiliser. Developed methods will be tested on exemplar farms in China, covering a range of geographic regions and crop systems that have been established in previous research projects. To facilitate both the maximum engagement from a diversity of community and industry members, and the maximum usage of the agri-technologies and precision agriculture methods by farmers, it is critical to incorporate both scientific and local (community and practitioner) expertise into the project. This is critical to understanding and addressing issues specific to these farming system. An integral aspect of the project is to therefore undertake focussed research on the societal and economic barriers to uptake and to use of these technologies. This research will identify and address these barriers via the mode of development and the delivery of the project outputs onto family-farms. This work will also form the basis for wide-reaching and effective public engagement, knowledge exchange and policy translation to ensure the latest methods are adopted in China. Activities will include the development of a data information portal for crop management, stakeholder workshops and technical training for local growers and agricultural specialists.